@qwedqwed/axiosnpm
@qwedqwed/axios is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-4422) that typosquats a legitimate package to trick installs (malicious versions 1.16.2, 1.16.3, 1.16.4…). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in @qwedqwed/axios (npm)
What this malware does
Package @qwedqwed/axios is published under a scope that does not belong to the real axios maintainers but copies axios's README, source, homepage (axios-http.com), repository (github.com/axios/axios), and author metadata (Matt Zabriskie) verbatim to present itself as the genuine axios library. Its package.json declares two runtime dependencies that the real axios does not use: @caspianph/storyteller@^1.1.12 and math@^0.0.3. The math name is a long-abandoned npm utility frequently abused as a dependency-confusion / typosquat target, and @caspianph/storyteller is an unknown package under an unrelated scope. Installing or requiring @qwedqwed/axios resolves and loads both of those packages into the installer's dependency graph. The axios source bytes shipped in this tarball are themselves benign (the ping strings flagged are inside axios's normal HTTP adapter / utility code, not an exfil path), but the package functions as a lure: the harmful surface is the silently-pulled transitive code, not this tarball's own JavaScript.
Any computer that has this package installed or running should be considered fully compromised. All secrets and keys stored on that computer should be rotated immediately from a different computer. The package should be removed, but as full control of the computer may have been given to an outside entity, there is no guarantee that removing the package will remove all malicious software resulting from installing it.
Malicious versions
Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)
Detection & response playbook
TyposquatFind it
Scan your lockfiles (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, yarn.lock, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, etc.) and build artifacts for @qwedqwed/axios (11 malicious versions). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging @qwedqwed/axios across your stack and pipelines.
If you installed it — respond
@qwedqwed/axios is a typosquat — you almost certainly intended a legitimately-named package. Remove @qwedqwed/axios, install the correct package, and rotate any secrets exposed during the install since post-install scripts may have already run.
Did it already run?
If @qwedqwed/axios was ever installed, its post-install/runtime payload may have already executed. O3's L7 egress monitoring and runtime eBPF sensors detect the credential exfiltration or command-and-control callback after install and block the malicious outbound channel, so you catch and contain the actual compromise — not just the presence of the package.
How O3 protects you
O3 blocks @qwedqwed/axios before install through its supply-chain scanner, and if it has already run, detects and severs the exfiltration or C2 callback at runtime through L7 egress monitoring and eBPF.
Frequently asked questions
Campaign
References
Credits
- Amazon Inspector · finder
Detect & block this
O3 blocks @qwedqwed/axios-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the malicious outbound activity and severs the channel.