if you vibe code, pay attention you might be at risk and dont know it yet
when you use any AI tool to build an app such as
@cursor_ai, @lovabledev,
@AnthropicAI,
@OpenAI etc. and it needs to fetch data from the internet, where's a good chance it's using axios as the tool your AI puts in under the hood. it checks a price, pull a user's profile, talks to an API to do the thing you need to do
what should you care about it? Someone stole the login credentials of the person who maintains it. Then they published two fake versions of the tool that looked completely normal. there's no suspicious code in axios itself
but those fake versions installed a "hidden program" in the background that gave the attacker full remote access to your computer. Like a locksmith making a copy of your house key while fixing your lock
the attack was planned 18 hours in advance for Mac, Windows and Linux. Hit both versions within 39 minutes and is designed to delete all traces of itself after running...
so when a developer does a completely routine update or you're vibe coding as usual, you hand a stranger the keys to your entire entire machine. All your passwords, API keys, everything.
if you've run an npm install in the last 24 hours on any project you're building, you could be affected without knowing it
what to do right now:
@feross and the team at @socket_dev caught it and built two free tools.
1. socket for github checks your project's dependencies before anything gets merged -
socket.dev/features/github
2. socket firewall sits on your laptop and blocks malicious packages before they install -
socket.dev/features/firewall
both are free and worth installing today regardless of whether you were affected
the bigger point for vibe coders and non technical folk: when AI writes your code you don't always know what it's installing. this attack was designed to be invisible to someone not reading every line. that's most of us. be extra vigilant
🚨 CRITICAL: Active supply chain attack on axios -- one of npm's most depended-on packages.
The latest axios@1.14.1 now pulls in plain-crypto-js@4.2.1, a package that did not exist before today. This is a live compromise.
This is textbook supply chain installer malware. axios has 100M weekly downloads. Every npm install pulling the latest version is potentially compromised right now.
Socket AI analysis confirms this is malware. plain-crypto-js is an obfuscated dropper/loader that:
• Deobfuscates embedded payloads and operational strings at runtime
• Dynamically loads fs, os, and execSync to evade static analysis
• Executes decoded shell commands
• Stages and copies payload files into OS temp and Windows ProgramData directories
• Deletes and renames artifacts post-execution to destroy forensic evidence
If you use axios, pin your version immediately and audit your lockfiles. Do not upgrade.