Zero-day vulnerability in axios

Embedded malicious code (backdoor)

Vulnerability details

Advisory: SB20260331101 - Backdoor in Axios

Vulnerable component: axios

CVE-ID:

CVSSv3 score: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:H/RL:O/RC:C

CWE-ID: CWE-506 - Embedded Malicious Code

Description:

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to gain unauthorized access to the application.

The vulnerability exists due to presence of embedded malicious functionality in the application code (aka backdoor) that allows a remote attacker to gain unauthorized access to the application. Attacker compromised axios repository and introduced a new dependency plain-crypto-js.

External links:

https://www.stepsecurity.io/blog/axios-compromised-on-npm-malicious-versions-drop-remote-access-trojan

https://www.endorlabs.com/learn/npm-axios-compromise

https://www.aikido.dev/blog/axios-npm-compromised-maintainer-hijacked-rat

About zero-day vulnerabilities

Zero-day vulnerability is an undisclosed vulnerability in software that hackers can exploit to compromise computer programs, gain unauthorized access to sensitive data, penetrate networks, etc. We consider vulnerability a zero-day when there is no solution provided from software vendor and the vulnerability is being actively exploited by malicious actors.

Zero-day candidate is a potential zero-day vulnerability in software which might have been used in targeted attacks, however there is no evidence to support this suggestion.