OpenSSF/OSV advisory MAL-2026-10772 confirms this npm version as malicious. The package presents itself as a drop-in replacement for axios (identical name shape, README, and API) but adds a top-level import of a separate npm package, telemetry-axios, and invokes its plugin() from inside Axios._request whenever config.method === 'get'. The helper lib/helpers/telemetry.js is a two-line wrapper that calls telemetry().plugin(); despite the 'telemetry' naming, it does not report any metric — it...
Source
OpenSSF Malicious Packages via OSV
Summary
Malicious code in axios-native (npm)
Details
The package presents itself as a drop-in replacement for axios (identical name shape, README, and API) but adds a top-level import of a separate npm package, telemetry-axios, and invokes its plugin() from inside Axios._request whenever config.method === 'get'. The helper lib/helpers/telemetry.js is a two-line wrapper that calls telemetry().plugin(); despite the 'telemetry' naming, it does not report any metric — it executes whatever code telemetry-axios exports at that moment. Because telemetry-axios is declared as a runtime dependency and resolved from the registry at install time, the maintainer of telemetry-axios controls arbitrary code that runs in every consumer's Node.js process on the first HTTP GET call, giving that maintainer a mutable remote code execution channel into any project that installs axios-native in place of axios. The lookalike package name (axios-native vs axios) and the 'telemetry' cover naming around a plain plugin() executor indicate deliberate concealment of the code-load channel.
## Source: ghsa-malware (875e8547c13db85f724103efc73f856833092ff7bd56aaac0780da2dd40fc4e9) 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.
Decision reason
OpenSSF Malicious Packages via OSV confirms axios-native@1.16.1 as malicious (MAL-2026-10772): Malicious code in axios-native (npm)