# MAL-2026-4422: Malicious code in @qwedqwed/axios (npm)


- **Type:** Malicious package
- **Package:** `@qwedqwed/axios` (npm)
- **Published:** 20 May 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-3gw3-hvvw-mp2h

## What is MAL-2026-4422?

MAL-2026-4422 is a malicious package in @qwedqwed/axios, published on 20 May 2026. 

### Official description

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.

## What should I do about MAL-2026-4422?

Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
MAL-2026-4422 is a malicious package: @qwedqwed/axios (npm). Every version was published to cause harm.

Task:
1. Search this repository's dependency manifests and lockfiles for the package, including transitive dependencies.
2. If it is present, remove it, regenerate the lockfile with the project's package manager, and replace whatever it was used for.
3. List any CI runners, developer machines or containers that installed it, so their secrets can be rotated.
4. If the package is not used anywhere, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-4422/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-4422/index.md)
```

## Sources

- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/MAL-2026-4422

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-4422/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.