Suspicious Axios NPM macOS Persistence Masquerading as Apple Service

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1059.004Unix Shell
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
- T1036.005Match Legitimate Resource Name or Location
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects references to the launchd label com.apple.act.mond spawned through zsh, matching the macOS payload of the Axios NPM supply chain incident. The malware masquerades its persistence agent as a legitimate Apple system service name to blend into launchd inventories. A non-Apple process registering or invoking this fabricated com.apple label indicates supply chain compromise.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1059.004 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious Execution From var tmp Masquerading as apt via GRIDTIDE

Suspicious Bash Decode Chain Using curl xxd and base64 Piped to eval via Linux Shell

Malicious Download Piped to Shell via curl or wget (via process_creation)

Suspicious Process Masquerading as apached via GobRAT Bulbature Implant

Suspicious GobRAT Bulbature Infection Shell Scripts Execution

Suspicious Base64 Decoded Payload Piped to Shell on Linux

Suspicious Netcat Reverse Shell via Named Pipe on Linux via Process Creation (via process_creation)

Suspicious OpenClaw Skill File Modification via File Event

Possible TP-Link Command Injection via WlanNetworkRpm Endpoint (via webserver)

Suspicious Axios NPM macOS Persistence Masquerading as Apple Service

Pivot detection · T1059.004 · 9 related

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.

Full detection rule

Unlock this rule to view and copy it

The detection logic is included with a plan. Everything else — context, mappings and implementation details — stays free on this page.

Sign in for 3 free unlocks

Signing in gives you 3 unlocks to spend on any rule in the library. No card, and they do not expire.

Also included

Unlocked rules convert on this page — to Splunk SPL or Splunk — Raw Index SPL or Microsoft Sentinel KQL or Microsoft Sentinel ASIM ASIM KQL or Microsoft Defender XDR KQL or Elastic Security KQL or Elastic Security Lucene or Elastic Security ES|QL or CrowdStrike Falcon CQL or SentinelOne PowerQuery or Palo Alto Cortex XDR XQL or Carbon Black Cloud Platform Search or Carbon Black EDR Process Search or Google Security Operations UDM Search or IBM QRadar AQL or Sumo Logic Cloud SIEM Rules expression or Rapid7 InsightIDR LEQL or Graylog Search or OpenSearch Lucene or OpenSearch PPL PPL or Grafana Loki LogQL or SQLite SQL or Zircolite SQLite — with the log-source profile the engine picked, the field map it used, and everything it could not express. Converting a rule you have unlocked costs no further credit.

See it run on a free rule →Convert your own rule →