Suspicious Node.js Spawning Script Interpreter for Dropped Payload

ATT&CK techniques

Initial Access → Execution

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
- T1195.002Compromise Software Supply Chain
Execution
- T1059.001PowerShell
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects a Node.js process launching the Windows script host or a Python interpreter against a payload staged in the temp directory, the dropper chain of the compromised axios package RAT. The malicious postinstall script writes a VBS or Python loader to a temp location and executes it to establish the cross-platform RAT. Node spawning wscript or python on a temp script is anomalous for normal package installs.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1059.001 — drag to rearrange

Malicious PowerShell Download from bullethost.cloud Staging Server

Suspicious Node.js Spawning PowerShell Archive Download to Temp

Malicious Node.js Execution of Hidden .claude Setup Script

Suspicious PowerShell Remote Download and Execution via Invoke-WebRequest

Malicious axios NPM Supply Chain C2 Domain Resolution

Suspicious Script Host Spawning Hidden PowerShell (via process_creation)

Suspicious PowerShell Reflective Assembly Load With GZip Decompression (via process_creation)

Suspicious PowerShell Invoke-Expression with Replace Obfuscation

Suspicious PowerShell Archive Extraction to AppData Roaming

Suspicious Node.js Spawning Script Interpreter for Dropped Payload

Pivot detection · T1059.001 · 9 related

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

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