Malicious npm Packages Delivered Cross-Platform RAT to Alibaba Developers

Unknown threat actors conducted a targeted npm supply-chain campaign against developers using Alibaba Group internal tooling, publishing seemingly benign packages and lure packages that impersonated private @ali-scoped modules. The packages chained together loader components that fetched malicious configuration and later-stage payloads from attacker-controlled GitHub repositories and Alibaba Cloud infrastructure, then used a Node.js vm sandbox escape to reach the host process and install a cross-platform remote access trojan called aone-cli. The malware provided command execution, file transfer, persistence, reverse proxying, and DingTalk-enabled lateral movement, indicating an operation designed for long-term access rather than opportunistic abuse.

The intrusion established persistence differently across macOS, Windows, and Linux, including modifying ~/.zshrc, replacing the Alilang security application's app.asar, and launching a detached binary from /tmp on Linux. Reporting and associated indicators tie the activity to artifacts including aone-cli, aone-kit, app.asar, crypto.js, and setting.js, along with downloads hosted on Alibaba Cloud OSS and Function Compute services. The malware also tampered with AI-related tooling by patching Python scripts in .skills directories used by enterprise collaboration products such as DingTalk, Wukong, and Qoder, while the targeting and tradecraft point to a likely industrial espionage objective.