Unit 42: AI-agent npm packages become a prime supply-chain target in H1 2026

Unit 42 (Palo Alto Networks)·medium signal

Palo Alto Unit 42's npm tracking shows AI-agent packages have become a prime attack target because they sit next to API keys, model credentials, and cloud tokens — the first half of 2026 produced 37 campaigns and 497 malicious packages, about 2.6x the campaigns and 4.5x the package volume of all of 2025. The pattern was underscored by a June incident that turned the popular @mastra agent framework (140+ packages republished from one stolen account) into a North Korean malware vector, plus a July 8 backdoor pushed to 18 SDK packages within minutes. Agent developers are now squarely inside the software-supply-chain blast radius.