- OpenAI rotated macOS code signing certificate after Axios supply chain breach
- Malicious Axios 1.14.1 pulled into app signing workflow
- No evidence of data theft, but older app versions out of date
OpenAI recently rotated its macOS code signing certificate and pushed new versions of macOS products as a proactive measure against potential malware attacks.
When an app is signed with a valid developer certificate (such as OpenAI’s), the system assumes that the developer has been verified, that the app has not been tampered with, and that it is safe to run. Having malware signed with one of these certificates almost guarantees that it will bypass protections and be allowed to run on the endpoint.
In an update published late last week, the popular AI company said it observed a breach of Axios, a third-party developer tool it uses, at the end of March this year. Axios is a JavaScript library used to send HTTP requests (it allows apps to talk to servers). It was compromised and a malicious version – 1.14.1 – was pushed.
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The attack appeared to be part of a wider software supply chain attack, it said. At the time, OpenAI used a GitHub Actions workflow in the macOS app signing process, which downloaded and executed the malicious version.
User data is secure
“This workflow accessed a certificate and notarization material used to sign macOS applications, including ChatGPT Desktop, Codex, Codex-cli, and Atlas,” OpenAI explained.
While the company’s incident analysis determined that the signing certificate was “likely not to have been successfully exfiltrated,” it still treated it as compromised and decided on a rotation.
“Effective May 8, 2026, older versions of our macOS desktop apps will no longer receive updates or support and may not be functional,” OpenAI warned. “These versions represent the earliest releases signed with our updated certificate:
ChatGPT Desktop: 1.2026.051
Codex App: 26.406.40811
Codex CLI: 0.119.0
Atlas: 1.2026.84.2″
In the same report, the company stated that there is no evidence that user data was accessed, intellectual property was compromised, or that the software itself was altered in any way.
Via Pakinomist
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