QUIRSO attributes exploitation of VMware vCenter CVE-2026-59310 to a suspected China-nexus actor that hit 361 IPs in 47 countries, deploying backdoors and Babuk.
German incident response firm QUIRSOS assessed with moderate confidence that a suspected China-nexus actor, likely operating in UTC+08:00 hours, exploited VMware vCenter flaw CVE-2026-59310 (CVSS 9.8 directory traversal) beginning five days after Broadcom's July 29 patch. The campaign compromised 361 unique victim IPs across 47 countries, most in Germany, the US, Turkey, Iran, and France. The actor abused cron jobs, a XOR-obfuscated 'linuxFile' WebSocket backdoor with systemd/cron persistence, a JSP web shell, SSH authorized-keys manipulation, and a reverse SSH tool, with one Babuk deployment reported. A separate vCenter 'vcenter_admin' account creation consistent with CVE-2026-59309 exploitation was also observed from August 1.
Preliminarily attributed to Iran, cyberattacks hit Minnesota water systems as part of a campaign targeting at least seven US states.
A campaign of cyberattacks against water systems in Minnesota and at least six other US states has been preliminarily attributed to Iran, though no real damage has been reported so far. US President Trump publicly disputed the Iranian attribution, blaming Minnesota authorities instead. The incident underscores ongoing nation-state targeting of US water utilities.
Attackers actively exploit critical VMware vCenter flaw CVE-2026-59310, installing reverse_ssh backdoors on 361 hosts across 47 countries.
QUIRSO observed active exploitation of CVE-2026-59310 (CVSS 9.8), a directory-traversal flaw in VMware vCenter allowing arbitrary code execution, patched by Broadcom in late July. Attack chains deploy a malicious cron job running the open-source reverse_ssh tool for persistence, with compromised systems phoning home starting August 3, five days after disclosure. Forensics show 361 unique victim IPs in 47 countries, mostly Germany, the U.S., Turkey, Iran, and France, with the actor suspected to be an APT. Separately, Defused Cyber reports rising scanning indicative of exploitation of related CVE-2026-59309, an unauthenticated auth bypass in vmdir.
Unauthenticated Path Traversal RCE in Broadcom VMware vCenter Server Syslog
CVE-2026-59310 is a directory traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in the Syslog server component of VMware vCenter Server, rated critical at CVSS 9.8. It can be triggered over the network without authentication or user interaction, allowing a malicious actor with network access to vCenter to achieve arbitrary code execution. An attacker who exploits it gains code execution on the vCenter appliance, and reported campaigns show it has been used to establish persistent remote access and, by a suspected China-nexus actor, to deploy Babuk ransomware. Any organization running an affected version of vCenter Server is exposed, especially where the management interface is reachable from the internet; the available data does not specify affected version ranges. Exploitation is confirmed in the wild: CISA added the flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2026-08-18, it was reportedly exploited just five days after disclosure, and EPSS estimates a 45.9% probability of exploitation within 30 days (99th percentile).
· Broadcom (VMware) vCenter Server KEV ransomwarelarge
VMware vCenter contains an authentication bypass vulnerability in the VMware Directory Service.
VMware vCenter contains an authentication bypass vulnerability in the VMware Directory Service. A malicious actor with network access to vCenter may exploit this issue to bypass authentication and gain unauthorized access to the system.
Authentication Bypass in Apple macOS Screen Sharing
CVE-2026-65400 is a critical (CVSS 9.8) improper authentication flaw (CWE-287) in Apple macOS's Screen Sharing service, caused by an authentication state-management defect. An attacker who can reach a vulnerable Mac's Screen Sharing service over the network can authenticate without valid credentials, gaining full remote access with high impact to confidentiality, integrity, and availability. All three currently supported macOS branches are affected: Sequoia, Sonoma, and Tahoe, in versions prior to the fixed releases. The flaw is being actively exploited on the internet, with public reporting that attackers use the bypass to deploy Monero cryptominers, and CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2026-08-18. EPSS estimates a 9.9% probability of exploitation within 30 days (95th percentile).
· Apple macOS (Screen Sharing service) supported macOS releases prior to the fixed builds listed below · Apple macOS Sequoia all versions prior to 15.7.9 KEVmass
Unauthenticated Double-Free RCE in Microsoft Windows IKE Extension
A double-free memory-corruption flaw (CWE-415) in the Microsoft Windows Internet Key Exchange (IKE) service extension allows a remote, unauthenticated attacker to trigger the bug with crafted network traffic, with no privileges or user interaction required. Successful exploitation yields remote code execution with full system impact, reflected in the critical 9.8 CVSS score (high confidentiality, integrity, and availability). The vulnerable IKE component is present in Windows 10 (1607, 1809, 21H2, 22H2), Windows 11 (23H2, 24H2, 25H2, 26H1), and Windows Server 2016, 2019, and 2022 (including 23H2), which ship it as a built-in feature. CISA added the flaw to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2026-08-18, and security reporting confirms it is being actively exploited in the wild, though ransomware use is not yet confirmed. No public proof-of-concept is known, but the high EPSS score (72.7%, 99th percentile) signals a very strong likelihood of imminent or ongoing exploitation.
· Microsoft Windows 10 1607 · Microsoft Windows 10 1809 KEVmass
Authentication Bypass in Microsoft SharePoint Server
Microsoft SharePoint Server is affected by a weak authentication vulnerability (CWE-1390) that allows an unauthorized attacker to bypass a security feature over a network. Per the CVSS vector, exploitation requires no privileges and no user interaction with low attack complexity, so any unauthenticated attacker with network access to a vulnerable server can trigger it remotely. Impact to confidentiality and integrity is rated high (CVSS 9.1, critical), meaning the bypass effectively grants the attacker access that authentication should have prevented, with no direct availability impact. All organizations running on-premises Microsoft SharePoint Server are potentially affected; the source data does not specify affected version ranges or fixed builds, so defenders should consult Microsoft's advisory for those details. The flaw is under active exploitation: a public proof-of-concept is available on GitHub, attackers began exploiting it after the PoC went public, and CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2026-08-18 (EPSS ~40%, 99th percentile; ransomware association unknown).
The Super Forms – Drag & Drop Form Builder plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Arbitrary File Upload in all versions up to, and including, 6.3.313 via the sub
The Super Forms – Drag & Drop Form Builder plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Arbitrary File Upload in all versions up to, and including, 6.3.313 via the submit_form function. This is due to missing file type validation and the absence of any capability check on the submit_form nopriv AJAX handler, whose only barrier is a session nonce freely obtainable by unauthenticated visitors via a separate nopriv endpoint. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to upload files that may be executable, which makes remote code execution possible. The nonce requirement is trivially bypassed…
Unauthenticated GraphQL Code Injection in GitLab CE/EE Enables Data Tampering
GitLab has patched a critical (CVSS 9.1) code injection flaw (CWE-94) in how GitLab Community Edition (CE) and Enterprise Edition (EE) process GraphQL directives. Under certain conditions, an unauthenticated remote attacker can abuse a GraphQL directive to modify or delete public projects and user data on affected instances, requiring no privileges or user interaction; the impact is to integrity and availability, not confidentiality. Affected versions span all GitLab CE/EE releases from 18.2 before 18.11.11, 19.0 before 19.0.8, 19.1 before 19.1.6, and 19.2 before 19.2.4, which covers self-managed installations as well as the same codebase that powers the GitLab.com SaaS. News reports indicate the flaw came under active exploitation within days of disclosure, and EPSS assigns a 5.8% probability of exploitation within 30 days (93rd percentile). It is not yet listed in CISA's KEV catalog and no public proof-of-concept is known, but defenders should treat it as an actively exploited, unauthenticated, high-impact issue.
· GitLab CE all versions from 18.2 before 18.11.11, 19.0 before 19.0.8, 19.1 before 19.1.6, and 19.2 before 19.2.4 · GitLab EE all versions from 18.2 before 18.11.11, 19.0 before 19.0.8, 19.1 before 19.1.6, and 19.2 before 19.2.4mass
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