BGP hijack infecting networks caused by a comedy of errors that’s not funny at all
Attackers BGP-hijacked Softaculous IP space via Hetzner routing lapses to push malicious Virtualizor updates to hosting servers.
Unknown attackers hijacked the 162.55.80.0/24 prefix used by Softaculous' Virtualizor update service by abusing lax routing security at hosting provider Hetzner Online, announcing the range through AS6204, AS62390, and AS24940 with a forged but RPKI-valid origin. The hijack pulsed intermittently over roughly 33 hours, delivering modified update packages to Virtualizor servers, which lacked cryptographic code signing for updates. Softaculous says only a small number of servers were likely affected but cannot produce a definitive list, urging administrators to treat every Virtualizor server as in scope for checks.