Unit 42 finds about 225 generative AI-themed domains registered daily since ChatGPT's launch, with nearly 29 percent suspicious, fueling scams and PUP delivery.
Palo Alto Networks analyzed new domain registrations containing generative AI keywords such as chatgpt, prompt, and sora since ChatGPT's November 2022 launch, observing around 225 GenAI-related registrations per day. About 28.75 percent of these domains are suspicious, a rate 22 times higher than for general new domains, with registration spikes aligning with milestones like Bing ChatGPT integration, the GPT-4 release, new GPTs, and OpenAI's Sora announcement. Over 72 percent of the domains use gpt or chatgpt keywords, and gpt domains show a 76 percent suspicious rate. Case studies cover PUP delivery, spam distribution, and monetized domain parking, with 35 percent of traffic to these domains directed at suspicious ones.
Ukrainian government sites were defaced via OctoberCMS CVE-2021-32648 while Microsoft-attributed actor DEV-0586 deployed destructive WhisperGate malware.
Unit 42 tracks January 2022 attacks against Ukrainian government websites that were defaced or made inaccessible, which Ukraine attributed to Russia. Attackers exploited CVE-2021-32648, an account takeover flaw in OctoberCMS prior to 1.0.472, by submitting a boolean true as the password reset code to bypass validation. Separately, WhisperGate malware, attributed by Microsoft to DEV-0586, disabled Windows Defender and corrupted files across multiple Ukrainian organizations, using a ransomware-appearing first stage and an HTTPS-beaconing second stage with LOLBINs and anti-analysis techniques.
Unit 42 found a new Mispadu infostealer variant targeting Mexican users via malicious .url files exploiting the SmartScreen CVE-2023-36025 bypass.
Unit 42 discovered a new variant of Mispadu Stealer, a Delphi-based banking trojan first reported in 2019, found while hunting for the Windows SmartScreen bypass CVE-2023-36025. The campaign uses crafted .url files referencing UNC network-share paths with an HTTP port (@80) that forces payload retrieval over WebDAV via rundll32.exe, avoiding SmartScreen warnings. Analyzed samples (~4 KB, compiled 2023-11-12) predate the CVE publication, and ZIP payloads were likely distributed as email attachments, primarily targeting users in Mexico.
Unit 42 details active exploitation of Exchange SSRF flaws CVE-2022-41080/CVE-2022-41082 via the OWASSRF method, deploying the SilverArrow PowerShell backdoor.
Unit 42 documents OWASSRF, an exploit chain combining CVE-2022-41080 and CVE-2022-41082 to achieve remote code execution on Microsoft Exchange via Outlook Web Access, bypassing Microsoft's ProxyNotShell mitigations. Active exploitation was observed in late November and early December 2022, affecting at least eight organizations. Attackers authenticated to Exchange, then executed a PowerShell backdoor tracked as SilverArrow to create admin accounts, install AnyDesk, tunnel RDP via PuTTY Link, and dump LSASS memory for credential theft. Exploitation is isolated rather than mass-scale because authentication is required.
Alloy Taurus (GALLIUM) compromised Southeast Asian government networks from 2022 to 2023 using Exchange web shells and undocumented .NET backdoors Reshell and Zapoa.
Unit 42 tracked persistent multiwave intrusions at a Southeast Asian government starting in early 2022 and continuing through 2023, attributing the activity with moderate confidence to Alloy Taurus (aka GALLIUM), a Chinese state-aligned espionage group. Attackers exploited Exchange Server vulnerabilities to deploy web shells including China Chopper, then ran reconnaissance with Fscan and WebScan, created administrative accounts, and installed undocumented .NET backdoors named Reshell and Zapoa. They established resilience by installing SoftEther VPN, brute-forced Active Directory credentials with Kerbrute, and dumped credential stores with GoDumpLsass and LsassUnhooker. The campaign reflects long-term espionage tradecraft to maintain a foothold.
Unit 42 links Stately Taurus APT activity in ASEAN region and Myanmar to the decade-old Bookworm malware family via infrastructure overlaps.
Unit 42 connected Stately Taurus (aka Mustang Panda) espionage activity targeting ASEAN-affiliated organizations and Myanmar to the Bookworm malware family, first published in 2015. Earlier attacks delivered the PubLoad stager via DLL sideloading, with a PubLoad variant communicating with C2 at 123.253.32[.]15 while mimicking Windows Update URLs. Three previously unreported loader samples from 2021-2022 used UUID-decoded shellcode loaded via heap allocation and API callbacks, ultimately decrypting and loading Bookworm DLLs. A ToneShell backdoor variant shared debug paths with Bookworm loaders, and the January 2024 CSIRT CTI post corroborated the Myanmar attacks.
Unit 42 explains exploit kit fundamentals, describing how landing pages profile victims, deliver exploits, and install malware payloads on Windows hosts.
Unit 42 published a primer on exploit kit fundamentals, defining vulnerabilities, exploits, malware payloads, actors, and campaigns in EK-based attacks. It explains the infection chain: a landing page profiles the victim's Windows system for vulnerable applications such as Flash Player, Java, Silverlight, and Internet Explorer, then a matching exploit executes a downloader or final payload, often delivered encrypted with XOR or RC4. The post also describes the EK-as-a-Service business model, in which leading EKs are rented for a few thousand dollars per month while buyers supply campaign infrastructure.
Unit 42 examines Angler EK operations, including rapid zero-day adoption, fileless Bedep infections, and ransomware payloads like TeslaCrypt and CryptXXX.
Unit 42 published the second part of its Angler EK analysis, covering the kit's history since 2013, its SaaS rental model, and its focus on Flash, Internet Explorer, and Silverlight exploits. Angler integrated the CVE-2015-5119 Flash zero-day from the Hacking Team leak within hours and later added exploits for CVE-2015-2419 and CVE-2016-0034 roughly a month after Microsoft patched them. Campaigns use Angler to deliver ransomware such as CryptoWall, TeslaCrypt, and CryptXXX, plus banking trojans and stealers via EITest. Since August 2014, Angler has used fileless, in-memory execution, most often for Bedep, which later downloads CryptXXX and click-fraud malware.
A seller offers 1.7 million McDonald's employee records allegedly taken from its Azure tenant via compromised credentials; an 8,000-row sample verifies as genuine.
A forum seller named TheHatman posted an 8,000-row sample of McDonald's employee directory data, claiming a 1.7 million-record haul pulled directly from the company's Azure tenant using compromised credentials. Ransomnews analysis found authentic Entra ID export artifacts, including genuine domains, tenant-internal addresses, encoding errors, and truncated HR fields, but could not verify the data's age or the 1.7 million figure. The same seller listed nine datasets in 16 days covering about 3.6 million records across McDonald's, Vodafone, Gap, hotels, and IT outsourcers, suggesting infostealer-driven credential resale. No passwords or hashes appear in the sample, so the primary risk is social engineering.
An Akira affiliate rebooted a compromised host into Safe Mode to bypass EDR, but constrained memory crashed the encryptor before encryption completed.
Huntress reports an Akira affiliate gained access on August 4 via an MFA-less SonicWall VPN, enumerated Active Directory, archived file shares with WinRAR, and exfiltrated data to an attacker S3 bucket. The attacker rebooted the host into Safe Mode with Networking and preloaded AnyDesk into the Safe Mode service registry, disabling EDR and Defender's real-time protection for roughly ten minutes. The encryptor failed about 13 seconds after launch with out-of-virtual-memory errors caused by Safe Mode's stripped-down environment, and Defender later removed akira.exe after reboot. Huntress says this is the first observed Safe Mode abuse by Akira, following precedents by Snatch and AvosLocker, and provides detection guidance.
Researchers found a script-only attack, 'Download More RAM', that rewrites DIMM configuration chips to bypass Windows 11 VBS and HVCI security boundaries.
Researchers at the University of Birmingham and Durham University showed that overwriting configuration data on unprotected DDR4/DDR5 module chips creates memory aliases that let attackers with existing privileged access defeat Virtualisation-based Security and HVCI, re-enable blocklisted drivers, kill EDR, and bypass group policy. Microsoft assigned CVE-2026-23670 and shipped mitigations in its April 2026 updates; systems with Secure Boot enabled are protected. Affected unprotected product lines are estimated at more than half of the high-performance consumer memory market and over 70% of the gaming segment.
Weekly digest: exploited Metabase zero-day breached Framework; Salesforce/ServiceNow portals read for 17 months; Microsoft patched 400+ flaws.
Help Net Security's week in review aggregates top stories: a 'City-Forum' campaign tracked by Reco has been pulling records from Salesforce and ServiceNow portals worldwide for 17 months, and Framework suffered a breach via an exploited Metabase zero-day exposing customer contact and IP data. It also covers Microsoft's August 2026 Patch Tuesday fixing 400+ flaws including exploited zero-day CVE-2026-68820, Cisco's fix for exploited firewall DoS bug CVE-2026-20349 (added to CISA KEV), and a second N-able N-central hotfix for actively exploited CVE-2026-18577. Other items include GitHub expanding Dependabot malware alerts to eight package ecosystems and EU AI Act enforcement beginning on 2 August 2026.
ConfusedPilot attack exploits Microsoft 365 Copilot's retrieval pipeline to expose confidential enterprise data in AI responses.
ConfusedPilot targets Microsoft 365 Copilot's retrieval-augmented generation pipeline, potentially causing the assistant to surface confidential enterprise content in generated responses. Researchers disclosed the technique as a Copilot data confidentiality flaw affecting search and caching behavior. It highlights the emerging attack surface in enterprise AI assistants that access corporate data stores.
Lazarus exploits Windows AFD.sys zero-day CVE-2026-68820 in Operation Dream Job to deploy Troy backdoor at defense firms.
Check Point attributes Operation Dream Job attacks to Lazarus Group exploiting CVE-2026-68820 (CVSS 7.0), a privilege escalation flaw in Windows AFD.sys patched in August 2026 Patch Tuesday. The campaign targets defense and aerospace firms in France, Germany, Brazil, and India via trojanized PDF viewers and DLL side-loading, deploying backdoors Troy, ForestTiger, and the FudModule 3.1 kernel rootkit. Attackers also compromise WordPress, SharePoint, and Roundcube servers as C2, using CVE-2025-49113 and the RelayShell PHP web shell.
Attackers exploit SharePoint authentication bypass CVE-2026-55040 (CVSS 9.1) after Rapid7's PoC release, with 12 exploitation attempts recorded since July 19, 2026.
Microsoft patched CVE-2026-55040 in its July 2026 Patch Tuesday; the 9.1-severity flaw chains four weaknesses in SharePoint's JWT token validation pipeline, letting unauthenticated attackers forge valid JWTs and impersonate any SharePoint site user or administrator. Threat actors began exploiting the bug after Rapid7 released a Python PoC that forges tokens and enumerates domain users by SID. KEVIntel telemetry shows 12 exploitation attempts since July 19, 2026, eight of them on August 12-13 following the PoC release, originating from eight IPs across Hong Kong, Japan, the Netherlands, Taiwan, and the U.S. This is the fifth SharePoint vulnerability exploited this year, alongside CVE-2026-45659, CVE-2026-56164, CVE-2026-58644, and CVE-2026-50522.
Intruder's 2026 Cloud Security Index finds weak IAM controls affect up to 98% of cloud environments across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.
Intruder's 2026 Cloud Security Index report analyzed cloud misconfigurations across midmarket and enterprise environments, finding weak IAM controls and missing logging affected 80% to 98% of accounts across all three major providers. AWS recorded the highest prevalence in five of six categories, including exposed services at 76% versus 8% on Google Cloud. IAM weaknesses worsen with scale, affecting 87% of SMEs, 95% of midmarket organizations, and 98% of large enterprises, while remediation times peak at 35 days for organizations with 1,000 to 5,000 employees.
NCSC UK guidance explains that configuring BitLocker PINs mitigates many BitLocker vulnerabilities and urges readiness for future bypass flaws.
The UK National Cyber Security Centre published guidance explaining how BitLocker PINs strengthen protection of data and devices. According to NCSC, enabling a pre-boot PIN mitigates many known BitLocker vulnerabilities that rely on default TPM-only configurations. The guidance encourages organizations to configure PINs now to be prepared for the next disclosed BitLocker bypass.
Attackers are actively exploiting critical SharePoint authentication bypass CVE-2026-55040 (CVSS 9.1) days after Rapid7 released a public PoC.
CVE-2026-55040 is a critical authentication bypass (CVSS 9.1) in SharePoint Server Subscription Edition that lets unauthenticated attackers forge JWT tokens and impersonate any user, including administrators. Microsoft patched it in July 2026 Patch Tuesday, but Rapid7 published a technical write-up and Python PoC on GitHub on August 12, and Defused quickly observed attackers running the PoC against SharePoint honeypots. KEVIntel recorded 12 exploitation attempts since July 19, with eight occurring on August 12-13 from IP addresses in Hong Kong, Japan, the Netherlands, Taiwan and the U.S. Admin-level SharePoint access exposes documents and data modification and can serve as a foothold into broader Microsoft 365 infrastructure; unpatched instances should apply the July update immediately.
Microsoft reports China-linked ransomware group Storm-1175 switched from Medusa to a new C++ strain, StormEncryptor, likely exploiting N-able flaw CVE-2026-18577.
Microsoft Threat Intelligence reports that the financially motivated, China-linked group Storm-1175 began deploying a new ransomware strain called StormEncryptor on August 2, 2026, replacing its previous Medusa ransomware. StormEncryptor is written in C++, appends the .encrypted extension to files, and drops a !!!README_FIRST!!!.txt ransom note in each scanned directory. Microsoft assesses the group is likely exploiting CVE-2026-18577, an authentication bypass in N-able disclosed on August 2, 2026 and added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog the next day. Since 2023, Storm-1175 has exploited more than 16 vulnerabilities in products including Microsoft Exchange, Ivanti, ConnectWise ScreenConnect, JetBrains TeamCity, SimpleHelp, CrushFTP, and GoAnywhere MFT, often moving from initial access to data theft and ransomware deployment within days.
Check Point links Lazarus Group's Operation Dream Job to a new Windows zero-day, CVE-2026-68820, targeting defense workers with fake Lockheed Martin job offers.
Check Point Research documented a new wave of Operation Dream Job, a North Korean Lazarus Group campaign targeting defense and aerospace professionals in France, Germany, Brazil, and India with fake Lockheed Martin job offers. The attacks chain a previously unknown Windows privilege escalation flaw in AFD.sys, CVE-2026-68820, which Microsoft patched on August 11, 2026, to deploy the MISTPEN downloader, ForestTiger backdoor, and updated FudModule 3.1 kernel rootkit. Check Point also discovered a new Troy backdoor DLL with 17 operator commands and a RelayShell PHP webshell deployed on compromised Roundcube and WordPress servers used as command relays, some infected via CVE-2025-49113 or leaked credentials. Defenders are urged to apply the August 2026 Patch Tuesday update and review Check Point's indicators of compromise.
Attackers use Rapid7's public PoC to exploit CVE-2026-55040, a critical SharePoint authentication bypass patched in July 2026.
Rapid7 researcher Stephen Fewer published technical analysis and PoC exploit code for CVE-2026-55040, an authentication bypass in SharePoint caused by flaws in the JWT token validation pipeline. Threat intelligence firm Defused observed attackers using the PoC against SharePoint honeypots, though Microsoft has not yet confirmed in-the-wild exploitation. Chained with CVE-2026-63520, the flaw can yield unauthenticated remote code execution, per NHS England Digital. CISA is urging administrators to harden SharePoint deployments by limiting direct internet exposure and using Layer 7 reverse proxies.
153GB archive from the LiteLLM supply chain attack exposes secrets from about 2,500 companies, including AWS, Samsung, Cisco and Salesforce.
Hudson Rock obtained and analyzed a 153GB archive stolen in the LiteLLM supply chain attack, containing 433,909 files with secrets attributed to 2,488 corporate domains, including AWS, Samsung, Cisco, Salesforce, NVIDIA, Microsoft and Siemens. TeamPCP compromised Trivy on March 19, 2026, stole LiteLLM's PyPI publishing tokens through the build pipeline, and published malicious LiteLLM versions 1.82.7 and 1.82.8 on March 24. CloudSEK separately estimated close to 2,500 exposed organizations, and Kevin Beaumont confirmed the data is legitimate. Hudson Rock is running a global ethical disclosure effort and urges organizations to rotate secrets before the trove leaks publicly.
CISA adds actively exploited SharePoint RCE CVE-2026-45659 (CVSS 8.8) to KEV; an August 11 update confirms ransomware groups are exploiting the flaw.
CVE-2026-45659 is a deserialization of untrusted data RCE in Microsoft SharePoint Server affecting Subscription Edition, 2019, and 2016, patched by Microsoft in May 2026. An authenticated attacker with at least Site Member permissions can execute code remotely over the network. CISA added the flaw to its KEV catalog on July 2 with a July 4 deadline for federal agencies, and on August 11 confirmed ransomware groups are exploiting it. Microsoft separately described Storm-2603 (Warlock ransomware) and an unrelated actor co-existing in one network, with initial access likely via the Gladinet Triofox flaw CVE-2025-11371 (CVSS 9.1).
Lazarus used a post-quantum key exchange to shield delivery of a Windows zero-day exploit, adding stealth to its campaign.
North Korean Lazarus Group malware used a post-quantum key exchange to protect the delivery of a Windows zero-day exploit. The technique adds a layer of stealth to the campaign's initial access, complicating detection and traffic inspection. It signals growing APT adoption of post-quantum cryptography in offensive operations.
US and Korean agencies warn Gunra ransomware actors exploit Fortinet flaws and stealthily exfiltrate large data volumes, targeting critical infrastructure.
US and Korean authorities warned that Gunra ransomware actors exploit Fortinet vulnerabilities to gain access and use stealthy techniques to exfiltrate vast volumes of data, including from Microsoft services. The group is targeting critical infrastructure organizations. Defenders should prioritize Fortinet patching and watch for large, quiet data egress.
Huntress documents an Akira ransomware affiliate rebooting endpoints into Windows Safe Mode to evade EDR and Defender, though Safe Mode broke the ransomware.
Huntress observed an Akira ransomware affiliate rebooting victim machines into Windows Safe Mode to disable EDR and Microsoft Defender before deploying ransomware. In an ironic twist, Safe Mode also prevented the ransomware from executing properly. The post walks through the full attack chain and the defensive lessons.
Microsoft patches 419 vulnerabilities in record-breaking Patch Tuesday; Windows Winsock zero-day CVE-2026-68820 is actively exploited by Lazarus Group.
Microsoft's August Patch Tuesday fixes 419 vulnerabilities (62 critical, 357 important), among the largest monthly counts on record, following 206 fixes in June and 622 in July as AI-assisted discovery drives unprecedented volume. Three flaws are zero-days; Windows Winsock bug CVE-2026-68820 is exploited in the wild by Lazarus Group in job-themed attacks using PDFs with a trojanised reader. CVE-2026-62832, publicly disclosed by researcher Nightmare Eclipse via the LegacyHive PoC, is also patched. Microsoft now lists bugs by product family instead of itemized CVEs, which defenders warn complicates triage.
CISA orders federal agencies to patch exploited Windows Winsock zero-day CVE-2026-68820 by August 25, used by Lazarus in Operation Dream Job.
CISA ordered federal agencies to patch Windows Winsock vulnerability CVE-2026-68820, rated 7/10, by August 25 after confirming exploitation; no workaround exists and a restart is required. Check Point found Lazarus Group hackers impersonated Lockheed Martin and Enveil recruiters on LinkedIn, sent malicious PDFs enabling long-term remote access, then used the zero-day to escalate from limited access to full system control. Targets spanned defense sectors including surveillance, drones and robotics in France, Germany, Brazil and India, as part of Operation Dream Job tracked since 2020.
Researchers show encrypted reasoning blocks in OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google APIs can be replayed to recover hidden reasoning and secrets like API keys.
Researchers demonstrated that encrypted reasoning objects from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google reasoning APIs could be replayed across sessions, users, and models, letting weaker same-family models act as decoders of hidden reasoning. Across 6,708 public agent trajectories they decoded 315,320 thinking blocks and found 704 privacy artifacts from real user sessions, including 62 API keys, 33 passwords, 24 access tokens, and seven private keys. The replayable blocks also enabled invisible prompt-injection proof-of-concepts; the main extraction attack is no longer reproducible as of August 2026 following mitigations, though no vendor has publicly acknowledged the flaw.
Microsoft's August Patch Tuesday delivers fixes for 400 security vulnerabilities across its product lineup.
Microsoft released its August Patch Tuesday security updates, fixing 400 vulnerabilities, described as another massive monthly batch. The source text provides no breakdown of severity classes, affected products, or whether any flaws were actively exploited. Defenders should prioritize patching based on Microsoft's exploitation status ratings in the official bulletin.
Researcher Chaotic Eclipse published a PoC bypassing Microsoft's CVE-2026-50656 Defender patch, enabling SYSTEM-level code execution on fully patched Windows systems.
Security researcher Chaotic Eclipse released a proof-of-concept for ShieldBreak, a Microsoft Defender zero-day that fully bypasses the patch for CVE-2026-50656 (RoguePlanet), a race condition in the Malware Protection Engine (mpengine.dll) allowing SYSTEM-level code execution. The PoC was tested on Windows 11 25H2 and Windows Server 2025 with a 100% success rate, and Windows 10 is also vulnerable though not supported by the PoC; the flaw may also leak 8 bytes of memory. Microsoft's MSRC had criticized the researcher's repeated uncoordinated disclosures, including YellowKey (BitLocker bypass), GreenPlasma, and LegacyHive (User Profile Service LPE).
Microsoft's August 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes 398 CVEs, including an actively exploited WinSock zero-day CVE-2026-68820 and wormable DNS RCE CVE-2026-62878.
Microsoft's August 2026 Patch Tuesday addresses 398 CVEs across Windows, Office, Azure, Exchange Server, SharePoint, Teams, .NET and other products, with 62 rated Critical. The actively exploited CVE-2026-68820 is a use-after-free in the Windows WinSock afd.sys driver that can yield SYSTEM privileges via a race condition. CVE-2026-62878 is a critical, wormable stack buffer overflow in Windows DNS Server allowing unauthenticated, remote code execution without user interaction. Other notable fixes include WDS TFTP RCE CVE-2026-62893, a QUIC flaw affecting roughly 13.5 million sites (CVE-2026-62815), an Exchange authentication bypass EoP demonstrated at Pwn2Own Berlin (CVE-2026-62911), and two TPM 2.0 reference implementation fixes.
N-able shipped a second N-central hotfix as attackers actively exploit authentication bypass CVE-2026-18577, attributed to ransomware group Storm-1175.
N-able released Hotfix 2 (N-central 2026.3.1.10) to counter ongoing exploitation of CVE-2026-18577, an authentication bypass that evades the patch for the earlier CVE-2026-18556; exploitation was first detected on August 1, 2026. Post-exploitation includes using the Take Control feature to reach managed endpoints, registering a Cloudflare tunnel service for persistence, creating a 'veeam' domain account, resetting admin passwords, and disabling Microsoft and Sophos security tooling. Microsoft analysts link the activity to Storm-1175, which now deploys a new StormEncryptor ransomware strain instead of Medusa, often reaching data exfiltration and ransomware within days. Sophos and Huntress expanded the IOCs and warned that partners who patched late should treat environments as potentially compromised.
ConnectSecure launches Microsoft 365 Auto Remediation and AI-powered Training Assessments to help MSPs automate M365 security fixes and compliance training.
ConnectSecure's platform now automates remediation of supported Microsoft 365 security findings through conditional access policies, covering gaps such as missing MFA enforcement, legacy authentication and risky sign-ins. A new AI-assisted Training Assessments module generates, assigns and measures security assessments with configurable difficulty, pass thresholds and multilingual support. The previously announced Patch 360 patch management capability, including pilot-first validation, staged rollouts and rollback, is also now available.
Microsoft's August 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes 400+ vulnerabilities, including an actively exploited Windows zero-day (CVE-2026-68820) used by North Korean attackers.
Microsoft's August 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes over 400 vulnerabilities, including CVE-2026-68820, a use-after-free in the Windows Ancillary Function Driver exploited in the wild by North Korean actors deploying a kernel-mode rootkit in Operation Dream Job. Critical unauthenticated remote code execution flaws in Microsoft QUIC (CVE-2026-62815) and Windows DNS (CVE-2026-62878) were also patched, alongside a SharePoint RCE chain combining CVE-2026-63520 with CVE-2026-55040. Researcher Nightmare-Eclipse released ShieldBreak, a PoC bypassing the July RoguePlanet Microsoft Defender patch (CVE-2026-50656), confirmed working by Will Dormann on Windows 11.
Lazarus' Operation Dream Job targets the defense sector with fake job offers, a Windows LPE zero-day (CVE-2026-68820), and new Troy and RelayShell backdoors.
Check Point documented two parallel infection chains in Lazarus' Operation Dream Job: a digitally signed PDF viewer with DLL sideloading delivering the MISTPEN in-memory downloader, and a trojanized SecurityPDF viewer, distributed via fake Enveil websites, installing the newly documented Troy backdoor. A component exploits CVE-2026-68820, a local privilege escalation zero-day in the Windows AFD.sys driver used since at least early July, which Microsoft patched on August 11, 2026, enabling deployment of the FudModule kernel-mode rootkit. Lazarus also compromised Roundcube webmail servers vulnerable to CVE-2025-49113 to deploy the RelayShell PHP web shell and relay C2 traffic, targeting defense-sector organizations primarily in Western Europe and India. Separately, CERT-UA documented Sandworm's UAC-0145 using fake job offers against IT professionals since May 2026.
Microsoft's August 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes 421 vulnerabilities across its products, including 62 rated critical; Cisco Talos published analysis and matching Snort rules.
Microsoft released its August 2026 monthly security update addressing 421 vulnerabilities across a range of products. Of these, 62 flaws were rated critical by Microsoft. Cisco Talos highlighted the most prominent vulnerabilities in the release and published Snort rules for detection of related exploitation attempts.
Zscaler details CaptiveCrunch: Midnight Blizzard's Storm-2945 compromises hotel Wi-Fi captive portals to redirect guests and harvest Microsoft 365 credentials via device code phishing.
Zscaler ThreatLabz analyzed the CaptiveCrunch credential theft campaign first reported by Microsoft on July 31. Microsoft attributes the activity to Storm-2945, a sub-cluster of Russia-linked Midnight Blizzard (APT29, Cozy Bear, NOBELIUM, BlueBravo). The actor manipulates DNS and HTTP traffic on captive portal networks at hotels and conference centers, redirecting victims to attacker-controlled infrastructure for Microsoft 365 credential harvesting, device code phishing, and malware delivery. Evidence indicates shared captive portal services were compromised rather than each venue being breached individually.
Microsoft's August 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes 398 vulnerabilities, including one flaw already being actively exploited and two publicly disclosed before the update.
Microsoft released August 2026 Patch Tuesday updates fixing at least 398 vulnerabilities in Windows and supported software. One of the flaws is already being actively exploited, and two others were publicly detailed ahead of the patch release. The update is one of the larger monthly releases in recent memory.
Rapid7 counts 421 vulnerabilities in Microsoft's August 2026 Patch Tuesday, with one exploited in the wild and two others publicly disclosed.
Rapid7 counts 421 vulnerabilities published in Microsoft's August 2026 Patch Tuesday, including 236 in Windows — below last month's record but still among the largest totals ever. Microsoft is aware of exploitation in the wild for one published vulnerability and public disclosure of two others, though the Security Update Guide's Notable CVEs section omits one of these. Browser vulnerabilities are excluded from the published count, and Microsoft unusually does not appear to have addressed some expected items.
Heap-Based Buffer Overflow in Windows ALPC Enables Local Privilege Escalation
CVE-2026-85880 is a heap-based buffer overflow in Windows Advanced Local Procedure Call (ALPC), the Windows mechanism for local inter-process communication. An authorized local attacker can trigger the overflow by submitting crafted input over ALPC, corrupting heap memory in the component that handles the request. Successful exploitation allows the attacker to execute code with elevated privileges, typically gaining SYSTEM-level control of the local host, which is especially valuable as a post-exploitation or sandbox-escape step. Affected products include Windows 10 (1607, 1809, 21H2, 22H2) and Windows Server 2012, 2016, 2019, and 2022, meaning most on-premises Windows estates are in scope. The flaw was fixed in Microsoft's record 974-CVE September 2026 Patch Tuesday and was added to CISA's KEV on 2026-09-08, confirming exploitation in the wild; press reports describe Windows zero-days being chained with a Chrome zero-day in 'BlueMoon' kit attacks, though the data does not explicitly confirm this CVE is the Windows flaw in that chain.
· Microsoft Windows 10 1607, 1809, 21H2, 22H2 · Microsoft Windows Server 2012, 2016, 2019, 2022 KEVmass
Local Privilege Escalation via Link Following in Windows Update Stack
CVE-2026-81963 is a link-following flaw (CWE-59, improper link resolution before file access) in the Microsoft Windows Update Stack, in which the component fails to correctly resolve file links before opening them. A local attacker with low privileges can plant or manipulate a link (symlink/junction) that the privileged update stack follows during operation, redirecting its file access to an attacker-controlled target. The result is local privilege escalation — CVSS 3.1 rates this 7.8 (high) with high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact — allowing an authorized local user or malware already on the machine to gain elevated rights. Affected products are Windows 11 23H2, 24H2, 25H2, and 26H1 and Windows Server 2025; any unpatched system on those versions is exposed to any local account holder. The flaw was fixed in Microsoft's record September 2026 Patch Tuesday (974 CVEs), was added to CISA's KEV on 2026-09-08 as one of two Windows zero-days reported as exploited in the wild, and has no known public PoC or confirmed ransomware use.
· Microsoft Windows 11 23H2, 24H2, 25H2, 26H1 · Microsoft Windows Server 2025 KEVmass
Use-After-Free Local Privilege Escalation in Microsoft Windows WinSock AFD Driver
CVE-2026-68820 is a use-after-free (CWE-416) in the Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock (afd.sys), the kernel component that handles Winsock socket operations. A local, authenticated attacker can trigger the memory corruption through crafted socket activity, and the high attack-complexity score (AV:L/AC:H/PR:L) indicates exploitation requires a specific, likely race-sensitive sequence of operations. Successful exploitation elevates privileges to SYSTEM, giving the attacker full control of the host, and public reporting describes deployment of a backdoor after privilege escalation. Virtually every Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server (2012-2022) installation ships this driver, so the affected population is essentially the entire supported Windows installed base. The flaw is being exploited in the wild: CISA added it to the KEV on 2026-08-11, Microsoft fixed it in the August 2026 Patch Tuesday release, and reporting ties active exploitation to North Korea's Lazarus group, who paired the zero-day with fake job-offer lures.
· Microsoft Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock (afd.sys) as shipped with the Windows versions listed below · Microsoft Windows 10 1607, 1809, 21H2, 22H2 KEVmass
Actively Exploited V8 Type Confusion in Google Chrome (CVE-2026-85046)
Google Chrome versions prior to 152.0.7977.82 contain a type confusion flaw (CWE-843) in the V8 JavaScript engine, which mishandles object types during engine operations (public proof-of-concept writeups indicate it is reachable through array sorting and WebAssembly-related code paths). A remote attacker triggers the flaw simply by getting a user to open a crafted HTML page, with no privileges or authentication required. Successful exploitation lets the attacker execute arbitrary code inside the browser's sandbox, and public reporting shows it being chained with Windows zero-days (the 'BlueMoon' exploit kit) by Chinese espionage groups for broader compromise. Any user of an unpatched Chrome or another build embedding the affected V8 engine is exposed. The vulnerability is a zero-day that was actively exploited in the wild before patching, was added to CISA's KEV on 2026-09-04, and has five public proof-of-concept references.
· Google Chrome prior to 152.0.7977.82 · Google Chromium V8 V8 engine versions bundled with Chrome prior to 152.0.7977.82 KEV PoC ×5mass
Local Elevation of Privilege in Microsoft Defender Malware Protection Engine
CVE-2026-69414, publicly dubbed 'ShieldBreak', is a high-severity (CVSS 3.1: 7.8) elevation-of-privilege flaw in the Microsoft Malware Protection Engine (MMPE) that powers Microsoft Defender, rooted in improper access control and improper privilege management (CWE-284/CWE-269). It is triggered locally: an attacker who already holds low privileges on the machine needs no user interaction (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N) to trip the engine's flawed access checks, and successful exploitation yields high impact to confidentiality, integrity, and availability. News coverage reports public PoCs released under the 'ShieldBreak'/'ShieldCrash' names demonstrating SYSTEM-level access on Defender-protected Windows systems, including claims that the shipped patch can be bypassed and arbitrary files read as SYSTEM. Because MMPE ships as the scan engine inside Microsoft Defender, effectively every Defender-protected Windows 10/11 endpoint and server is potentially affected, though the source data specifies no affected engine version ranges. There is no confirmed in-the-wild exploitation (EPSS 0.6%, absent from CISA KEV), but given the public PoC claims, defenders should assume working exploit code exists.
· Microsoft Malware Protection Engine (used in Microsoft Defender)mass
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).
CVE-2026-69730 is a use-after-free memory corruption flaw (CWE-416) in the Windows DNS service that allows an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary code by sending crafted network traffic to the affected system. Because the flaw is network-exploitable with no privileges or user interaction required (CVSS 3.1 9.8), any system running the vulnerable DNS service is a direct target. Successful exploitation would give the attacker code execution in the context of the DNS service, which on Windows Server typically runs with high privileges such as SYSTEM, and could enable wormable spread between vulnerable hosts. Affected organizations are those running the Windows DNS Server role — a component deployed on virtually all Windows Server domain controllers and on dedicated Windows DNS servers, especially those exposed to untrusted networks. As of the September 2026 Patch Tuesday release, there is no known public proof-of-concept, the flaw is not listed in CISA's KEV, and it has not been confirmed exploited in the wild, though it was flagged among roughly 20 'wormable' bugs and described in press coverage as a successor to the 2020 SigRed Windows DNS RCE.
· Microsoft Windows DNS Server role (Windows Server)mass
Unauthenticated RCE in Microsoft SharePoint Server
CVE-2026-63520 is an improper input validation flaw (CWE-20) in Microsoft Office SharePoint, affecting on-premises SharePoint Server deployments. A remote, unauthenticated attacker can trigger the flaw by sending improperly validated input to the SharePoint service over the network; the high attack complexity (AC:H) indicates exploitation depends on specific conditions, but no privileges or user interaction are required. Successful exploitation results in arbitrary code execution on the server, with high impact to confidentiality, integrity, and availability — effectively full compromise of the SharePoint host. Organizations running self-hosted SharePoint Server are in scope; SharePoint Online/Microsoft 365 is not listed in the affected products. The issue is patched as of Microsoft's Patch Tuesday (headlines mark it FIXED), with Rapid7 analysis and a researcher-disclosed exploit chain available, but there is no public PoC, no CISA KEV listing, and no confirmed in-the-wild exploitation; EPSS puts exploitation probability at 2.9% (86th percentile).
· Microsoft SharePoint Server (Office SharePoint, on-premises)mass
Microsoft is aware of an elevation of privilege in the Microsoft Malware Protection Engine in Microsoft Defender publicly referred to as "RoguePlanet ".
Microsoft is aware of an elevation of privilege in the Microsoft Malware Protection Engine in Microsoft Defender publicly referred to as "RoguePlanet ".
Double Free Enables Unauthenticated RCE in Microsoft Exchange Server
CVE-2026-55007 is a double-free memory corruption flaw (CWE-415) in Microsoft Exchange Server in which the same heap allocation is freed twice, corrupting memory. A remote, unauthenticated attacker can trigger the flaw over the network, though the high attack complexity (AC:H) means reliable exploitation likely depends on favorable heap/timing conditions, making it harder to weaponize than typical pre-auth RCEs. Successful exploitation yields arbitrary code execution with high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (CVSS 3.1: 8.1). Any organization running on-premises Microsoft Exchange Server is in scope, with the greatest risk on servers reachable from untrusted networks. As of now there is no public proof-of-concept, the flaw is not in CISA's KEV catalog, and EPSS estimates only a 0.7% chance of exploitation within 30 days; it was disclosed amid Microsoft's record September 2026 Patch Tuesday (974 CVEs), which press coverage highlighted for notable Exchange flaws.
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