60
60
60
60
60
60
60
60
China-Linked Hackers Exploit Chrome and Windows Zero-Days in BlueMoon Attacks
China-linked clusters deploy the BlueMoon kit chaining Chrome V8 CVE-2026-85046 and Windows LPE CVE-2026-85880 in espionage campaigns.
Proofpoint researchers identified BlueMoon, an exploit kit combining a V8 type-confusion RCE (CVE-2026-85046), a V8 sandbox escape, and a Windows kernel privilege-escalation flaw (CVE-2026-85880), first observed August 28, 2026. At least four clusters adopted it, led by TA412 (also tracked as APT31/Violet Typhoon) and followed by UNK_LateNight, UNK_DoubleCheck, and UNK_QuietRacket, targeting aerospace, manufacturing, government, consulting, and financial sectors. The kit exploited a nearly four-week patch gap between the public Chromium commit (August 7) and stable rollout (September 3). TA412 delivered the GemStone Chrome extension masquerading as a Gemini companion, while other clusters deployed ShadowPad via DLL sideloading, a Rust loader, and DoH-based C2.
80
Novel Blue Moon kit targeting Chrome and Windows reflects new reality of AI-driven exploits
Proofpoint reports the BlueMoon exploit kit, chaining two Chrome V8 zero-days and a Windows ALPC bug, being shared across China-linked espionage groups.
Proofpoint identified a new exploit kit, BlueMoon, first observed on August 28 and used by TA412 (APT31/Violet Typhoon) against US NGOs, mining firms, and commodity trading companies. The kit chains a V8 type confusion RCE (CVE-2026-85046), a V8 sandbox escape, and a Windows Advanced Local Procedure Call privilege escalation (CVE-2026-85880), both patched flaws having been exploited in the wild. At least four espionage groups, most with suspected China nexus including UNK_LateNight, adopted the kit within days, targeting US aerospace firms with defense-sector lures. Fewer than 20 organizations were observed targeted, and researchers believe AI-assisted exploit development against upstream Chromium patches enabled the kit's rapid creation and sharing.
85
Keys to the Kingdom: Erlang/OTP SSH Vulnerability Analysis and Exploits Observed in the Wild
Attackers actively exploit CVE-2025-32433, a CVSS 10.0 unauthenticated RCE in Erlang/OTP SSH, heavily targeting OT and critical infrastructure networks.
CVE-2025-32433 enables unauthenticated RCE in Erlang/OTP's SSH daemon via SSH connection protocol messages (codes >= 80) processed before authentication, affecting versions before OTP-27.3.3, OTP-26.2.5.11 and OTP-25.3.2.20. Unit 42 recorded a spike in exploitation between May 1-9, 2025, with 70% of detections on firewalls protecting OT networks, disproportionately affecting healthcare, agriculture, media and high technology. Observed payloads bind TCP-connected shells or launch Bash reverse shells to hosts like 146.103.40.203:6667, with randomized DNS lookups under dns.outbound.watchtowr.com indicating OAST-driven blind RCE validation.
90
60
60
60
60
60
57
60
Hackers Actively Exploiting Gitea n-day RCE Vulnerability in the Wild to Hijack Instances
Chinese-speaking Red Heron actors mass-exploit Gitea n-day RCE CVE-2026-60004 to steal source code, credentials, and pivot into victim networks.
Acronis Threat Research Unit reports active in-the-wild exploitation of Gitea RCE CVE-2026-60004 (CVSS 9.8, versions 1.17-1.27.0, fixed in 1.27.1) by a Chinese-speaking actor dubbed Red Heron. The actor scanned 1,386 Gitea servers across seven countries, held a separate list of 477 Taiwan-based targets, and confirmed victims in Canada, Argentina, Taiwan, the US, and Sri Lanka. Intrusions deployed the JITTERLY Linux implant with the SIXZUT LD_PRELOAD rootkit, stole password hashes and SSH keys, and in one case gained root admin access to a three-node Proxmox cluster.
80
Weekly Cybersecurity Newsletter Bulletin – Microsoft 0-day, FortiOS, PAN-OS Flaw, Revolut Data Breach, and 20+ Stories
Weekly roundup: Microsoft patches 973 flaws including two actively exploited zero-days; FortiOS CAPWAP flaw deploys PivotC2 RAT; PAN-OS root RCE disclosed.
Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday fixed 973 vulnerabilities, including two zero-days under active exploitation: CVE-2026-85880 (Windows ALPC) and CVE-2026-81963 (Windows Update Stack), both elevation-of-privilege bugs. SOCRadar reported active exploitation of CVE-2025-25249 (CVSS 9.8) in FortiOS CAPWAP, deploying a Node.js RAT called PivotC2 that exfiltrates Exchange mailboxes to Wasabi cloud storage; 178 devices were compromised out of 30,000 scanned IPs, attributed to a Russian-speaking financially motivated group. Palo Alto disclosed CVE-2026-0310, a 9.2-rated buffer overflow enabling root code execution on PA-Series firewalls, and Fortinet disclosed CVE-2026-84393, a ZTNA certificate validation MITM flaw. Cyera also revealed CVE-2026-6471 ('PostGREShell'), a 12-year-old PostgreSQL logical-decoding flaw allowing code execution via REPLICATION-privileged accounts.
80
BlueMoon Exploit Kit Chains Recent Chrome, Windows Zero-Days
Proofpoint reports multiple espionage groups rapidly adopting BlueMoon, a new exploit kit chaining Chrome and Windows zero-days.
Proofpoint identified a new exploit kit, BlueMoon, chaining two Chrome V8 zero-days (CVE-2026-85046, CVE-2026-87491) with a Windows ALPC privilege escalation zero-day (CVE-2026-85880), all patched between September 3 and September 2026 Patch Tuesday. China-linked Violet Typhoon (APT31) first used it on August 28 against US NGOs and mining/commodity trading firms; UNK_LateNight, UNK_DoubleCheck, and UNK_QuietRacket adopted it within days against targets in the US, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Singapore. The kit exploits the V8 defects for sandbox escape, fingerprints the host, and injects a CreateProcess stub into the Chrome broker process to download and execute a payload via curl. Development artifacts suggest the kit's creators may have used AI to build it, potentially lowering the barrier to exploit development.
88
New 'BlueMoon' kit exploited Windows and Chrome zero-day flaws
Multiple China-linked espionage groups share the BlueMoon exploit kit chaining Chrome V8 zero-days and a Windows ALPC LPE to deploy backdoors.
Proofpoint and Volexity report that multiple espionage clusters share the BlueMoon exploit kit, chaining Chrome V8 zero-days CVE-2026-85046 and CVE-2026-87491 with the Windows ALPC local privilege escalation CVE-2026-85880. Proofpoint observed spearphishing use since August 28 by JungleBamboo (APT31), while Volexity saw UTA0560 targeting NGOs from September 1; UNK_LateNight hit US aerospace/defense with ShadowPad and UNK_DoubleCheck targeted Vietnamese manufacturers. The kit's maintainers reverse-engineer public Chromium fixes before stable Chrome releases, and Proofpoint suspects the ALPC exploit has existed since 2025.
85
Four Nation-State Actors Used the Same Chrome Zero-Day Exploit Kit Within 12 Days
Proofpoint reports four nation-state actors, mostly China-nexus, adopted the BlueMoon Chrome and Windows zero-day exploit kit within 12 days, targeting US organizations.
Proofpoint tracked an exploit kit dubbed BlueMoon that chains CVE-2026-85046, a Chrome V8 type-confusion bug, with an unnamed V8 sandbox escape and CVE-2026-85880, a Windows kernel privilege escalation using ALPC and the Windows Notification Facility. The first observed use was by China-nexus TA412 (APT31, Violet Typhoon, JungleBamboo) on August 28, 2026 against US NGOs, mining companies, and commodity trading firms, followed by UNK_LateNight targeting US aerospace and defense companies on September 2. Both V8 bugs were patch-gap zero-days: the fix was committed to Chromium on August 7 but reached stable Chrome on September 3, enabling rapid weaponization from public patches. TA412's post-exploitation payload, GemStone, is a malicious browser extension posing as an AI-powered Google Gemini companion that captures keystrokes, cookies, screenshots, and browsing history via a Cloudflare Worker C2.
85
Chinese espionage groups swarm to exploit triple-link chain of zero-days
At least four China-aligned espionage groups chained three zero-days in Chromium browsers and Windows ALPC for espionage since late August.
Proofpoint observed at least four state-aligned threat groups, starting with TA412/Violet Typhoon/APT31 on August 28, chaining three zero-days in the 'BlueMoon' exploit chain targeting Chrome, Chromium-based browsers and Microsoft Windows. The chain includes RCE flaws in Chromium's JavaScript engine (CVE-2026-85046, CVE-2026-87491) and a Windows Advanced Local Procedure Call privilege-escalation zero-day (CVE-2026-85880), enabling sandbox code execution, sandbox escape and system privileges. APT31 delivered the chain via phishing links to NGOs, mining and commodity trading firms in the US, installing a browser extension disguised as Google Gemini to surveil activity and steal credentials. Other groups (UNK_LateNight, UNK_DoubleCheck, UNK_QuietRacket) targeted US aerospace, Vietnamese manufacturing, and Indonesian and Singaporean organizations; fewer than 20 victims were directly observed but the true count is likely higher.
88
Hackers Chain Chrome and Windows Zero-Days in New BlueMoon Exploit Kit Attacks
Multiple espionage actors, mostly China-nexus, are chaining Chrome V8 and Windows kernel zero-days (CVE-2026-85046, CVE-2026-85880) via the BlueMoon exploit kit against government and defense targets.
Proofpoint identified a new exploit kit dubbed BlueMoon chaining a Chromium V8 type-confusion RCE (CVE-2026-85046), a V8 sandbox escape, and a Windows kernel LPE (CVE-2026-85880). At least four distinct threat clusters, most with suspected China nexus, adopted the kit within days starting with TA412 (Violet Typhoon/APT31) on August 28, 2026. Both Chrome-side flaws were patch-gap zero-days with roughly a four-week exploitation window; the Windows LPE only works on Windows 10 and Server 2019/2022. TA412 used spearphishing posing as university interns to deliver the GemStone browser backdoor disguised as a Google Gemini extension; other clusters delivered ShadowPad via DLL sideloading and a Rust loader against targets in aerospace, government, and finance.
86
Multiple Chinese hacking groups seen using identical Chrome zero-day exploit
Four China-linked espionage groups share identical BlueMoon Chrome zero-day exploit kit targeting US defense contractors and Asian government agencies.
Proofpoint identified at least four Chinese-aligned espionage groups (TA412/RedBravo, UNK_LateNight, UNK_DoubleCheck, UNK_QuietRacket) using an identical Chrome zero-day exploit kit dubbed BlueMoon in late August through this week. Targets include US defense contractors, NGOs, mining companies, and Southeast Asian government agencies. The exploit chains a Chromium patch-gap vulnerability with a Windows flaw, delivering malware such as ShadowPad and a fake Gemini browser extension backdoor, with possible AI-assisted exploit development.
85
⚡ Weekly Recap: VMware Exploits, Windows 0-Day, MCP Attacks, Browser Hijacks and More
Weekly recap: suspected China-nexus APT exploited VMware vCenter CVE-2026-59310, Lazarus used Windows zero-day CVE-2026-68820, and macOS flaw dropped Monero miners.
The week's top stories included a suspected China-nexus APT exploiting VMware vCenter CVE-2026-59310 (CVSS 9.8), a directory-traversal flaw enabling arbitrary code execution, with backdoors, reverse SSH and Babuk-derived ransomware deployed, per QUIRSO. NCSC-NL reported active exploitation of macOS Screen Sharing flaw CVE-2026-65400 (CVSS 9.8) to install Monero miners on systems with port 5900 exposed. Lazarus Group exploited Windows zero-day CVE-2026-68820 (CVSS 7.0) in Operation Dream Job, delivering ForestTiger and Troy backdoors to defense and aerospace targets. GeoServer patched a critical SQL injection flaw exploited within hours of disclosure, and Jamf analyzed the new Amnesia Stealer for macOS with live browser control.
78
CISA gives federal agencies two weeks to patch Microsoft bug exploited in DPRK campaign
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.
82
60
60
60
50
60
60
60
60
45
60
60
60