Week in review: Linux rootkit deployed on F5 BIG-IP APM devices, Cisco FMC bugs exploited
Weekly roundup: Cisco FMC and N-able N-central zero-days exploited in the wild, MikroTik RouterOS hijacks, Microsoft Patch Tuesday ships two exploited zero-days.
State-sponsored and financially-motivated attackers are actively exploiting CVE-2026-20079, a critical authentication bypass in Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC), alongside CVE-2026-20316. N-able issued an emergency hotfix for CVE-2026-86218, a critical pre-auth RCE in the N-central RMM platform exploited in the wild. CERT Polska disclosed six RouterOS vulnerabilities being chained to hijack internet-exposed MikroTik devices. Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday shipped a record patch count including two zero-days, while roughly 67,000 Trezor customers faced phishing after a shipping-partner breach and researchers privately disclosed a zero-click WeChat worm to Tencent.
A maximum severity GitLab flaw could turn your CI/CD server into an attacker’s treasure trove
GitLab patched maximum-severity CVE-2026-85706, an unauthenticated path traversal enabling arbitrary file reads; CISA added it to KEV amid observed in-the-wild probes.
CVE-2026-85706 is a CVSS 10.0 path traversal in GitLab's repository commits API caused by improper confinement and missing authentication enforcement, allowing arbitrary file reads in a single unauthenticated HTTP request. It affects GitLab CE and EE versions 18.7 before 19.1.8, 19.2 before 19.2.6, and 19.3 before 19.3.2, and was reported via GitLab's HackerOne bug bounty. CISA added the flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, and watchTowr Intel reports already observing in-the-wild probes; GitLab is used by roughly 50% of the Fortune 100 with over 50 million registered users. Defenders are advised to patch immediately, rotate any exposed secrets, and hunt logs for HTTP POST requests to /api/v4/projects/{id}/repository/commits/ URIs containing file.path parameters.
CISA Flags Exploited Cisco, Citrix, Fortinet Flaws, Sets Sept. 12 Federal Patch Deadline
CISA adds actively exploited Cisco, Citrix, and Fortinet edge-device flaws to KEV catalog, ordering federal agencies to patch by September 12, 2026.
CISA added CVE-2026-20079 (Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center authentication bypass, CVSS 10.0), CVE-2026-19490 (Citrix NetScaler ADC/Gateway authentication bypass, CVSS 9.3), and CVE-2025-25249 (FortiOS heap buffer overflow, CVSS 7.3) to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog with a September 12, 2026 deadline for FCEB agencies. Cisco confirmed active exploitation of CVE-2026-20079 in August 2026, while Previdian honeypots logged 56 NetScaler exploitation attempts since September 3. SOCRadar attributes Fortinet exploitation to a financially motivated Russian-speaking actor deploying the PivotC2 Node.js RAT, infecting 178 of over 3,000 targeted IP addresses, mostly in the US.