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.
Google says some Pixel phone owners were hacked in zero-day attacks
Google patched CVE-2026-58704, a zero-click Pixel modem privilege-escalation zero-day exploited in limited, targeted attacks.
Google disclosed that a vulnerability in Pixel smartphones' modem software, tracked as CVE-2026-58704, was exploited in limited and targeted cyberattacks and has now been patched. Exploitation could allow an attacker to escape the modem sandbox and escalate privileges to access broader phone data. The bug can be exploited silently with zero user interaction. Google did not attribute the activity, though such modem bugs are commonly abused by surveillance vendors selling spyware to governments.
AI-powered attack exploited PaperCut flaws to hack 395 organizations
AI-driven campaign exploited PaperCut flaws CVE-2026-81578 and CVE-2026-82078, compromising 440 servers at 395 organizations in 48 countries.
GreyNoise reports a likely Russian-speaking threat actor used hundreds of AI agents combining OpenAI Codex and DeepSeek models to build, test, and refine exploits for CVE-2026-81578 and CVE-2026-82078 in PaperCut NG/MF, launching the campaign on August 31. At least 440 PaperCut instances at 395 organizations across 48 countries were compromised, with the education sector accounting for roughly half of victims and the US most targeted. Attackers harvested credentials from 280 victims, obtained OS or domain secrets from 147, and gained admin privileges at 12 organizations, using LSASS dumping, pass-the-hash, noPac, and DCSync to dump NTDS.DIT. The adversary went from empty workspace to first RCE in under four hours, and compromised at least 11 organizations within 26 seconds once the campaign launched.
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.
Four groups caught using the same Chrome and Windows exploit kit
Proofpoint reports at least four hacking groups, some China-linked, share the BlueMoon exploit kit chaining Chromium and Windows kernel vulnerabilities to install malware.
Proofpoint named the nearly identical kit BlueMoon; it chains two Chromium vulnerabilities with one Windows kernel privilege-escalation flaw affecting Windows 10 (October 2018 Update and 2004), Windows Server 2019 and 2022, and the initial Windows 11 release. All three vulnerabilities received patches within 24 hours of the activity. The kit is being actively used by at least four hacking groups, some with Chinese government ties. Proofpoint links the rapid, visible sharing of a historically rare full browser exploit chain to the Chromium supply-chain patch gap and AI-assisted exploit development.
Hackers Drain $320 Million From Liquid Network, Then Return Most of It
Hackers exploited an Elements bug to drain about 4,000 BTC (~$320M) from Liquid Network's federation wallet, then returned 3,400 BTC after Blockstream patched.
An attacker drained roughly 4,000 of 4,200 BTC (~$320M) from Bitcoin's Liquid Network federation wallet on September 6 by exploiting a bug in Elements, the open-source code powering the sidechain, which allowed unbacked L-BTC tokens that were redeemed for real Bitcoin through SideSwap's authorized peg-out mechanism. The self-described white-hat attackers negotiated publicly via OP_RETURN on-chain messages, demanding the bridge nodes be patched before returning 3,400 BTC (~$262.6M) and keeping about 598 BTC (~$47M). Blockstream confirmed the affected bridge nodes were patched; the network remains paused while federation members complete security work, and experts debate whether the act legally constitutes extortion.