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AI-Generated Exploit Scripts Target Siemens S7 PLCs in U.S. Critical Infrastructure
NSA, CISA, FBI, DOE and EPA warn that actors use AI-generated Python scripts to exploit internet-exposed Siemens S7 PLCs at U.S. critical infrastructure.
A joint advisory from NSA, CISA, FBI, DOE and EPA describes an active threat in which AI-generated exploit scripts disguised as legitimate monitoring tools target Siemens S7 Series PLCs (S7-200 through S7-1500, including F-series safety controllers). The actors use Censys and ZoomEye scanning to find internet-exposed, outdated PLCs and a custom Python script using snap7 libraries over the S7comm protocol for initial access, credential access and denial of service; no attribution was given. Targeted sectors include Critical Manufacturing, Energy, Water and Wastewater, Chemical, Food and Agriculture, and Commercial Facilities, with potential for process disruption and cascading impacts. A related Dream report details a near-autonomous AI-agent campaign (July 1-4, 2026, 12 waves) against Taiwan government entities, using Hermes and OpenClaw agents with eight parallel sub-agents to crack 85 accounts via password spraying and exfiltrate over 2,564 personnel records, SSO client secrets and database credentials.
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China-Linked Hackers Chain Chrome Zero-Day With Windows Kernel Flaw in Attacks
Volexity reports China-linked UTA0560 and JungleBamboo chained Chrome zero-day CVE-2026-85046 with kernel flaws to spy on NGOs.
Volexity documented campaigns detected on September 1, 2026, in which China-linked actors UTA0560 and JungleBamboo (APT31) chained CVE-2026-85046 (V8 type confusion), CVE-2026-87491 (WebAssembly sandbox escape), and CVE-2026-85880 (Windows kernel privilege escalation in RtlpCreateServerAcl). Victims were lured via links on legitimate U.S. university sites vulnerable to reflected XSS, then served hidden exploit iframes behind a donation-form image. Although a V8 fix had landed in Chromium's source after private August reporting, Chrome had not yet shipped it, creating a patch gap the actors exploited. The two groups installed distinct payloads: UTA0560 delivered the GRIMWEDGE JScript backdoor via DLL side-loading, while JungleBamboo used the SUPERSTOMP loader to install the LONGTALE credential-stealing Chrome extension disguised as Google Gemini.
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Off Guard: Breaking LiteLLM from authentication bypass to cloud compromise
Wiz found LiteLLM auth bypass (CVE-2026-59822) and post-auth RCE (CVE-2026-59821) chainable to cloud compromise; the bypass is in CISA KEV with in-the-wild exploitation.
Wiz scanned roughly 3,074 internet-facing LiteLLM deployments and found 9.6% accepted the default master key sk-1234 or required no authentication, making post-auth attacks effectively pre-auth. The MCP endpoint accepts any Bearer token and grants a valid session (CVE-2026-59822), confirmed exploited in the wild via honeypots and added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. Custom code guardrails allow post-auth root-level RCE via exec(compile(...)) (CVE-2026-59821), while pass-through endpoints lack URL validation, enabling cloud credential theft in post-auth scenarios. All assigned vulnerabilities have been patched; the research was presented at DEF CON 34.
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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.
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U.S. CISA adds TrueConf Server flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
CISA added two exploited TrueConf Server flaws (CVE-2026-72529, CVE-2026-72530) to its KEV catalog with federal patch deadlines.
CISA added two TrueConf Server vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog: CVE-2026-72529 (CVSS 9.3), a missing-authentication remote code execution flaw reachable on TCP port 4307, and CVE-2026-72530 (CVSS 9.5), a sandbox escape allowing code execution on the underlying host. Both flaws affect TrueConf Server versions 5.3.x through 5.5.5 and earlier, and were discovered by Vyacheslav Kopeytsev of Kaspersky ICS CERT. Under BOD 22-01, federal civilian agencies must patch CVE-2026-72529 by August 23, 2026, and CVE-2026-72530 by September 2, 2026.
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⚡ 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.
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U.S. CISA adds Dassault Systèmes DELMIA Apriso flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
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U.S. CISA adds Linux Kernel flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
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U.S. CISA adds Advantive VeraCore and Ivanti EPM flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
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U.S. CISA adds Microsoft Windows and Rejetto HTTP File Server bugs to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
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Exposed Vite servers are being probed for AWS and Azure credentials
F5 honeypots logged 32,000+ probes against Vite file-access bypass CVE-2026-39364, hunting AWS and Azure credentials on exposed dev servers.
F5 Labs reported 32,000+ scan attempts (807 attack sessions) against exposed Vite servers in August, up from 1,732 attempts over the prior three months. Attackers exploited CVE-2026-39364 (CVSS 8.2), which bypasses Vite's server.fs.deny protection via parameters like ?raw and ?import&raw, affecting Vite 7.1.0 to before 7.3.2 and Vite 8 before 8.0.5. Scanners cycled wordlists for environment files, AWS keys, Azure tokens and IaC state files, also combining older Vite CVEs (2025-30208, 2025-31125, 2024-45811) and probing a Next.js middleware bypass. Only CVE-2025-31125 is currently in CISA's KEV catalog.
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Cisco FMC flaws exploited by ransomware gang, state-sponsored hackers
Cisco Talos confirms ransomware and state-sponsored groups exploited CVE-2026-20079 and CVE-2026-20316 in Secure Firewall Management Center, deploying Qilin ransomware and Cyclops Blink.
Cisco Talos identified three threat clusters (UAT-12197, UAT-11823, UAT-11988) exploiting CVE-2026-20079, a CVSS 10.0 authentication bypass, and CVE-2026-20316, a CVSS 5.3 static-credential flaw, in Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center. Qilin affiliates used static credentials for reconnaissance and deployed Qilin ransomware; a Sandworm-linked cluster deployed a Cyclops Blink backdoor via a malicious license.tmp file; a third cluster stole credentials through a JSP web shell. Cisco has released hotfixes and urges immediate installation, with broader patches expected next week.
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Hackers Deploy Hundreds of AI Agents to Compromise 440 PaperCut Servers
AI-agent campaign exploited PaperCut CVE-2026-81578 and CVE-2026-82078, compromising 440 servers at 395 organizations and reaching Domain Admin in 12.
GreyNoise tracked a likely Russian-speaking actor that used AI agents (OpenAI Codex, a DeepSeek model) to exploit an authentication bypass (CVE-2026-81578) and unsafe-reflection RCE (CVE-2026-82078) in PaperCut NG/MF starting August 31, 2026. At least 440 servers across 395 organizations in 48 countries were compromised, with one US high school going from initial access to Domain Admin in seven minutes. Escalation relied on LSASS and registry credential harvesting, pass-the-hash, the noPac technique (CVE-2021-42278/CVE-2021-42287), new Domain Admin accounts, and DCSync to steal NTDS.DIT data. Operators staged registry hives, used Ligolo tunneling and certutil Base64 encoding for exfiltration, and one attempt was blocked by Cloudflare WAF.
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U.S. CISA adds Google Chromium V8 flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
CISA added actively exploited Chrome V8 type-confusion flaw CVE-2026-85046 (CVSS 8.8) to its KEV catalog; Google patched it in Chrome 152.
CISA added CVE-2026-85046 (CVSS 8.8), a V8 type confusion flaw, to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, requiring US federal agencies to patch by September 18, 2026. Google fixed it in Chrome Stable 152.0.7977.82/.83 for Windows and Mac and 152.0.7977.82 for Linux, alongside 11 other vulnerabilities. The bug lets a remote attacker execute arbitrary code inside the browser sandbox via a crafted HTML page and is the sixth actively exploited Chrome zero-day of 2026. Researcher Salvatore Gulizia (Serotav) reported it on August 4, 2026.
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U.S. CISA adds ownCloud, Linux Kernel, and JFrog Artifactory flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
CISA added actively exploited ownCloud, Linux kernel, and JFrog Artifactory flaws to its KEV catalog, setting August 30 and September 10 deadlines.
CISA added three vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog: CVE-2023-49105 (ownCloud WebDAV improper authentication, CVSS 9.8), CVE-2026-53362 (Linux kernel IPv6 out-of-bounds write, CVSS 7.8), and CVE-2026-66384 (JFrog Artifactory path traversal, CVSS 5.3). The ownCloud flaw lets unauthenticated attackers who know a username read, alter, or delete files when no signing key is configured; the kernel bug enables local privilege escalation. OpenAI reported its models identified and exploited the JFrog Artifactory zero-day, and AI agents used the Linux kernel flaw to gain root access and escape an Artifactory container in an OpenAI environment. Federal agencies must patch CVE-2026-66384 by September 10 and the other two by August 30, 2026.
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U.S. CISA adds Red Hat, Linux Kernel, Ajax.NET Professional, Microsoft SQL Server, and Citrix NetScaler flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
CISA added six flaws, including actively exploited CVE-2026-8452 in Citrix NetScaler, to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog with federal patch deadlines.
CISA added six vulnerabilities to its KEV catalog: CVE-2015-3246 and CVE-2015-5287 (Red Hat libuser race condition and ABRT privilege escalation), CVE-2019-1068 (Microsoft SQL Server RCE), CVE-2021-23758 (Ajax.NET Professional deserialization), CVE-2022-0995 (Linux Kernel out-of-bounds write) and CVE-2026-8452 (Citrix NetScaler ADC/Gateway memory buffer flaw). CVE-2026-8452 has been observed under active exploitation in the wild and can cause denial-of-service. Under BOD 22-01, federal civilian agencies must patch CVE-2019-1068 and CVE-2026-8452 by August 29, 2026, and the rest by September 9, 2026.
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CISA Warns Water Utilities: Find Your Exposed PLCs Before Attackers Do
CISA urged water utilities to secure internet-exposed PLCs after July 2026 attacks compromised over 100 US water and wastewater systems, suspected Iran-linked.
CISA's exposure-reduction guidance, published August 21, follows July 2026 attacks in which threat actors remotely accessed PLCs connected directly through cellular modems, changed device IP addresses and passwords, and in some cases disabled alarms and shutdown processes without notifying operators. Iran is the suspected actor, though officials stopped short of formal attribution. CISA recommends routing remote access through centrally managed secure gateways, phishing-resistant MFA, unique credentials, and external scanning of industrial protocols such as Modbus, EtherNet/IP, DNP3, BACnet and OPC UA.
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U.S. CISA adds Gitea flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
CISA added the actively exploited Gitea RCE flaw CVE-2026-60004 (CVSS 9.8) to its KEV catalog, with federal patching due by August 28, 2026.
CISA added CVE-2026-60004, a critical remote code execution flaw in Gitea (CVSS 9.8), to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. The flaw affects Gitea versions since 1.17, fixed in 1.27.1, and lets attackers with repository write access execute shell commands via the diffpatch API and Git hooks. Open registration allows unauthenticated attackers to create accounts and exploit exposed instances, with a reported attack deploying a cryptocurrency-miner-like payload.
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U.S. CISA adds Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
CISA added actively exploited Zimbra flaw CVE-2026-73570 (unauthenticated OS command injection RCE) to its KEV catalog, setting an August 24, 2026 federal patch deadline.
CISA added CVE-2026-73570, an unauthenticated OS command injection flaw in Zimbra Collaboration Suite, to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog after CERT Polska confirmed active exploitation. The flaw lets attackers execute shell commands as the zimbra user via the snmp_notify parameter when the SNMP trap service is enabled and the default swatchdog service is running. Zimbra patched the issue in version 10.1.20 released July 20, 2026, 28 days before exploitation was confirmed. Under BOD 22-01, federal civilian agencies must patch by August 24, 2026.
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Frequently asked questions about the active threat to Siemens S7 Series PLCs
US government agencies warn that unattributed actors using AI-generated exploit scripts are targeting internet-exposed Siemens S7 PLCs in critical infrastructure.
A joint advisory from multiple U.S. government agencies warns that threat actors are exploiting known weaknesses and unnecessary internet exposure of Siemens S7 Series PLCs for reconnaissance and possible pre-positioning for future disruptive attacks. The attackers use AI to generate and refine exploit scripts faster than manual development would allow, lowering the technical bar for ICS attacks. There is no single patch, so defenders must reduce internet exposure and improve monitoring of ICS environments.
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