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H1 2026 Malware Vulnerability Trends

Recorded Future's H1 2026 report finds 215 actively exploited CVEs, RAT dominance, NFC payment fraud, and AI-augmented but not autonomous tradecraft.

Recorded Future's Insikt Group identified 215 actively exploited CVEs in H1 2026, up 34% from 161 in H1 2025, with the most impactful flaws combining network reachability, no authentication, and code execution. AsyncRAT was the top malware family, with AsyncRAT, Cobalt Strike, XWorm, Stealc, and REMCOS remaining top-ten staples; Android NFC malware like NFCShare and NGate enabled payment card theft and ATM cash-outs. AI-enabled attacks remained additive to established tradecraft, concentrated in Levels 1-3 of Recorded Future's AIM3 maturity model, with AI-assisted vulnerability research (e.g., Claude Mythos fixing 271 Firefox bugs in Firefox 150) inflating NVD disclosure volumes 43% above the prior six-month average. The report urges defenders to prioritize remotely exploitable RCE flaws, behavioral detection, developer credential security, and third-party oversight.

Recorded Future · 13d agoThreat actor in the wild1

Four Spy Groups Used the Same Chrome and Windows Exploit Kit Within a Week

Proofpoint links four espionage clusters, including China's APT31, using shared exploit kit BlueMoon chaining Chrome V8 and Windows ALPC zero-days.

Proofpoint reports a previously undocumented exploit kit, BlueMoon, chains Chrome V8 type confusion CVE-2026-85046 with an unassigned V8 sandbox escape and Windows ALPC heap overflow CVE-2026-85880 to achieve code execution and local privilege escalation. APT31 first used it on August 28, 2026 against US NGOs, mining, and commodity trading firms, deploying the GemStone browser backdoor disguised as a Google Gemini extension via the GhostChrome-X integrity bypass. UNK_LateNight, UNK_DoubleCheck, and UNK_QuietRacket followed on September 2-3, targeting US aerospace, Vietnamese manufacturing, and Indonesian/Singaporean sectors with ShadowPad and sideloaded Rust and .NET payloads. Both V8 flaws were patch-gap zero-days, and verbose code suggests possible AI-assisted development.

The Hacker News · 7d agoThreat actor in the wild 2 sourcesCVE-2026-85046CVE-2026-858801

Hackers Weaponize Agentic AI to Automate Reconnaissance, Exploitation and Post-Exploitation

Google GTIG reports threat actors using agentic AI to automate reconnaissance, exploit selection, and credential harvesting, compromising thousands of secrets.

Google Threat Intelligence Group's Q3 2026 AI Threat Tracker documents threat actors operationalizing agentic AI: in one Mandiant investigation, a financially motivated actor built and executed a credential-harvesting operation in under six hours, with an exposed 'Recon' framework managing more than 23,800 harvested secrets including cloud and AI-service API keys. A Chinese-speaking actor tracked as knaithe used a DeepSeek-powered Hermes Agent for automated reconnaissance and vulnerability enumeration, pivoting from Langflow to n8n and enabling manual exploitation of exposed Citrix NetScaler, Marimo, Apache Tomcat, and VPN infrastructure. Operators harvested Citrix session cookies from process memory to bypass MFA, obtained AWS credentials from compromised Marimo instances, and deployed the Go-based NKAbuse backdoor, with reported RCE and data exfiltration. Google notes fully autonomous end-to-end AI attack pipelines have not yet been observed in the wild.

GBHackers · 7d agoThreat actor in the wild2

China-Linked Hackers Exploit Chrome-Windows Zero-Day Chain to Deploy GRIMWEDGE

Volexity attributes spear-phishing campaign exploiting Chrome-Windows zero-day chain to Chinese actors UTA0560 and APT31 deploying GRIMWEDGE and LONGTALE.

Volexity attributes a September 1, 2026 spear-phishing campaign targeting NGOs to China-linked UTA0560, which abused a reflected XSS flaw on a US university website to trigger a three-part exploit chain (CVE-2026-85046, CVE-2026-87491, CVE-2026-85880) escaping the Chrome V8 and browser sandboxes to deploy the GRIMWEDGE JavaScript backdoor with reconnaissance, file management, and command execution capabilities. The same chain was used near-simultaneously by JungleBamboo (APT31) to deploy SUPERSTOMP, installing the LONGTALE/GemStone credential-stealing Chrome extension masquerading as Google Gemini. The Chrome flaws were patched in Chromium but not yet in stable Chrome, creating an unusual patch-gap zero-day window attackers raced to exploit.

The Hacker Newsupdated · 5h agofirst · 1d agoThreat actor in the wild 16 sourcesCVE-2026-85046CVE-2026-87491CVE-2026-858801· 1 read

Chinese espionage groups swarm to exploit triple-link chain of zero-days

Four China-aligned espionage groups, starting with TA412/APT31, chained zero-days CVE-2026-85046, CVE-2026-87491 and CVE-2026-85880 to spy on targets since late August.

TA412 (Violet Typhoon/APT31) began exploiting the BlueMoon chain on Aug. 28, followed by UNK_LateNight (US aerospace, Sept. 2), UNK_DoubleCheck (Vietnamese manufacturing via a compromised Southeast Asian government account) and UNK_QuietRacket (Indonesia and Singapore government, consulting and finance, Sept. 3). The chain pairs Chromium JavaScript engine RCE flaws CVE-2026-85046 and CVE-2026-87491 with the Windows ALPC privilege-escalation zero-day CVE-2026-85880, enabling sandbox escape and system privileges. Delivery used phishing links installing a fake Google Gemini browser extension that surveilled browser activity and stole credentials; Proofpoint directly observed fewer than 20 organizations but expects wider proliferation as the kit spreads.

Proofpoint Threat Insight · 7d agoThreat actor in the wild 3 sourcesCVE-2026-85046CVE-2026-87491CVE-2026-858804

⚡ Weekly Recap: AI-Powered PLC Attacks, GitLab Attacks, Stripe Key Leaks and More

US agencies warn of AI-assisted attacks on exposed Siemens PLCs; the week also saw GitLab CVE-2026-19478 exploited and trojanized npm packages found.

The weekly recap leads with a US government warning that threat actors use AI-generated scripts and Censys/ZoomEye scanning to attack internet-exposed Siemens S7 PLCs in water, energy and manufacturing, calling it an active threat. Other stories include active exploitation of GitLab CVE-2026-19478 (CVSS 9.4, unauthenticated project rewriting), 14 trojanized npm packages delivering the RedC2 4.0 Linux backdoor, and the Zombie Card attack that revives expired Visa cards for contactless payment fraud. It also covers suspected Russian clusters UNC6293, UNC7005 and UNC5976 phishing campaigns, a faster Cloudflare Workers Spectre JWT leak, and a bespoke Cl0p JSP web shell deployed after exploiting PTC Windchill flaws.

The Hacker News · 19d agoThreat actor in the wildCVE-2026-194781

China-Linked Hackers Exploit Sogou One-Click RCE to Deploy GRAYRABBIT Backdoor

China-linked UNC3569 exploited CVE-2026-51990 in Sogou Input Method to deploy the GRAYRABBIT backdoor in active espionage intrusions.

Gen Threat Labs discovered UNC3569 exploiting CVE-2026-51990, a one-click RCE in Tencent's Sogou Input Method for Windows that chains an insecure sgbiz: protocol handler with an unsandboxed Chromium 80 CEF webview. The chain weaponizes CVE-2021-38003 (V8 type confusion) to run shellcode that DLL-sideloads via 7z.exe/7z.dll and deploys the GRAYRABBIT backdoor, which beacons over RC4-encrypted raw TCP 443 to mail.uaiubifas[.]top. Tencent patched the issue in version 16.3.0.3498, released via automatic updates on April 21, 2026. UNC3569 is a PRC-nexus espionage actor targeting government, education, technology, and financial sectors across East and Southeast Asia.

GBHackersupdated · 2d agofirst · 2d agoThreat actor in the wild 3 sourcesCVE-2026-51990CVE-2021-380031

Suspected China-Nexus Actor Exploits VMware vCenter Flaw, Deploys Babuk

QUIRSO attributes exploitation of VMware vCenter CVE-2026-59310 to a suspected China-nexus actor that hit 361 IPs in 47 countries, deploying backdoors and Babuk.

German incident response firm QUIRSOS assessed with moderate confidence that a suspected China-nexus actor, likely operating in UTC+08:00 hours, exploited VMware vCenter flaw CVE-2026-59310 (CVSS 9.8 directory traversal) beginning five days after Broadcom's July 29 patch. The campaign compromised 361 unique victim IPs across 47 countries, most in Germany, the US, Turkey, Iran, and France. The actor abused cron jobs, a XOR-obfuscated 'linuxFile' WebSocket backdoor with systemd/cron persistence, a JSP web shell, SSH authorized-keys manipulation, and a reverse SSH tool, with one Babuk deployment reported. A separate vCenter 'vcenter_admin' account creation consistent with CVE-2026-59309 exploitation was also observed from August 1.

The Hacker News · Aug 17, 2026Threat actor in the wildCVE-2026-59310CVE-2026-593091

The long tail of Clop’s PTC hack is just beginning to emerge

Clop mass-exploited CVE-2026-12569 in PTC Windchill and FlexPLM in early June, claiming data theft from dozens of large organizations.

Clop began sending extortion emails in mid-July after exploiting CVE-2026-12569 in PTC Windchill and FlexPLM, likely as a zero-day in early June before PTC's June 17 disclosure and patch. Confirmed victims include Toast and Zebra, while GE, Philips and Shell are among claimed victims. CISA added the flaw, which allows unauthenticated remote code execution, to its KEV catalog on June 25. ReliaQuest said the group used a custom Windchill-specific web shell for credential theft and large-scale exfiltration, echoing its past MOVEit and Oracle E-Business Suite mass-exploitation campaigns.

CyberScoop · 28d agoThreat actor in the wildCVE-2026-125691

Red Heron Exploits Gitea RCE to Compromise 13 Organizations Across Six Countries

China-linked Red Heron exploited Gitea RCE CVE-2026-60004 to compromise 13 organizations across six countries, stealing source code.

Acronis Threat Research Unit attributes a China-nexus actor tracked as Red Heron to rapid exploitation of Gitea RCE CVE-2026-60004, scanning 1,386 instances across seven countries plus 477 Taiwan-based systems, with confirmed compromises of 13 organizations in Canada, Argentina, Taiwan, the U.S., Qatar, and Sri Lanka. Within days of the July 2026 disclosure, the actor weaponized a public PoC into an automated Python framework registering accounts, exploiting servers, stealing repositories, and removing traces, then deployed the JITTERLY C++ Linux implant (30+ post-exploitation commands) and the undocumented SIXZUT LD_PRELOAD rootkit. In one Taiwanese environment the actor reached root-level access across a three-node Proxmox cluster, targeting defense, elections, energy, aerospace, telecom, government, and research sectors.

The Hacker Newsupdated · 1d agofirst · 2d agoThreat actor in the wild 3 sourcesCVE-2026-60004

PaperCut Attacker Uses Hundreds of AI Agents to Compromise 440+ Instances

GreyNoise and Blackpoint tracked an AI-assisted actor using OpenAI Codex and DeepSeek agents to exploit PaperCut flaws across 440+ instances in 48 countries.

A suspected Russian-speaking actor exploited the CVE-2026-81578 authentication bypass and CVE-2026-82078 RCE chain in PaperCut NG/MF, compromising at least 440 instances across 395 organizations in 48 countries, heavily targeting education in the US, UK, France, and elsewhere. The actor used hundreds of AI agents powered by OpenAI Codex and DeepSeek plus tools like Mimikatz, SharpHound, Certipy, Rubeus, and Impacket, reaching domain admin at 12 victims and full domain admin at a US high school within seven minutes. Post-exploitation included registry hive collection and Metasploit/Meterpreter payloads, with origin traced to IP 45.142.193.132.

The Hacker Newsupdated · 5d agofirst · 6d agoThreat actor in the wild 7 sourcesCVE-2026-81578CVE-2026-820781

Hackers Use Hundreds of AI Agents to Exploit PaperCut Flaws and Compromise 440 Servers Worldwide

A Russian-speaking actor used hundreds of AI agents to exploit PaperCut flaws, compromising 440 servers across 395 organizations in 48 countries.

GreyNoise's Global Observation Grid observed a Russian-speaking threat actor operating from IP 45.142.193.132 deploy hundreds of autonomous AI agents, built on OpenAI's Codex harness with a DeepSeek model, to exploit PaperCut NG/MF flaws CVE-2026-81578 (authentication bypass) and CVE-2026-82078 (unsafe reflection RCE). At least 440 servers across 395 organizations in 48 countries were compromised; the US had 98 victims and educational institutions accounted for 204. The agents paired with Mimikatz, Certipy, Rubeus, and Impacket, escalated to domain admin in 12 of 440 cases, and executed DCSync to exfiltrate the full NTDS.DIT credential database.

Cyber Security News · 7d agoThreat actor in the wildCVE-2026-81578CVE-2026-82078CVE-2021-42278+1 CVEs1

Google researchers uncover criminal zero-day exploit likely built with AI

Google links a likely LLM-built criminal zero-day for an open-source admin tool to planned mass exploitation and maps AI-assisted threats.

Google Threat Intelligence Group linked a zero-day exploit for a popular open-source web-based administration tool, enabling 2FA bypass with valid credentials via a semantic logic error, to a criminal group, citing educational docstrings, a hallucinated CVSS score, and textbook Python as signs of LLM authorship; the vendor was notified before a planned mass exploitation campaign. The report also details Russia-nexus malware families CANFAIL and LONGSTREAM using AI-generated decoy code, the PROMPTSPY Android backdoor driving the UI through the Gemini API, APT27 using Gemini to build relay tooling, and the TeamPCP (UNC6780) supply chain compromise of LiteLLM and Trivy repositories that planted the SANDCLOCK credential stealer.

Help Net Security · 23d agoThreat actor

TrueConf Server Flaws Exploited to Replace Client Installers with PhantomCore

Head Mare exploits TrueConf server flaws to install web shells and deliver PhantomCore and PhantomGraph backdoors at Russian organizations.

Kaspersky detected July 2026 attacks by the threat actor Head Mare exploiting a vulnerability chain (KLCERT-26-057 and KLCERT-26-058) in unpatched TrueConf videoconferencing servers. The chain enables arbitrary code execution with SYSTEM privileges, deployment of a web shell at locale.php, and replacement of client installers with versions delivering the PhantomCore backdoor and PhantomGraph, which uses Microsoft OneDrive as C2. Targets span Russian instrumentation, electronics, transport, energy, IT, and software firms. Patches shipped in TrueConf Server 5.3.9, 5.4.9, and 5.5.5 on June 18, 2026.

The Hacker News · 26d agoThreat actor in the wild1

Thai Broadband Provider Hacked via Fortinet Vulnerability

Hackers exploited Fortinet CVE-2024-21762 RCE to breach Thai broadband provider 3BB, deploying MeshCentral backdoors and credential-harvesting tools across its network.

Hunt.io uncovered an intrusion staging directory in Thailand containing 298 files of custom tooling built for Triple T Broadband (3BB) and its former owner Jasmine. Initial access came via fingerprinting a FortiGate SSL-VPN appliance and exploiting CVE-2024-21762 for remote code execution, after probing CVE-2018-13379, CVE-2022-42475, and CVE-2023-27997. The actor also probed F5 BIG-IP for CVE-2021-22986, CVE-2022-1388, and CVE-2023-46747, escalated privileges with PwnKit and Dirty COW, used MeshCentral as a C2 backdoor, harvested SSH/database/SNMP/Radius credentials, deployed PHP web shells, and ran cleanup scripts to hide the intrusion.

SecurityWeek · 1d agoThreat actor in the wildCVE-2018-13379CVE-2022-42475CVE-2023-27997+4 CVEs

Hackers Deploy Agentic AI to Automate Exploitation and Mass Credential Harvesting

Google GTIG documents a financially motivated actor using a multi-agent AI framework to automate credential harvesting, compromising over 23,800 secrets within hours.

Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) documented a financially motivated actor that compromised an unnamed organization's cloud infrastructure and used a multi-agent AI framework to automate vulnerability scanning, credential harvesting, troubleshooting, and IP rotation. The operation went from planning to mass credential compromise in under six hours, harvesting more than 23,800 secrets including cloud and AI-service API keys via an exposed C2 dashboard called 'Recon'. The actor directed specialized agents using an AI coding chatbot and Markdown instruction files such as AGENTS.KNOWLEDGE.md and agentic_vuln_research.md. Google has not observed fully autonomous zero-day exploitation; the shift automates labor-intensive tasks like reconnaissance, account validation, and infrastructure management, sharply shrinking detection windows.

GBHackers · 1d agoThreat actor in the wild1

Lazarus Exploits Windows Zero-Day to Gain SYSTEM Access and Deploy Backdoor

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.

The Hacker News · Aug 15, 2026Threat actor in the wildCVE-2026-68820CVE-2025-491132