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'HTTP Terminator' Hunts for Novel Desync Attacks

PortSwigger's James Kettle discusses HTTP Terminator, an AI-powered open source tool that uncovered new HTTP request-smuggling (desync) techniques.

PortSwigger researcher James Kettle spoke with Dark Reading about HTTP Terminator, an AI-powered open source tool built to hunt for novel HTTP desync vulnerabilities. The tool has already discovered new HTTP request-smuggling techniques, extending Kettle's prior desync research.

Dark Reading · 21d agoTools

FGFM Authentication Weakening via CLI Configuration

FortiManager FGFM flaw (CVSS 7.3) lets an attacker with a valid certificate impersonate any managed FortiGate under a specific CLI option.

Fortinet advisory FG-IR-26-160 describes an authentication bypass via alternate path (CWE-288) in FortiManager and FortiManager Cloud, scored CVSSv3 7.3. A remote unauthenticated attacker holding a valid certificate can impersonate any FortiGate managed by the affected FortiManager when a specific CLI option is set. The impersonation is performed with crafted FGFM protocol requests. The advisory was revised on 2026-08-12 and does not report active exploitation.

Fortinet PSIRT · Aug 12, 2026Advisory

MicroHasTEE: Bare-Metal Haskell for Type-Level Peripheral Ownership on Armv8-M

MicroHasTEE expresses TrustZone secure and non-secure firmware as one typed Haskell program, catching peripheral-ownership inconsistencies at compile time.

MicroHasTEE is a multiparty Haskell framework that models both TrustZone firmware images as participants in a single typed program, using type-level capability ledgers to track peripheral acquisition, configuration, transfer, and finalization. MicroHs compiles the shared program twice to produce separate bare-metal Secure and Non-secure firmware images. The framework rejects inconsistent resource use, post-configuration attribution changes, wrong-domain callbacks, and calls to unregistered Secure services. A door-lock case study on an STM32U5 Nucleo board produced images of 232.7 KiB and 228.4 KiB of flash with roughly 220 KiB of SRAM per domain.

arXiv cs.CR · 5d agoResearch1

GNU GRUB 2.14: serial-MMIO lockdown bypass in Canonical-signed gcdx64.efi

Canonical-signed GRUB2 serial command accepts arbitrary MMIO addresses, letting local attackers with grub.cfg control bypass Secure Boot lockdown.

A vulnerability in Canonical's grub-efi-amd64-signed (gcdx64.efi, GRUB 2.14) exposes a serial command that accepts a caller-supplied 64-bit MMIO base address. The lockdown path does not restrict this command even when lockdown=y under UEFI Secure Boot, and the serial implementation does not validate that the requested register span belongs to a real UART rather than ordinary RAM. A local attacker with control of GRUB's boot configuration can abuse this to bypass the Secure Boot lockdown.

oss-security · 3d agoVulnerability2

Risky Bulletin: Slovakia finds Russian backdoor in traffic speed cameras

Slovakia's NBU found an SMS-triggered backdoor in Russian-made NERO R-ONE traffic cameras, pausing a 279-unit deployment.

Slovakia's national security service NBU issued an alert against NERO R-ONE high-speed traffic cameras after finding a backdoor that grants shell and network access via SMS from hardcoded Russian phone numbers. The cameras are a rebranded version of the Russian CORDON PRO.M model by St. Petersburg firm Semicon, purchased via a Cyprus shell company under a €30 million EU-funded project. The report also found SecureBoot disabled, vulnerable web management, and unauthenticated live streams; the Interior Ministry paused deployment of 279 cameras pending independent assessment.

Risky Business News · 29d agoThreat actor in the wild1

Heap overflow in kernel driver due to missing size validation

Fortinet fixes a CVSS 7.3 heap overflow in the FortiClient Windows kernel driver enabling code execution via crafted DNS responses.

Fortinet PSIRT advisory FG-IR-26-156, revised 2026-08-12, describes a heap-based buffer overflow (CWE-120, buffer copy without checking input size) in the FortiClient Windows kernel driver, scored CVSSv3 7.3. An unauthenticated attacker positioned to alter or craft DNS responses for a targeted host could execute arbitrary code via malicious packets. No CVE identifier or exploitation status is provided in the advisory text, so administrators should check the full bulletin for affected versions and fixed releases.

Fortinet PSIRT · Aug 12, 2026Advisory

Risky Bulletin: Academics find source code overlaps between Geedge and China's Great Firewall

Academics linked Chinese vendor Geedge Networks' Tiangou Secure Gateway source code to one of the Great Firewall's three traffic filtering capabilities.

US researchers presenting at USENIX Security reconstructed Geedge Networks' Tiangou Secure Gateway firmware from over 100,000 leaked files, including Git repositories with commit history, and matched its filtering behavior to sections of China's Great Firewall. They found only 1 of 3 characterized DNS injectors matched Geedge code, noted the system relies on memory-unsafe C components and copied third-party code, and said its bugs could aid future circumvention tools. Geedge also exports censorship tools to Kazakhstan, Ethiopia, Pakistan, and Myanmar. The newsletter additionally rounds up multiple breaches.

Risky Business News · 27d agoResearch2

MaxKernel: Agentic Kernel Generation for TPUs

Researchers open-source MaxKernel, a multi-agent LLM system that generates and optimizes TPU kernels matching expert hand-tuned baselines on JaxBench.

MaxKernel is a multi-agent system offering three paradigms for TPU kernel development: human-in-the-loop collaborative design, a fully autonomous metric/trace-driven optimization loop, and graph-based autonomous search for global exploration. All paradigms draw on a shared pool of specialized sub-agents for planning, implementation, self-debugging, testing, and hardware profiling. Evaluated on JaxBench's 50 diverse TPU kernel tasks and real-world workloads from open-source models, it consistently matches expert hand-tuned baselines. The system is open-sourced via the AI-Hypercomputer GitHub repository.

Hugging Face daily papers · 14d agoAI tools & infra1

Risky Bulletin: Russia starts blocking DoH and DoT

Russian users report blocks on DoH and DoT servers, including Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 and Google 8.8.8.8, in an apparent censorship crackdown.

Russian internet users began reporting failures connecting to DNS-over-HTTPS and DNS-over-TLS servers, suggesting a government crackdown on the two privacy protocols. The blocks reportedly cover Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 and Google's 8.8.8.8 resolvers; Roskomnadzor has not officially confirmed the action. The agency tested a similar block in March on Beeline's network and had named DoH for blocking as early as 2021. The bulletin also briefly notes state-sponsored phishing of EU officials, a DDoS against Norway's Digdir, the ReliaQuest/ShinyHunters dispute, and older ransomware and breach disclosures.

Risky Business News · 22d agoPolicy & legal1

Broken access control in the RADIUS type admin group

FortiWeb RADIUS admin authentication flaw (CVSS 8.8) permits remote GUI/CLI login with random credentials under specific non-default settings.

Fortinet advisory FG-IR-26-158 describes an improper authentication flaw (CWE-287) in FortiWeb's Remote RADIUS-type admin authentication, scored CVSSv3 8.8. When the configuration uses specific non-default settings, a remote unauthenticated attacker can log into the FortiWeb GUI or CLI with a random username and password. The advisory was revised on 2026-08-12 and does not state that exploitation has been observed.

Fortinet PSIRT · Aug 12, 2026Advisory

Rust Supply Chain Attack on arrayref: Significant Overlap with DPRK Campaigns

Malicious versions of the Rust crate arrayref executed a compile-time backdoor, with infrastructure overlapping recent DPRK supply chain attacks on Mastra and axios.

Wiz researchers report that malicious versions of the arrayref Rust crate ran a backdoor during compilation, compromising developer build pipelines. The campaign's command-and-control infrastructure significantly overlaps with infrastructure used in recent DPRK supply chain attacks, including campaigns against Mastra and axios. Developers using affected crate versions should audit their builds and review dependencies.

Wiz Blog · 27d agoThreat actor in the wild1

Fake CVE-2023

A fake PoC for WinRAR RCE CVE-2023-40477 posted on GitHub actually deploys VenomRAT through a multi-step infection chain targeting researchers.

Four days after Zero Day Initiative publicly disclosed the WinRAR RCE vulnerability CVE-2023-40477 on August 17, 2023, an actor using the alias whalersplonk published a fake proof-of-concept on GitHub. The Python script actually repurposed public PoC code for GeoServer SQL injection CVE-2023-25157 and triggered an infection chain ending in VenomRAT. The README and an accompanying video lured users into running the script; the video drew over 100 plays. Unit 42 assesses the actor was opportunistic, targeting other miscreants adopting new vulnerabilities rather than researchers specifically.

Palo Alto Unit 42 · Aug 17, 2026MalwareCVE-2023-40477CVE-2023-25157

Workflow session email approval process bypass

Fortinet disclosed an improper access control flaw (CVSS 4.7) in FortiManager allowing administrators to bypass workflow session email approval via crafted HTTP requests.

Fortinet advisory FG-IR-26-171 covers an improper access control vulnerability (CWE-284) in FortiManager, rated CVSSv3 4.7. An administrator can bypass the approval process for workflow sessions via crafted HTTP or HTTPS requests. The advisory was revised on 2026-09-08.

Fortinet PSIRT · 9d agoAdvisory

Researchers Use Claude to Port Pre-Auth RCE Exploit From One PLC Model to Another

Forescout used Anthropic's Claude to port a working pre-auth RCE exploit for CVE-2021-31886 between WAGO PLCs, executing ARM shellcode on live hardware.

Forescout Vedere Labs used Claude interactively to port an RCE exploit for CVE-2021-31886, a CVSS 9.8 stack buffer overflow in the Nucleus FTP server's USER command, from a WAGO 750-852 to a WAGO 750-831 PLC, running attacker-supplied ARM shellcode. The final RCE stage cost $535.74 in API usage over 8 hours 32 minutes, and a follow-up attempt to build a C2 implant permanently bricked the device. CERT@VDE lists many Nucleus V1-based WAGO models as vulnerable with no updates available; Siemens plans no Nucleus NET remediation. The work follows a joint NSA/CISA/FBI/DOE/EPA advisory warning of AI-generated exploitation scripts targeting internet-exposed Siemens S7 PLCs.

The Hacker News · 14d agoResearchCVE-2021-318862

Clop-Linked Windchill Web Shell Decrypts Credentials and Maps Engineering Data

ReliaQuest details a bespoke JSP web shell that Clop deploys on hacked PTC Windchill and FlexPLM servers after exploiting CVE-2026-12569.

ReliaQuest analyzed a custom Java web shell planted on vulnerable PTC Windchill and FlexPLM servers following exploitation of CVE-2026-12569 (CVSS 9.3). The implant decrypts Windchill keystore credentials including the LDAP manager password, enumerates the file vault for engineering data, and loads attacker-supplied Java classes in memory for post-exploitation. Commands let operators read and delete files, exfiltrate results, and deliver follow-on payloads such as ransomware. Ransom-ISAC, eCrime.ch and Defused previously attributed the campaign to the Clop data-theft extortion group.

The Hacker News · 28d agoThreat actor in the wildCVE-2026-12569

Honeypot-Omaha and batch.py [Guest Diary], (Wed, Sep 2nd)

A SANS ISC guest diary describes batch.py, a Python tool that consolidates honeypot logs and enriches IOCs with threat intelligence data.

Written by a SANS.edu BACS intern, the diary explains analysis of the DShield Honeypot-Omaha sensor, which uses Cowrie to emulate SSH and Telnet and log attacker activity. The author's batch.py script implements a four-phase pipeline with SHA-256-generated master and guest authentication to consolidate JSON and log files, correlate data via external APIs, and produce MITRE, CVE, geolocation, threat-score and fingerprint enrichment for investigated indicators.

SANS Internet Storm Center · 14d agoTools1

Arbitrary process termination from exposed minifilter communication port

Fortinet FortiClient Windows fortimon3 driver flaw (CVSS 4.7) lets authenticated attackers terminate arbitrary processes via exposed minifilter communication port.

Fortinet advisory FG-IR-26-165 discloses an unverified ownership vulnerability (CWE-283, CVSSv3 4.7) in the FortiClient Windows fortimon3 minifilter driver. An authenticated attacker can terminate arbitrary processes through an exposed minifilter communication port. The advisory was revised on 2026-09-08.

Fortinet PSIRT · 9d agoAdvisory1

CASHEWS: Source Preprocessor for LLM-based Malicious Package Detection

CASHEWS preprocessor boosts LLM-based malicious npm package detection, raising coverage to 98.8-100% and cutting false negatives by up to 18.6 points.

Researchers present CASHEWS, a JavaScript preprocessor for LLM-based malicious package detection that deobfuscates code iteratively, extracts bundled modules and dynamically executed code, identifies malicious sinks, and computes backward slices to produce compact detector input. Threat actors evade LLM detectors by exploiting limited context windows with high token-density obfuscation and by bundling malicious code with benign packages, as seen in supply-chain attacks such as Shai-Hulud. Across 512 large package files, two scanner types, and three LLMs, CASHEWS raised analysis coverage from 69.1-85.7% to 98.8-100% and reduced false-negative rates by up to 18.6 percentage points. Median preprocessing time is 30 seconds while net analysis cost drops 34.6%.

arXiv cs.CR · 15h agoResearch

ToolHive: The open-source way to run any MCP server securely

Stacklok's open-source ToolHive runs Model Context Protocol servers in isolated containers with per-request identity enforcement, audit logging and a signed registry.

ToolHive, shipped under Apache 2.0, containersizes MCP servers locally via Docker or Podman or in clusters through a Kubernetes operator, applying permissions, network filtering, and secrets management. The platform includes a Registry Server implementing the official MCP Registry API with signing and provenance verification, a Virtual MCP Server gateway with OIDC/OAuth single sign-on and OpenTelemetry traces, and a desktop Portal for one-click installs. The browser-based cloud UI is retired, so the desktop app and CLI are the supported rollout paths.

Help Net Security · 10d agoAI tools & infra1

Update modules/auxiliary/scanner/http/elasticsearch_tika_xfa_xxe.rb

Rapid7 updated a Metasploit auxiliary scanner module that detects XML external entity injection in Elasticsearch via Apache Tika.

A commit in the Metasploit Framework updated modules/auxiliary/scanner/http/elasticsearch_tika_xfa_xxe.rb, an auxiliary scanner module. The module targets XML external entity (XXE) injection in Elasticsearch through Apache Tika, and was co-authored by jheysel-r7. The terse commit message contains no additional details, CVE references, or exploitation notes.

Metasploit Framework commits · 8d agoTools

Hillingar - MirageOS Unikernels on NixOS

A technical write-up details Hillingar, enabling reproducible Nix-based builds and NixOS deployment of MirageOS OCaml unikernels such as authoritative DNS servers.

This blog post (published December 2022, updated February 2025) describes Hillingar, work from the author's master's thesis enabling reproducible builds and deployments of MirageOS OCaml unikernels using Nix and a custom NixOS module, demonstrated with an authoritative DNS server. MirageOS unikernels embed application and low-level OS code in a single kernel, allowing dead-code elimination that reduces attack surface and improves efficiency. The post covers challenges such as solving opam dependency version constraints when linking a single dependency set.

Lobsters · security · 12d agoTools1

automatic module_metadata_base.json update

Metasploit Framework's automated pipeline refreshed its module metadata file, a routine repository maintenance commit introducing no new modules or exploits.

An automated Metasploit Framework commit updated module_metadata_base.json, the metadata database consumed by module tooling. The change is routine maintenance and contains no new exploit modules or vulnerability content.

Metasploit Framework commits · 13d agoTools1

Survey of filesystem MCP servers: how the "sandboxed filesystem" boundary is enforced (one breach, four defended-by-design)

Survey finds one filesystem MCP server vulnerable to a symlink-based sandbox escape while four others are defended by design.

A survey of five filesystem MCP servers assessed how each enforces its path-confinement boundary against symlink escapes in recursive directory walkers. The iceener/files-stdio-mcp-server is vulnerable to a read-side sandbox escape. The other four are defended by design or make no confinement claim. The author describes the vulnerability class as small but real.

oss-security · 7d agoVulnerability1

Security fixes in libfuse-3.18.3

libfuse 3.18.3 disables fuse_session_custom_io() by default to stop non-kernel peers from forging FUSE requests libfuse parses unvalidated.

libfuse 3.18.3 ships security fixes announced by Sam James on the oss-security mailing list. The fuse_session_custom_io() function is now disabled unless libfuse is built with -Denable-custom-io=true, returning -ENOTSUP otherwise. The reason is that a custom io peer might not be a kernel and can forge requests that libfuse parses without validation. The hello_ll_uds example is now built only with that option, and enabling it triggers a warning at configure time.

oss-security · 8d agoVulnerability

FrostyGoop’s Zoom-In: A Closer Look into the Malware Artifacts, Behaviors and Network Communications

Unit 42 dissects FrostyGoop OT malware, which sent Modbus TCP commands to disrupt heating for 600+ apartment buildings in Ukraine.

Palo Alto Unit 42 analyzed new FrostyGoop/BUSTLEBERM samples, the ninth known ICS-centric malware, first used against a Ukrainian municipal energy company by sending Modbus TCP commands to ENCO control devices. The attack caused a two-day heating outage affecting over 600 apartment buildings during sub-zero temperatures. The Go-compiled malware accepts Modbus register operations and timing parameters via command-line arguments or a JSON configuration file, uses an obscure open-source Modbus library, and checks the Windows BeingDebugged flag to evade debuggers. Unit 42 telemetry recorded over 1 million Modbus TCP devices exposed to the internet between September and October 2024.

Palo Alto Unit 42 · 28d agoMalware in the wild

Uncontrolled Resource Consumption in SNMP

Uninitialized variable flaw (CVSS 5.9) in FortiAnalyzer's SNMP daemon lets remote authenticated attackers cause denial of service via SNMP GETBULK requests.

Fortinet advisory FG-IR-26-172 describes a use of uninitialized variable vulnerability (CWE-457) in the FortiAnalyzer SNMP daemon, scored CVSSv3 5.9. A remote authenticated attacker with user-level permissions can cause a denial of service via SNMP GETBULK requests. The advisory was revised on 2026-09-08.

Fortinet PSIRT · 9d agoAdvisory

[webapps] PodcastGenerator 3.2.9 - Stored XSS

A stored cross-site scripting flaw in PodcastGenerator 3.2.9 is documented with a public proof-of-concept exploit on Exploit-DB.

Exploit-DB published exploit ID 52677 targeting PodcastGenerator 3.2.9, a web application affected by stored cross-site scripting. The listing provides a proof-of-concept for the flaw but includes no CVE identifier or reports of active exploitation.

Exploit-DB · 15d agoExploit / PoC1

Russian APT BlueDelta Uses HOOKEDGE to Target Defense and Diplomatic Organizations

Russian GRU-linked BlueDelta (APT28) deployed HOOKEDGE backdoor via macro Word lures against European governments using webhook.site and Microsoft Edge for stealthy C2.

Recorded Future's Insikt Group documented a BlueDelta (APT28/Fancy Bear/Forest Blizzard) espionage campaign from late September 2025 through early April 2026 targeting government and diplomatic organizations in Romania, Spain and Türkiye. The group delivered HOOKEDGE, a lightweight Windows batch-script backdoor, via macro-enabled Word documents with diplomatic lures, including one impersonating Spain's Ministry of the Presidency after a Spanish-Moldovan meeting. HOOKEDGE uses webhook.site as C2, a scheduled task every 30 minutes that downloads commands through Microsoft Edge, and canary pixels like docopened.jpg to track phishing funnel progress. A second tier with 5-minute check-ins served high-value victims, and beaconing intervals were stretched to 61 minutes to evade sandboxes; code overlap ties HOOKEDGE to BlueDelta's earlier HEADLACE backdoor.

Security Affairs · 19d agoThreat actor in the wild1

iceener/files-stdio-mcp-server: sandbox escape in fs_search via a symlinked directory (recursive walker validates only the top level)

iceener/files-stdio-mcp-server allows a read-side sandbox escape: fs_search follows symlinked directories while the recursive walker validates confinement only at the top level.

A vulnerability report describes a read-side sandbox escape in iceener/files-stdio-mcp-server, an MCP server for text-based file access that explicitly promises 'Sandboxed filesystem access. Only these paths are available'. The fs_search tool can follow symlinked directories outside the allowed paths, and the recursive directory-listing walker used by fs_search (and by fs_read) validates confinement only at the top level. The same flaw affects fs_read's directory-listing walker. No CVE identifier was assigned in the provided report text.

oss-security · 7d agoVulnerability

Credentialed Pre-Port Discovery: Don't Probe the Host, Ask it

Rapid7's version 8.58 adds credentialed pre-port discovery, letting scan engines query hosts for listening TCP/UDP ports instead of network probing.

Rapid7 documents credentialed pre-port discovery, available from version 8.58 as an off-by-default per-template option under Asset Discovery. The scan engine authenticates with existing SSH, Scan Assistant, or Windows credentials and receives the host's authoritative list of listening TCP and UDP ports, skipping the network port scan. Hosts without matching credentials silently fall back to network port scanning. Trade-offs include reporting firewall-blocked ports the engine cannot reach, longer scans, and early termination findings caused by repeated connection failures.

Rapid7 Blog · 7d agoTools

automatic module_metadata_base.json update

Automated Metasploit Framework commit refreshes module_metadata_base.json with no new exploit content or vulnerability details.

An automated commit updated module_metadata_base.json in the Rapid7 Metasploit Framework repository. The change reflects routine metadata maintenance and introduces no new modules, exploits, or vulnerability information.

Metasploit Framework commits · 15d agoTools

$536 and 8 Hours: AI Learns to Attack a Different PLC

Forescout used Claude to port a WAGO PLC exploit for $536 in 8 hours, and an AI-generated payload later permanently bricked the test device.

Forescout researchers used Claude Code with Ghidra, terminal access, and physical hardware to port CVE-2021-31886, a pre-authentication buffer overflow in the Nucleus FTP server, from a WAGO 750-852 PLC to the WAGO 750-831 without source code or debugger access. The final RCE development stage cost $535.74 in API fees over an 8-hour, 32-minute session (2.6k input and 1.3M output tokens) and required heavy researcher guidance. Claude produced working ICMP and UDP beacon exploits in 12 minutes after identifying that normal FTP command completion was overwriting its shellcode, fixed by omitting the CRLF terminator. A follow-up session extending the payloads toward a C2 implant wrote to flash-mapped memory and permanently bricked the PLC, underscoring the risks of autonomous agents operating against physical infrastructure.

Security Affairs · 14d agoResearchCVE-2021-318861

automatic module_metadata_base.json update

Metasploit Framework automatically updates its module metadata JSON in routine maintenance commit.

The Metasploit Framework repository received an automatic update to module_metadata_base.json, the metadata file that tracks module information. No specific new vulnerability, exploit module, or feature is described in the commit message. This is routine repository maintenance rather than a notable security event.

Metasploit Framework commits · 13d agoTools