Search: “active directory”

10 stories in the last 24h

Microsoft is investigating Windows 11 KB5124008 breaking Active Directory domain trust, leaving some users unable to log in with valid credentials.

Administrators report the Windows 11 KB5124008 security update breaks the secure channel between domain-joined machines and Active Directory, causing login failures on Windows 11 25H2 systems after reboot. The failures are linked to the Machine Identity Isolation feature, which in enforcement mode moves machine account secrets into Credential Guard and removes the LSA copy; one admin saw 11 of roughly 256 devices affected. Workarounds include setting MachineIdentityIsolation to 0 and repairing the secure channel with Test-ComputerSecureChannel, though Microsoft has confirmed no root cause or official fix and warns disabling the feature can also break domain authentication.

BleepingComputerupdated 00:29 UTC · 10h agofirst Sep 16, 20:39 UTC · 14h agoVulnerability 2 sources

Ransomware incidents in Japan in the first half of 2026: Investigation of The Gentlemen’s infrastructure and evidence of Qilin's AI use

Cisco Talos reports 90 ransomware incidents hit Japanese organizations in H1 2026, led by The Gentlemen, with Qilin using AI for efficiency.

Cisco Talos observed 90 ransomware incidents against Japanese organizations from January to July 2026, up about 4.7% year over year, with manufacturing accounting for 34% of victims. The Gentlemen was the most active group with 14 incidents; its leak-site listings grew from 48 in January to 105 in July. Qilin and SafePay followed with seven incidents each, and Talos notes Qilin is leveraging AI to improve operational efficiency.

Cisco Talos10:00 UTC · 1h agoRansomware in the wild

Three Threat Groups Target Russian Enterprises With Backdoors, Ransomware, and Wipers

Kaspersky details NightEagle, Hacking Cat, and Toy Ghouls targeting Russian enterprises with Exchange backdoors, Gorilla RAT, and destructive Monkey ransomware.

Kaspersky reports three threat clusters targeting Russian enterprises: NightEagle (APT-Q-95), the pro-Ukrainian hacktivist group Hacking Cat, and Toy Ghouls. NightEagle uses compromised VPN credentials and the GhostContainer modular backdoor to fully compromise Microsoft Exchange servers, chaining CVE-2020-0688 exploitation, BlueKeep (CVE-2019-0708), Active Directory vulnerabilities, and DCSync to seize domain controllers. Hacking Cat exploits Exchange flaws including CVE-2021-26855 and CVE-2026-42897 to deliver the Gorilla RAT and multiple Monkey ransomware variants written in Rust, .NET, C++, and Golang targeting Windows, Linux, and VMware ESXi, with some variants acting as wipers that never store the encryption key.

The Hacker Newsupdated 07:55 UTC · 3h agofirst Sep 16, 15:27 UTC · 19h agoThreat actor in the wild 5 sources CVE-2020-0688 CVE-2019-0708 CVE-2021-26855+1 CVEs1

GhostCode Abuses Microsoft Entra Device Enrollment to Maintain Access After Token Revocation

eSentire exposes GhostCode, a device-code phishing kit that abuses Microsoft Entra device enrollment to persist even after stolen tokens are revoked.

eSentire's Threat Response Unit observed GhostCode campaigns in late August 2026, using BEC-style social engineering that impersonated procurement staff, including BJ's Wholesale Club, via Salesforce contact forms. Victims received password-protected HTML lures disguised as a FlipBook document portal, with junk-data padding, HTML comment injection, and AES-256-GCM encrypted redirects gated by anti-bot checks. The kit exploits the OAuth 2.0 device authorization grant, prompting victims to approve real Microsoft device-code sign-ins with MFA. Within 78 seconds of approval, attackers registered three Entra devices and obtained a Primary Refresh Token, so rogue device registrations persist even after session token revocation.

GBHackersSep 16, 13:41 UTC · 21h agoPhishing & fraud in the wild2

BlackHatSect0r Uses DeepSeek-Powered AI Agent to Automate Attacks and Harvest 16,834 Credentials

SOCRadar linked the BlackHatSect0r crew to a DeepSeek-powered AI agent that automated scanning and harvested 16,834 credentials from exposed systems.

SOCRadar researchers found an exposed operation server with 4.9 GB across 9,299 files, including the DXSCAN scanning platform, phishing tools, extortion material and a vault holding 16,834 credentials such as AWS keys, GitHub tokens and Stripe keys. The French-speaking crew ran a Nous Research Hermes agent against a DeepSeek model with safety features removed, queuing 2,759,860 domains and reaching 726,989 hosts. Access came from misconfigurations like public cloud buckets and exposed .env files, not new vulnerabilities.

Cyber Security News09:59 UTC · 1h agoThreat actor in the wild 4 sources1

Malware bypasses browser checks to force install Chrome, Edge extensions

Elastic Security Labs detailed KREMLIN, a Brazilian banking malware that silently installs malicious Chrome and Edge extensions, with 1,515 confirmed infections.

Elastic Security Labs analyzed KREMLIN, a toolkit used by a Brazilian operation in at least seven campaigns since May 2025 that impersonates 12 banks to trick users into opening a JavaScript file disguised as a bank receipt or invoice. After anti-sandbox checks, it downloads Node.js, persists via a scheduled task, and fetches payload locations from an Ethereum smart contract, hiding payloads in JPEG images on Internet Archive. The toolkit bypasses Chromium integrity mechanisms to install unapproved Chrome/Edge extensions masquerading as AVSync that steal cookies, keylog form input, capture screenshots, and intercept HTTP traffic, while recent campaigns deployed the REMCOS RAT and earlier ones Pulsar RAT. Elastic confirmed 1,515 infected systems, almost all in Brazil, and disrupted the campaign by registering an anti-sandbox canary domain; the linked wallet handled roughly 20,800 USDT incoming and 19,000 USDT outgoing.

BleepingComputerSep 16, 18:50 UTC · 16h agoMalware in the wild 3 sources

PHP Webshell Campaign Targets WordPress Through Critical WooCommerce Plugin Bug

Wordfence blocked over 100,000 exploitation attempts against CVE-2026-27540 in WooCommerce Wholesale Lead Capture, letting attackers upload PHP webshells to WordPress sites.

Wordfence reported more than 100,000 blocked exploitation attempts against CVE-2026-27540 in the WooCommerce Wholesale Lead Capture plugin (roughly 6,000 active installs), which was disclosed and patched on February 20 in version 2.0.3.2. The unauthenticated AJAX handler wwlc_file_upload_handler reads permitted file extensions from the attacker-controlled request, enabling arbitrary file upload of PHP files such as shell.php that report host details and serve further upload forms. Attack activity peaked between June 4 and June 17, 2026, with additional waves on July 1 and August 30. Wordfence rates the flaw CVSS 9.8, while Patchstack's CVE record lists 9.0.

Infosecurity MagazineSep 16, 15:00 UTC · 20h agoExploit / PoC in the wild 6 sources CVE-2026-27540

APT36 Uses USB-Spreading Malware to Reach Air-Gapped Government Networks

Zscaler attributes the RapidRust campaign by Pakistan-linked APT36 to USB-propagating Rust malware targeting air-gapped government networks in India and Afghanistan.

Zscaler identified in August 2026 a campaign tracked as RapidRust in which APT36 uses infected removable drives to reach air-gapped government environments in India and Afghanistan. RUSTYMOVE, a Rust USB-spreading utility, copies a fake-PDF shortcut and the RUSTYSHADE backdoor to removable media; RUSTYSHADE uses attacker-controlled private GitHub repositories for C2, running shell commands, capturing screenshots and webcam images, while PSNATCH and BASHNATCH steal files. Operators enumerated users, shares, and remote administrative shares to expand beyond initial victims, with payloads staged on lookalike domains mimicking Indian media outlets and Backblaze B2 storage.

Cyber Security News10:17 UTC · 1h agoThreat actor in the wild 3 sources

FamousSparrow Deploys New SparroWocky Backdoor Against Latin American Governmentsnew

China-aligned APT FamousSparrow deployed a new modular backdoor, SparroWocky, against government entities across eight Latin American countries since August 2025, ESET reports.

ESET reports that China-aligned threat actor FamousSparrow replaced its SparrowDoor implant with SparroWocky, a distinct modular C++ backdoor active against governments in Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. Around 90% of the group's targets from mid-2025 into 2026 were in Latin America, which ESET links to regional competition over US influence. The backdoor arrives via a three-component DLL side-loading chain, persists through a Windows service (ProcAuditManager) or Run keys (SnapCart), captures screenshots, and exfiltrates RC4-encrypted data over TLS C2 on ports 443 and 8080. It supports in-memory Beacon Object File execution, API hashing, and SilentMoonwalk-style call-stack spoofing; IOCs for three C2 servers were released.

GBHackers11:04 UTC · 21m agoThreat actor in the wild 2 sources CVE-2021-26855

Hackers Exploit Critical Cisco ISE Flaw to Bypass Authentication and Gain Root Access

Cisco patched CVE-2026-76460, a CVSS 10.0 authentication bypass in ISE and ISE-PIC that can grant unauthenticated attackers root access.

Cisco's advisory cisco-sa-ISE-ABP-VNSW7Tn5 (September 16, 2026) describes CVE-2026-76460, insufficient authentication controls (CWE-648) on an exposed API endpoint in Cisco ISE and ISE-PIC, rated CVSS 10.0. Successful exploitation lets an unauthenticated remote attacker bypass management interface authentication and potentially obtain command-and-control with root privileges, enabling log tampering and persistence. Software updates are available with no workarounds; Cisco urges prioritized patching, log review for suspicious usernames, and reimaging of suspect nodes.

GBHackersupdated 10:24 UTC · 1h agofirst 10:06 UTC · 1h agoVulnerability in the wild 19 sources CVE-2026-76460