Chinese hacker used DeepSeek to launch autonomous cyberattacks on vulnerable servers
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CISA Warns of Fortinet Heap-based Buffer Overflow Flaw Exploited in Attacks
CISA added actively exploited Fortinet CVE-2025-25249, a critical heap-based buffer overflow in FortiOS, FortiSwitchManager, and FortiSASE, to its KEV catalog.
CVE-2025-25249 is a heap-based buffer overflow (CWE-122/CWE-787) allowing unauthorized code execution by sending specially crafted packets. CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on September 9, 2026, with a September 12 remediation deadline for federal agencies under BOD 26-04 and mandatory forensic triage of affected environments. Internet-facing Fortinet firewalls and SASE platforms are a likely foothold for credential theft, persistence, and lateral movement; ransomware use is currently listed as unknown.
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Hackers Actively Exploiting Gitea n-day RCE Vulnerability in the Wild to Hijack Instances
Chinese-speaking Red Heron actors mass-exploit Gitea n-day RCE CVE-2026-60004 to steal source code, credentials, and pivot into victim networks.
Acronis Threat Research Unit reports active in-the-wild exploitation of Gitea RCE CVE-2026-60004 (CVSS 9.8, versions 1.17-1.27.0, fixed in 1.27.1) by a Chinese-speaking actor dubbed Red Heron. The actor scanned 1,386 Gitea servers across seven countries, held a separate list of 477 Taiwan-based targets, and confirmed victims in Canada, Argentina, Taiwan, the US, and Sri Lanka. Intrusions deployed the JITTERLY Linux implant with the SIXZUT LD_PRELOAD rootkit, stole password hashes and SSH keys, and in one case gained root admin access to a three-node Proxmox cluster.
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CVE-2026-34486: Apache Software Foundation Apache Tomcat
CISA added CVE-2026-34486, an actively exploited Apache Tomcat EncryptInterceptor bypass enabling unauthenticated deserialization RCE, to its KEV catalog.
CVE-2026-34486 allows bypass of Apache Tomcat's EncryptInterceptor, a flaw introduced by the fix for padding-oracle issue CVE-2026-29146 in Tribes cluster encryption. CISA added the flaw to the Known Exploited Vulnerability catalog on August 4, 2026, alongside actively exploited Langflow and N-central flaws, with remediation required under BOD 26-04 guidance. Official patches and workarounds are available, and reporting notes unauthenticated remote code execution through Java deserialization on the Tribes receiver port 4000.
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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.
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North Korea’s Lazarus Operates Through Six Distinct Cyber Clusters
Sekoia and Kudelski Security reclassify North Korea's Lazarus umbrella into six clusters spanning espionage, financial theft, and fake IT worker operations.
New research by Sekoia and Kudelski Security, published September 7, divides the former Lazarus umbrella into TEMP.Hermit, Citrine Sleet, CryptoCore, Jade Sleet, Moonstone Sleet, and Famous Chollima, mostly under North Korea's military intelligence bureau (GRIB). The former APT38 likely split into CryptoCore and Jade Sleet, focused on cryptocurrency, Web3, and blockchain targets. Moonstone Sleet combines espionage with financially motivated operations, using custom malware alongside Qilin ransomware-as-a-service. Thousands of fake IT workers generate regime revenue and provide access, linked to incidents like the $62.5M Munchables protocol theft.
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CISA Flags Langflow RCE, Tomcat, and N
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Mirage Kitten targeting aviation and FinTech sectors across the Middle East and Africa with a new malware set
Kaspersky reports Mirage Kitten targeting aviation and fintech organizations across the Middle East and Africa with new NodeRabbit and PollCat backdoors.
Kaspersky researchers documented new Mirage Kitten operations against aviation and fintech organizations in the Middle East and Africa. The campaign uses two previously undocumented backdoors: NodeRabbit, written in Node.js, and PollCat, written in JavaScript. The findings expand the group's known toolset and TTPs.
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'Sandworm' Chains Cisco Vulnerabilities to Deploy Cyclops Blink
Russia-linked Sandworm chains Cisco vulnerabilities to deploy an upgraded Cyclops Blink botnet variant the FBI disrupted in 2022.
Dark Reading reports that Sandworm, the notorious Russia-linked threat group, is chaining Cisco vulnerabilities to deploy an upgraded version of the Cyclops Blink botnet malware. The FBI previously disrupted the Cyclops Blink botnet in 2022. The activity signals renewed botnet infrastructure building by the group despite prior law-enforcement action.
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Hackers Disable Endpoint Protection and Deploy Sliver Across Compromised Windows Domain
The Hunter's Ledger tracked campaign UTA-2026-024 using Sliver C2, Domain Admin account creation, and Ethereum-based C2 rotation to compromise a US organization's Windows domain.
The Hunter's Ledger tracked an intrusion at one unnamed US organization as UTA-2026-024, staged from exposed server 193.233.202.17 with a Sliver beacon. Operators created a non-expiring Domain Admin account, enabled RDP with NLA disabled, dumped SAM, SYSTEM and SECURITY hives plus LSASS memory, and disabled eight endpoint protection services. A Node.js implant resolved its C2 server from an Ethereum smart contract that rotated domains five times in five months, while SYSTEM scheduled tasks with backdated dates and DNS allowlist manipulation provided persistence. The infrastructure ties to a confirmed ransomware incident, but no encryptor deployment was proven in this intrusion.
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Wordfence Argus Finds Complex 6 Step Critical RCE in Avada Theme with 1 Million Sales
Wordfence's AI-assisted Argus found a six-step critical RCE chain in the Avada WordPress theme, which has more than one million sales.
Wordfence reports that its Argus research uncovered a complex six-step exploit chain yielding critical remote code execution in the Avada WordPress theme, one of the best-selling themes with over one million sales. The company also notes AI-assisted submissions to its bug bounty program grew from 16% to roughly two-thirds of all reports in recent months. Sites running Avada should apply the patched release.
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NOKKI Almost Ties the Knot with DOGCALL: Reaper Group Uses New Malware to Deploy RAT
Unit 42 links NOKKI malware to North Korea's Reaper group, uncovering the Final1stspy dropper that deploys the DOGCALL RAT in politically motivated attacks.
Unit 42 analyzed the NOKKI malware family used in politically themed attacks against Russian and Cambodian speakers since July 2018. The researchers linked NOKKI to the Reaper group, publicly attributed to North Korea, whose custom DOGCALL RAT uses third-party hosting services to upload data and receive commands. A previously unreported family, Final1stspy, was found deploying DOGCALL, sharing a unique base64-to-hex deobfuscation routine with NOKKI droppers. Attacks used malicious Microsoft Word macros that download and execute payloads while opening decoy documents.
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IT help-desk vishing tricks executives into handing over Microsoft 365 access
Arctic Wolf tracks PREY-0058 (linked to UNC6671), a vishing campaign stealing Microsoft 365 session tokens via AiTM panels for SaaS data theft and extortion.
Arctic Wolf is tracking a campaign, PREY-0058, sharing tradecraft with Google Threat Intelligence Group's UNC6671, in which callers posing as internal IT talk employees through fake passkey/MFA setups. Operator-controlled adversary-in-the-middle pages harvest passwords and MFA approvals to seize session tokens, then actors enumerate and bulk-exfiltrate data from SharePoint, OneDrive, Exchange, and Box. Extortion brands include BlackFile, Pink, Helix, Cinder, and Redact; targets are mostly US-based executives in construction, healthcare, real estate, finance, and professional services, with exfiltration shifting to residential proxies like NodeMaven.
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Wordfence Argus: Moving Beyond Human Research Capability
Wordfence showcases Argus, an AI agent for security research whose breakthrough findings required the AI itself to explain them.
Wordfence describes Argus, an AI research agent the company says has moved beyond human research capability, producing a breakthrough so complex that the team asked the agent to write the explanatory blog post itself. The post functions as a vendor announcement of AI-driven vulnerability research capability. No specific CVEs, victims, or exploited products are detailed in the available text.
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Who’s Tracking You? Use This New Service to Find Out
KrebsOnSecurity covers DecryptAds, a free service that scrapes and correlates adtech data to reveal which entities track users across sites and apps.
KrebsOnSecurity wrote about DecryptAds, a free service that scrapes and correlates adtech data. The service makes it simple to identify which entities are responsible for ads shown on websites and data harvested by mobile apps, information that is semi-public but traditionally walled away inside large advertising platforms. No security incident is involved; the piece is an introduction to a privacy-research tool.
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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.
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ZDI-26-564: NVIDIA Transformers4Rec load_model_trainer_states_from_checkpoint Deserialization of Untrusted Data Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
ZDI discloses CVE-2026-24232, a CVSS 7.8 deserialization RCE in NVIDIA Transformers4Rec's load_model_trainer_states_from_checkpoint function.
The Zero Day Initiative published ZDI-26-564, a deserialization of untrusted data vulnerability in NVIDIA Transformers4Rec. Remote code execution is possible, but exploitation requires user interaction such as visiting a malicious page or opening a malicious file. The flaw is tracked as CVE-2026-24232 with a CVSS score of 7.8.
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Chaotic Eclipse Releases Kaspersky Zero
Researcher Chaotic Eclipse released HardBreacher, a PoC privilege-escalation exploit for Kaspersky Endpoint Security on fully patched Windows 11 25H2.
Security researcher Chaotic Eclipse, also known as INFINITE NIGHTMARE and Nightmare-Eclipse, released a PoC zero-day exploit named HardBreacher targeting Kaspersky Endpoint Security v14.0.0.504. The exploit achieves privilege escalation on fully patched Windows 11 25H2, creating a DLL in System32 with full user permissions and potentially disrupting Kaspersky's UI process and file-access controls. The PoC is unstable and may require repeated attempts; Kaspersky claims it has already addressed the vulnerability.
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Post-DEF CON Phishing Uses Malicious Google Doc to Deliver Malware
Huntress uncovered post-DEF CON phishing via X direct messages using a malicious Google Doc to deliver AMOS and NetSupport RAT malware.
Huntress uncovered a phishing campaign targeting attendees after Black Hat and DEF CON. Attackers used X direct messages pointing to a malicious Google Doc as the delivery vehicle. Payloads include AMOS, a macOS infostealer, and the NetSupport RAT, among other malware.
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Head Mare APT is exploiting vulnerabilities in an unpatched TrueConf server to deliver PhantomCore and PhantomGraph to video conference participants
Head Mare APT exploits unpatched TrueConf server vulnerabilities to deliver PhantomCore and PhantomGraph backdoors to video conference participants.
Kaspersky discovered malicious TrueConf software installers used by the Head Mare APT group to deploy the PhantomCore and PhantomGraph backdoors. The group exploits vulnerabilities in an unpatched TrueConf server to reach targets. Video conference participants are infected via the trojanized installers.
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New Ted Backdoor Hides Inside Victims' Own HAProxy Builds to Intercept Web Traffic
Rapid7 found a new backdoor, ted, compiled into trojanized HAProxy at two South Korean organizations, with medium-confidence attribution to North Korean actors.
Rapid7 documented a previously undocumented Linux toolkit named ted compiled into the HAProxy load balancer binaries of two South Korean organizations in the automotive and media sectors. The implant intercepts web traffic, serves altered pages only to filtered visitors, and hides C2 exchanges from backend logs and HAProxy statistics; a companion RAT, curlRAT, beacons on a default 12-hour schedule. The toolkit also trojanizes crond, sshd, agetty, atd, and polkitd binaries and sanitizes logs and bash history. Rapid7 attributes the activity with medium confidence to North Korean state-sponsored actors, with domain infrastructure overlapping APT37 listings in maltrail and delivery resembling the Operation SyncHole campaign.
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AsyncRAT Malware Abuses AutoIt and PowerShell to Hide Inside Legitimate Windows Process
Point Wild details a five-stage AsyncRAT campaign using AutoIt abuse and process injection to hide a .NET RAT inside Microsoft's signed charmap.exe.
Researchers at Point Wild Threat Intelligence analyzed a campaign starting from a lure batch file ('Right-click to open Invoice Details.bat') that launches hidden PowerShell to reconstruct a Base64/XOR-obfuscated payload. The stage drops a renamed signed AutoIt interpreter and loader script into %LOCALAPPDATA%\Temp and achieves persistence via a batch file in the user's Startup folder (T1547.001). The loader decrypts the payload in memory with single-byte XOR key 0x36 and injects it into SysWOW64\charmap.exe using OpenProcess/VirtualAllocEx/WriteProcessMemory/CreateRemoteThread, with PE-sieve confirming an in-memory implanted PE and patched AMSI modules. The final AsyncRAT payload performs screen capture and data theft, with observed C2 at 158[.]51[.]122[.]136:4944 over raw TCP.
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North Korean Lazarus Group Uses Windows Zero
Check Point links Lazarus Group's Operation Dream Job to a new Windows zero-day, CVE-2026-68820, targeting defense workers with fake Lockheed Martin job offers.
Check Point Research documented a new wave of Operation Dream Job, a North Korean Lazarus Group campaign targeting defense and aerospace professionals in France, Germany, Brazil, and India with fake Lockheed Martin job offers. The attacks chain a previously unknown Windows privilege escalation flaw in AFD.sys, CVE-2026-68820, which Microsoft patched on August 11, 2026, to deploy the MISTPEN downloader, ForestTiger backdoor, and updated FudModule 3.1 kernel rootkit. Check Point also discovered a new Troy backdoor DLL with 17 operator commands and a RelayShell PHP webshell deployed on compromised Roundcube and WordPress servers used as command relays, some infected via CVE-2025-49113 or leaked credentials. Defenders are urged to apply the August 2026 Patch Tuesday update and review Check Point's indicators of compromise.
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US, UK, Dutch Agencies Expose Iranian ‘Chosen Brick’ Surveillance Malware
US, UK, and Dutch agencies warn Iranian state actors deploy Windows surveillance malware 'Chosen Brick' against dissidents, activists, and journalists worldwide.
Joint advisories from US, UK, and Dutch agencies describe Chosen Brick, a Windows surveillance malware active since at least 2025 and used by Iranian state cyber actors to track regime opponents. The malware harvests contacts, emails, and social media messages, persists via registry Run keys, evades Microsoft Defender, and uses per-victim Telegram bot IDs for command-and-control and exfiltration. Operators build rapport on WhatsApp and Telegram posing as acquaintances or support staff, disguising payloads as utility software or fake medical documents. Capabilities include screenshot capture, audio recording, credential theft, secondary payload delivery, and data wiping.
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Chaotic Eclipse Releases GenDigital Avast Antivirus ZeroDay PrettyPrague
Researcher Chaotic Eclipse released PrettyPrague, a PoC zero-day privilege escalation exploit against fully patched GenDigital Avast Antivirus.
Security researcher Chaotic Eclipse (also known as INFINITE NIGHTMARE or MSNightmare) published a PoC named PrettyPrague exploiting a zero-day privilege escalation flaw in Avast Antivirus. The PoC abuses a flaw in the Avast Sandbox to dump the Windows SAM database and spawn a SYSTEM-level shell, reportedly working on fully patched Avast and patched Windows 11 25H2. The researcher believes the flaw may also affect other GenDigital products such as AVG and Norton. It follows his recent HardBreacher PoC for a Kaspersky Endpoint Security privilege escalation flaw.
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