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The September 2026 Security Update Review

ZDI's September 2026 Microsoft update review lists two already-exploited Windows EoP zero-days and dozens of critical RCEs across Office, SQL Server, and Windows services.

The review catalogs Microsoft's September 2026 fixes, marking CVE-2026-85880 (Windows ALPC) and CVE-2026-81963 (Windows Update Stack) as already exploited elevation-of-privilege issues. It also lists critical RCE flaws in Office, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, SQL Server, Windows DNS, DHCP and Failover Cluster, plus graphics component RCEs. Azure-side fixes include Entra ID, Copilot Studio, Azure AI Language and Azure AD B2C elevation-of-privilege flaws.

Zero Day Initiative Blog · 8d agoAdvisory in the wildCVE-2026-85880CVE-2026-81963CVE-2026-70352+27 CVEs1

Microsoft’s September 2026 Patch Tuesday addresses 964 CVEs (CVE-2026-81963, CVE-2026-85880)

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes a record 964 CVEs, including two zero-days actively exploited in the wild.

Microsoft patched a record 964 CVEs in its September 2026 Patch Tuesday release, with 101 rated critical and 824 rated important, making it the largest Patch Tuesday to date. The release includes fixes for two zero-days that were exploited in the wild, with CVE-2026-81963 and CVE-2026-85880 highlighted in the release. Affected products span Windows core components, Office, Exchange, .NET, Visual Studio, Active Directory services (including AD CS and AD FS) and numerous Azure services. Tenable notes the release surpasses July's as the biggest ever.

Tenable Blog · 8d agoVulnerability in the wildCVE-2026-81963CVE-2026-858801

Microsoft Patch Tuesday for September 2026 — Snort rules and prominent vulnerabilities

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes 973 vulnerabilities, including 113 critical, with two Windows privilege-escalation bugs (CVE-2026-81963, CVE-2026-85880) exploited in the wild.

Microsoft's September 2026 security update addresses 973 vulnerabilities across its product lineup, 113 rated critical, of which 82 are remote code execution flaws. Two vulnerabilities are confirmed exploited in the wild: CVE-2026-81963, an elevation-of-privilege flaw in the Windows Update Stack (CVSS 7.8), and CVE-2026-85880, a heap-based buffer overflow in Windows Advanced Local Procedure Call (CVSS 7.8). Microsoft flags several bugs as more likely to be exploited, including a 9.8 RCE in Windows DNS Server (CVE-2026-69730), an 8.8 RCE in Windows Kerberos (CVE-2026-69676), and a 9.0 EoP in Spring Cloud Azure (CVE-2026-69854). Cisco Talos published accompanying Snort rules to detect exploitation attempts against the prominent flaws.

Cisco Talos · 7d agoAdvisory in the wildCVE-2026-81963CVE-2026-85880CVE-2026-69676+27 CVEs

Microsoft Patch Tuesday, September 2026 Security Update Review

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes 974 vulnerabilities, including 113 critical and two actively exploited Windows privilege escalation flaws.

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes 974 vulnerabilities, its largest release ever, including 113 critical and 860 important, covering Windows HTTP.sys, Hyper-V, Entra ID, Exchange Server, Office, DNS, and more. Two zero-days are confirmed exploited in the wild: CVE-2026-81963 (Windows Update Stack EoP) and CVE-2026-85880 (ALPC heap overflow), both letting authenticated attackers gain SYSTEM privileges. Notable criticals include an Entra ID authentication bypass (CVE-2026-62916) and multiple Windows DNS Server and Office remote code execution flaws.

Qualys ThreatPROTECT · 7d agoVulnerability in the wildCVE-2026-81963CVE-2026-85880CVE-2026-58599+27 CVEs

Microsoft September 2026 Patch Tuesday Fixes 973 Vulnerabilities and 2 Exploited Zero-Days

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes 973 vulnerabilities, including two zero-days already exploited in the wild.

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday addresses 973 vulnerabilities across Windows, Office, and Azure components, including two zero-days already exploited in the wild. CVE-2026-81963, an elevation of privilege flaw in the Windows Update Stack, is flagged as an exploited zero-day. The release includes numerous remote code execution and information disclosure fixes for Microsoft Excel and Word, plus patches for the Windows kernel, ALPC, Print Spooler, ReFS, Entra ID, and Azure CLI.

GBHackers · 7d agoAdvisory in the wildCVE-2026-85880CVE-2026-85877CVE-2026-85875+27 CVEs1

Microsoft’s Biggest Patch Tuesday: 974 CVEs, 2 Zero-Days and 20 Wormable Bugs

Microsoft's record September 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes 974 CVEs, including two exploited Windows privilege-escalation zero-days and 20 wormable bugs.

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes a record 974 CVEs, including two actively exploited zero-days: CVE-2026-85880, an ALPC heap buffer overflow, and CVE-2026-81963 in the Windows Update Stack, both CVSS 7.8 local privilege escalations. It also addresses an unauthenticated Exchange RCE (CVE-2026-55007) triggered by Visio attachment content indexing under memory pressure, an RDP use-after-free (CVE-2026-69525, CVSS 9.8), and 20 wormable flaws in DNS, DHCP, SMB, Active Directory, and other components. ZDI attributed the rising volume partly to AI-assisted vulnerability discovery, noting no corresponding spike in active exploits yet.

Security Affairs · 7d agoVulnerability in the wildCVE-2026-85880CVE-2026-81963CVE-2026-55007+3 CVEs2

Microsoft fixes record 964 flaws, including 2 exploited zero-days

Microsoft's September Patch Tuesday fixes a record 964 CVEs, including two actively exploited Windows privilege-escalation zero-days, CVE-2026-81963 and CVE-2026-85880.

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday addresses 964 customer-patchable CVEs (104 Critical, 860 Important), the largest release on record, out of 974 total listed. Two actively exploited zero-days are fixed: CVE-2026-81963, a link-following elevation-of-privilege flaw in the Windows Update Stack, and CVE-2026-85880, a Windows ALPC heap overflow enabling AppContainer sandbox escape, both with CVSS 7.8. Both zero-days were exploited before a patch was available and grant SYSTEM-level access after an initial foothold. The release also includes high-severity RCE fixes for Windows DNS Server, Remote Desktop Services, Exchange Server, SharePoint, and SQL Server.

Malwarebytes Labs · 7d agoExploit / PoC in the wildCVE-2026-81963CVE-2026-858801

Microsoft Shatters Patch Tuesday Record With 974 CVE Fixes in September 2026

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes a record 974 CVEs, including two actively exploited Windows zero-days, CVE-2026-85880 and CVE-2026-81963.

Microsoft fixed a record 974 CVEs in its September 2026 Patch Tuesday, surpassing the previous record of 570 in July 2026, with Windows affected by 723 flaws and Office by 111, including 119 critical vulnerabilities. Two zero-days are actively exploited: CVE-2026-85880, a 7.8 heap-based buffer overflow in Windows ALPC allowing AppContainer privilege escalation, and CVE-2026-81963, an improper link resolution flaw in the Windows Update Stack enabling local privilege escalation. Microsoft attributed the update surge partly to agentic AI tools used to discover zero-day vulnerabilities, and researchers highlighted critical RCE flaws in Windows DNS, DHCP and Deployment Services as priorities.

Infosecurity Magazine · 7d agoExploit / PoC in the wildCVE-2026-85880CVE-2026-81963CVE-2026-62878+4 CVEs1

Microsoft Patches Record 974 Flaws, Including Two Exploited Windows Zero-Days

Microsoft's September Patch Tuesday fixed a record 974 flaws, including two Windows privilege-escalation zero-days actively exploited and added to CISA's KEV catalog.

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday addressed a record 974 vulnerabilities (999 including 25 non-Microsoft CVEs), with over 110 rated critical; 723 affect Windows and 111 affect Office. Two Windows privilege-escalation zero-days are actively exploited: CVE-2026-85880, an ALPC heap-based buffer overflow, and CVE-2026-81963, an improper link resolution flaw in the Windows Update Stack, both allowing attackers to gain SYSTEM privileges. CISA added both flaws to its KEV catalog, giving federal civilian agencies until September 22, 2026 to apply fixes. Volexity, Proofpoint, MSTIC, and independent researchers were credited with the reports; notable additional fixes include network-reachable RCEs in Exchange, SharePoint, SQL Server, Remote Desktop Services, DNS, and DHCP.

The Hacker News · 7d agoExploit / PoC in the wildCVE-2026-85880CVE-2026-81963CVE-2026-55007+9 CVEs

Microsoft Plugs Nearly 1,000 Security Holes

Microsoft's September Patch Tuesday fixes a record 974 flaws, including two actively exploited Windows zero-days and critical DNS and Windows Shell bugs.

Microsoft released fixes for 974 vulnerabilities, its largest-ever monthly patch batch, bringing the 2026 total above 2,600. Two zero-day privilege elevation flaws, CVE-2026-81963 and CVE-2026-85880, are being actively exploited. Critical bugs include CVE-2026-69730, an unauthenticated DNS weakness in Windows Server 2012 onward and Windows 10 deemed likely to be exploited, and CVE-2026-69829, a CVSS 9.8 Windows Shell remote code execution flaw requiring no privileges or user interaction. Microsoft and other vendors credit AI-assisted discovery for the growing patch volumes.

Krebs on Security · 7d agoVulnerability in the wildCVE-2026-81963CVE-2026-85880CVE-2026-69730+1 CVEs

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.

Cyber Security News · 8d agoThreat actor in the wild

Casbaneiro Banking Trojan Uses Distributed C2 Servers to Evade Detection and Target Bank Users

Casbaneiro banking Trojan targets Latin American bank users via phishing PDFs, geofencing, AutoIt staging, and distributed C2 servers to evade detection.

FortiGuard Labs detailed a Casbaneiro banking Trojan campaign observed in August 2026 targeting users in Argentina, Peru, Colombia, and Mexico via fake invoice and legal-notice emails. The operation uses geofenced landing pages, an HTA downloader with WMI-based sandbox checks, a legitimate AutoIt interpreter, and process injection into RegSvcs.exe (fallback mobsync.exe). C2 activation is conditional on victims visiting banking websites, enabling keyboard control, clipboard manipulation, and fake overlay windows for bank-focused fraud, while distributed exfiltration servers and unusual HTTP 403-based signaling hinder analyst correlation.

GBHackers · 2d agoMalware in the wild1

Russian State-Sponsored Hackers Use Claude to Rebuild Malware After Detection

Anthropic disrupted APT29-linked GTG-20006, which used Claude to autonomously rebuild malware, hijack hotel Wi-Fi DNS, and target 20-plus Ukrainian, European, and US-linked organizations.

Anthropic attributed the campaign to GTG-20006, aligned with Midnight Blizzard (APT29/Cozy Bear), which developed an AI-driven process that monitors its implants against security products and autonomously rebuilds and redeploys detected malware. Targets included military intelligence, diplomatic, and defense organizations in Ukraine and Europe, plus Middle East and Asian maritime agencies; the actor compromised at least three hotel Wi-Fi vendors via DNS hijacking and served ClickFix lures delivering Windows, Android, and iOS malware such as PowerChrome, GiftDrop, and DarkSword. Operations also included a North African breach exfiltrating over 300,000 national identity records and 500,000-plus company registry entries, an Embassy Kit device-code phishing campaign stealing Microsoft 365 tokens from at least eight organizations, and WhatsApp account takeover using headless browsers. The campaign overlaps with CaptiveCrunch reporting from ReliaQuest, Microsoft, Google, and Lumen Black Lotus Labs.

The Hacker Newsupdated · 4d agofirst · 5d agoThreat actor in the wild 15 sources2

September 2026 Patch Tuesday: Record patch count, 2 zero-days, and a SigRed successor

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday delivers a record patch count, fixing two exploited zero-days and a wormable DNS flaw dubbed a SigRed successor.

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday sets another record patch count, fixing two vulnerabilities exploited as zero-days: CVE-2026-81963, a Windows Update Stack low-privilege-to-SYSTEM escalation reported by MSTIC, and CVE-2026-85880, a Windows Advanced Local Procedure Call escalation reported by Proofpoint. Zero Day Initiative's Dustin Childs urges priority on a cluster of 20 potentially wormable bugs including DNS RCE CVE-2026-69730, described as a spiritual successor to SigRed, plus Kerberos authentication bypass CVE-2026-69676 that could give any authenticated domain user RCE on domain controllers, and Exchange RCE CVE-2026-55007 via a malicious Visio attachment. All Windows fixes are bundled in cumulative updates, and experts stress prioritizing exploitable, reachable flaws over raw patch counts.

Help Net Security · 7d agoAdvisory in the wildCVE-2026-81963CVE-2026-85880CVE-2026-69730+4 CVEs

Breeze Comet Executes Hundreds of Fraudulent Transactions via Brazilian Payment Systems

Google/Mandiant profile Breeze Comet, a Brazil-based e-crime group executing fraudulent Pix and STR payment transactions at banks, retailers, and fintechs.

Google Threat Intelligence Group and Mandiant describe Breeze Comet (formerly UNC5669), a financially motivated threat actor active since September 2023 targeting Brazilian financial services, retail, and e-commerce. The group gains access via password spraying, vishing impersonating IT support to install RMM tools like AnyDesk, WhatsApp social engineering, and exploitation of vulnerable JBoss AS servers for web shell deployment. It uses compromised government websites as C2, deploys the Rust-based COBALTSPIN tunneler and multiple custom backdoors (LIGHTPAINT, MILDFROST, KICKPLATE, BOATBEAM), then clears logs after executing hundreds of fraudulent transactions through Pix, STR, and Boleto payment systems. At least one heist yielded tens of thousands of dollars, with infrastructure suggesting expansion toward Latin America and Africa.

The Hacker News · 8d agoThreat actor in the wild

September 2026 Patch Tuesday roundup: Plugs for two zero day holes among almost 1,000 fixes in Windows

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday ships 964 fixes including two exploited Windows zero-days (CVE-2026-85880, CVE-2026-81963) and a wormable DNS RCE.

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday includes 964 Microsoft vulnerabilities requiring customer action, a record attributed to AI-assisted bug discovery, plus 174 third-party/open-source and 23 Chromium/Edge CVEs. Two zero-days are exploited in the wild: CVE-2026-85880, a Windows ALPC heap overflow enabling AppContainer sandbox escape and privilege escalation, and CVE-2026-81963, a Windows Update Stack escalation to SYSTEM. CVE-2026-69730, an unauthenticated Windows DNS RCE, is not yet exploited but Microsoft expects exploitation, and roughly 20 bugs could be wormable. Separately, SAP issued a critical CVSS 10.0 fix for the EPP component used in S/4HANA and NetWeaver.

CSO Online · 7d agoVulnerability in the wildCVE-2026-85880CVE-2026-81963CVE-2026-69730+2 CVEs1

Four Nation-State Actors Used the Same Chrome Zero-Day Exploit Kit Within 12 Days

Proofpoint reports four nation-state actors, mostly China-nexus, adopted the BlueMoon Chrome and Windows zero-day exploit kit within 12 days, targeting US organizations.

Proofpoint tracked an exploit kit dubbed BlueMoon that chains CVE-2026-85046, a Chrome V8 type-confusion bug, with an unnamed V8 sandbox escape and CVE-2026-85880, a Windows kernel privilege escalation using ALPC and the Windows Notification Facility. The first observed use was by China-nexus TA412 (APT31, Violet Typhoon, JungleBamboo) on August 28, 2026 against US NGOs, mining companies, and commodity trading firms, followed by UNK_LateNight targeting US aerospace and defense companies on September 2. Both V8 bugs were patch-gap zero-days: the fix was committed to Chromium on August 7 but reached stable Chrome on September 3, enabling rapid weaponization from public patches. TA412's post-exploitation payload, GemStone, is a malicious browser extension posing as an AI-powered Google Gemini companion that captures keystrokes, cookies, screenshots, and browsing history via a Cloudflare Worker C2.

Security Affairsupdated · 2h agofirst · 6d agoExploit / PoC in the wild 19 sourcesCVE-2026-85046CVE-2026-858801

A Malicious Webpage Could Poison Your Local AI Model Behind NVIDIA NemoClaw

Oasis Security found NVIDIA NemoClaw's Ollama binding to 0.0.0.0 enables DNS rebinding attacks that let attacker pages poison model chat templates with persistent hidden instructions.

Oasis Security disclosed that NVIDIA NemoClaw on Windows/WSL paths binds Ollama to 0.0.0.0:11434 without authentication, exposing the API to browser-based DNS rebinding attacks from malicious webpages. An attacker can then modify the model's chat template via /api/create, planting hidden instructions that run on every subsequent inference and persist across conversations, invisible to API consumers. NemoClaw v0.0.35 fixed the issue on macOS and Linux; no fix exists for Windows and WSL paths beyond a warning in v0.0.34. Ollama's own 2024 fix (CVE-2024-28224) added Host header validation, but it is skipped when bound to non-loopback addresses. No exploitation has been reported as of August 25, 2026.

The Hacker News · 22d agoAI safety & securityCVE-2024-282241

Metasploit Wrap Up: This One Goes to Sixteen!

Metasploit adds 16 modules including 10 exploits, five covering CISA KEV vulnerabilities in Cisco, SonicWall, PaperCut, JetBrains and Langflow.

Rapid7's weekly Metasploit update ships 16 new modules, 10 of them exploit modules, with five targeting CISA KEV entries. New exploits cover Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center auth bypass (CVE-2026-20079), a SonicWall SMA1000 SSRF-to-root RCE chain (CVE-2026-83548/CVE-2026-83549), JetBrains TeamCity deserialization RCE (CVE-2026-63077), PaperCut NG/MF chain (CVE-2026-81578/CVE-2026-82078), and Langflow authenticated RCE (CVE-2026-19295). The SonicWall and PaperCut chains were reported as actively exploited zero-days, and a new ESC8 relay module exploits CVE-2026-20929 against AD CS Web Enrollment.

Rapid7 Blog · 5d agoTools in the wildCVE-2025-66516CVE-2025-54988CVE-2026-20929+8 CVEs1

One Click on a Malicious Link Lets Hackers Backdoor Sogou Input Method Users

Actively exploited one-click flaw in Sogou Input Method (CVE-2026-51990) let UNC3569 deploy the GRAYRABBIT espionage backdoor on Windows.

Gen Digital researchers found three weaknesses in Sogou Input Method's sgbiz protocol handler that chain into a one-click RCE running with the signed-in user's permissions. UNC3569 used the chain in an active intrusion, leveraging an unsandboxed Chromium 80 embedded browser, the known V8 flaw CVE-2021-38003, and DLL sideloading via 7-Zip to deploy the GRAYRABBIT backdoor. Tencent fixed the issue in version 16.3.0.3498 within 12 days of disclosure; Sogou is used by hundreds of millions of people, mainly in China.

Cyber Security News · 2d agoExploit / PoC in the wild 3 sourcesCVE-2026-51990CVE-2021-38003

Hackers Hijack HBO Max Reddit Account to Push 108 ClickFix Malware Ads

Hijacked verified HBO Max Reddit account ran 108 ClickFix malvertising ads delivering AMOS infostealers, Windows loaders, and crypto clipboard hijackers.

HudsonRock and ADAMnetworks identified a cross-platform ClickFix operation dubbed PasteSwitch that abused the compromised verified Reddit account u/hbomax to publish 108 malicious ads over 48 hours, using domains like hbomaxx[.]us and codex-craft[.]com. macOS victims run curl/zsh commands delivering AMOS-related stealers and fake wallets, while Windows users get an InstallFix route using mshta and PowerShell that loads Amatera in memory and disables AMSI. The operation's AnimateClipper and ZigClipper families hijack clipboards to swap cryptocurrency addresses, with C2 domains rotated via Binance Smart Chain contracts. Reddit paused the ads and is investigating.

Cyber Security Newsupdated · 1d agofirst · 1d agoMalware in the wild 7 sources

Weekly Cybersecurity Newsletter Bulletin – Microsoft 0-day, FortiOS, PAN-OS Flaw, Revolut Data Breach, and 20+ Stories

Weekly roundup: Microsoft patches 973 flaws including two actively exploited zero-days; FortiOS CAPWAP flaw deploys PivotC2 RAT; PAN-OS root RCE disclosed.

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday fixed 973 vulnerabilities, including two zero-days under active exploitation: CVE-2026-85880 (Windows ALPC) and CVE-2026-81963 (Windows Update Stack), both elevation-of-privilege bugs. SOCRadar reported active exploitation of CVE-2025-25249 (CVSS 9.8) in FortiOS CAPWAP, deploying a Node.js RAT called PivotC2 that exfiltrates Exchange mailboxes to Wasabi cloud storage; 178 devices were compromised out of 30,000 scanned IPs, attributed to a Russian-speaking financially motivated group. Palo Alto disclosed CVE-2026-0310, a 9.2-rated buffer overflow enabling root code execution on PA-Series firewalls, and Fortinet disclosed CVE-2026-84393, a ZTNA certificate validation MITM flaw. Cyera also revealed CVE-2026-6471 ('PostGREShell'), a 12-year-old PostgreSQL logical-decoding flaw allowing code execution via REPLICATION-privileged accounts.

Cyber Security News · 2d agoExploit / PoC in the wildCVE-2026-85880CVE-2026-81963CVE-2025-25249+3 CVEs3

Cyclops Blink Evolves Into x86-64 Linux Implant With Packet Sniffing and Internal Network Scanning

Sophos uncovers a new x86-64 Cyclops Blink Linux implant with packet sniffing and internal network scanning on compromised Cisco FMC appliances.

Sophos identified a 64-bit Linux Cyclops Blink implant in August on compromised Cisco Firewall Management Center devices, persisting via SysV init scripts and masquerading as the process 'kworker01'. The modular malware runs five child processes for reconnaissance, file transfer, scanning, packet capture, and persistence, and beacons hourly over outbound TLS to hardcoded C2 89.34.96.56 on ports 43856 and 49172. The family was previously tied to Russian-linked Sandworm activity on WatchGuard appliances, though Sophos treats 2026 attribution cautiously. The packet-capture module applies configurable filters to retain credentials, cookies, and authentication tokens from raw Ethernet traffic.

Cyber Security News · 2d agoMalware in the wild

Iranian Hackers Pose as Recruiters to Deliver Cross

Kaspersky attributes new cross-platform RATs NodeRabbit and PollCat to Iranian group Nimbus Manticore, spread via recruiter-themed LinkedIn lures.

Kaspersky links two previously undocumented malware families, NodeRabbit (Node.js) and PollCat (obfuscated JavaScript), to the Iranian threat actor Nimbus Manticore, also known as Iranian Dream Job. Victims in Afghanistan, Egypt, and Ethiopia received trojanized coding challenge archives containing fake npm packages (colorized_terminal, pretty-log) that silently launched the RATs as background processes. NodeRabbit contacts Azure-hosted C2 servers via checkin, task, and result API endpoints and supports 11 commands including shell execution, file operations, and network enumeration. Persistence is platform-specific: Windows Run keys or scheduled tasks, Linux cron entries, and macOS launch agents, impersonating Microsoft Edge updates or Intel's Driver & Support Assistant.

The Hacker News · 14d agoThreat actor

Hackers Use LLMs to Generate Exploit Scripts and Automate Post-Exploitation Across Latin America

Unit 42 says Latin American attackers used LLMs to automate post-exploitation in campaigns hitting Mexican government, water utilities, and Brazilian financial firms.

Unit 42 identified two campaigns in Latin America whose operators used commercial LLMs (Claude, GPT-4.1) behind a self-hosted NextChat interface to generate and debug post-exploitation scripts. Cluster CL-CRI-1131 compromised a transportation organization, Mexican federal ministries, and water utilities in Mexico and Ecuador, using native Windows tools and Volume Shadow Copies to dump the SAM registry hive and NTDS.dit. Cluster CL-CRI-1163 targeted Brazilian financial organizations with job-themed phishing, custom RATs, and a Go-based reverse SOCKS5 tunneling utility called SockTz, with nine versions deployed within roughly two hours. Trend Micro tracks related AI-augmented activity as SHADOW-AETHER-040 and SHADOW-AETHER-064.

GBHackersupdated · 6d agofirst · 6d agoThreat actor in the wild 2 sources1

Attackers Expose Ongoing AI Tool Use Targeting Organizations in Latin America

Unit 42 documents two AI-assisted intrusion campaigns against Latin American government, utility, and financial organizations using LLM-orchestrated tooling.

Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 tracks two ongoing intrusion clusters, CL-CRI-1131 (Mexican transportation, federal ministries, municipal water utilities) and CL-CRI-1163 (Brazilian financial sector), both using living-off-the-land techniques, SOCKS5 relays, and custom RATs. The attackers appear to orchestrate operations via commercial LLMs like Claude and GPT-4.1, evidenced by iterative batch scripts and AI-generated tunneling tool naming. The Mexican campaign (also reported as Operation Escaneo by CloudSEK) exfiltrated sensitive data via dynamic-DNS infrastructure with rotated multi-SAN TLS certificates between February and June 2026. This signals broader adoption of AI-enhanced operations by diverse threat groups in the region.

Palo Alto Unit 42 · 13d agoThreat actor in the wild1

Hackers Chain Chrome and Windows Zero-Days in New BlueMoon Exploit Kit Attacks

Multiple espionage actors, mostly China-nexus, are chaining Chrome V8 and Windows kernel zero-days (CVE-2026-85046, CVE-2026-85880) via the BlueMoon exploit kit against government and defense targets.

Proofpoint identified a new exploit kit dubbed BlueMoon chaining a Chromium V8 type-confusion RCE (CVE-2026-85046), a V8 sandbox escape, and a Windows kernel LPE (CVE-2026-85880). At least four distinct threat clusters, most with suspected China nexus, adopted the kit within days starting with TA412 (Violet Typhoon/APT31) on August 28, 2026. Both Chrome-side flaws were patch-gap zero-days with roughly a four-week exploitation window; the Windows LPE only works on Windows 10 and Server 2019/2022. TA412 used spearphishing posing as university interns to deliver the GemStone browser backdoor disguised as a Google Gemini extension; other clusters delivered ShadowPad via DLL sideloading and a Rust loader against targets in aerospace, government, and finance.

Cyber Security News · 7d agoExploit / PoC in the wildCVE-2026-85046CVE-2026-858801

ThreatsDay: 200 Android Flaws, Browser-Built Phishing, 119K Scam Shops + 23 More Stories

Hacker News ThreatsDay digest: malicious browser extensions, AI-agent intrusions, NCSC shadow AI warning, M&A wire fraud, and 119,000-domain fake shops.

Socket found four malicious Chrome and Firefox extensions (J7Tracker, VREO, Orbit Tracker) stealing session tokens and wallet data from Axiom Trade and Padre users via attacker-controlled Vercel deployments. Hunt.io reported a Chinese-speaking operator using Claude Code, Alibaba Qwen, and DeepSeek with the SecFlow orchestration framework to automate intrusions against government and financial targets in Afghanistan, Thailand, Taiwan, and the US. The UK NCSC warned shadow AI use risks breaches and regulatory failure, Microsoft announced privacy-preserving Windows Age APIs, and Gen Digital described fake M&A wire-fraud scams. A 119,000-domain fake-shop operation called DoppelCart was also highlighted.

The Hacker News · 6d agoIndustry in the wild

SloppyRAT: A New Tool For Ransomware Attacks

Zscaler details SloppyRAT, a new DLL backdoor delivered via ClickFix lures that stages CastleLoader and CastleRAT ahead of ransomware attacks.

Zscaler ThreatLabz analyzed SloppyRAT, a DLL-based backdoor distributed via ClickFix lures that abuses finger.exe over TCP port 79 to download a batch script. The malware copies curl.exe to download IronPython 3.4.2 from GitHub and executes zlib-compressed Base64-encoded Python to deploy CastleLoader and CastleRAT, then reflectively loads SloppyRAT in memory. It hinders analysis using XOR stack-string obfuscation, a modified affine cipher with modulus 127, and 13 runtime-decrypted code blocks, while communicating with C2 over a reverse SOCKS channel.

Zscaler ThreatLabzupdated · 5d agofirst · 6d agoMalware in the wild 3 sources

Atomic macOS (AMOS) Stealer Activity

Unit 42 details an August 2026 AMOS macOS stealer infection delivered via fake 'macOS toolkit' pages and Terminal paste commands, exfiltrating credentials to C2.

Unit 42 analyzed an AMOS (Atomic macOS Stealer) infection from August 5, 2026, initiated via a page at getmacouscloud[.]com instructing users to paste a command into Terminal. The command fetched a Zsh script from ferncore13[.]com that delivered a Mach-O installer to /tmp/helper and supporting files under /Library/Application Support/.com.apple.accountsd/ and .com.apple.metadata.mds/. AMOS collected browser data, credentials, cryptocurrency wallets (Binance, TonKeeper), Telegram data, and FileGrabber content such as AWS and gcloud files, uploading it via HTTP POST to C2 server 161.35.146[.]120. AMOS has been advertised on Telegram since April 2024 and distributed via ClickFix campaigns, malicious ads, and cracked-software sites.

Palo Alto Unit 42 · 9h agoMalware in the wild

China's AI-Enabled APT Operations Are Getting Interesting

Bitdefender links seven RAT families, five previously undocumented, to China-nexus espionage actor SilkParasite using AI-assisted malware development against Central Asian governments.

A Bitdefender report attributes seven remote access tool families to a single actor dubbed SilkParasite, with medium confidence a China-nexus group targeting governments in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. The RATs are written in .NET, C++, Go and JavaScript, use C2 via Google Drive and protocols like HTTP, DNS and TCP, and employ modular plugin architectures with regular rotation of infrastructure, encryption material and persistence artifacts. Evidence of AI-assisted development includes leftover test functions, placeholder encryption keys, and GoginRAT and NomadRAT sharing a high-level architecture despite different languages, suggesting a specification implemented twice with AI. The newsletter also covers the US Operation Economic Outcast sanctioning six MOIS-linked Iranian hackers, including hands-on-keyboard operators who targeted US critical infrastructure.

Risky Business News · 20d agoThreat actor1

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 · 26d agoResearch2

ClearFake WebDAV infection chain delivers Amatera stealer, ZigCryptoStealer, and NetSupport Manager

Cisco Talos details ClearFake WebDAV chains delivering Amatera stealer to a Ukrainian government organization, with cryptocurrency and credential theft payloads.

Cisco Talos investigated DLL executions named 'verification.google' via WebDAV UNC paths at a Ukrainian government organization, tracking the actor as UAT-10820 and assessing with moderate confidence the activity is Russian and opportunistic rather than targeted. The infection chain uses ClearFake JavaScript injected via a Cloudflare Worker, EtherHiding storage on BNB Smart Chain contracts, and a ClickFix fake Google CAPTCHA prompt to deliver Amatera stealer. Secondary payloads differ by C2: one loader deploys ZigCryptoStealer with a Go reverse TCP proxy and a vulnerable driver that kills EDR, while the other installs an unauthorized NetSupport Manager with a Russia-based C2. Similar Amatera chains were separately documented by Malwarebytes and Blackpoint Cyber, but with no shared infrastructure.

Cisco Talos · 8d agoMalware in the wild1

ThreatsDay: Gogs 10.0 RCE, n8n Workflow-to-RCE, $10M Reward, GLM

Hacker News ThreatsDay roundup: Defender BTR.sys driver abuse, DoJ charges 17 Mabna Institute members over IRGC-linked intrusions, Grandoreiro sideloading, OpenAI monitoring.

Check Point researchers showed Microsoft's signed Defender Boot-Time Removal driver (BTR.sys) can be repurposed as a universal kernel operation engine to bypass endpoint security without BYOVD. The DoJ charged 17 members of Iran's Mabna Institute, which on behalf of the IRGC stole over 31 TB of academic data from 144 US universities and compromised roughly 8,000 of 100,000 targeted professor accounts; the State Department offered a $10 million reward for five defendants. Separately, Acronis tracked a Grandoreiro campaign abusing DLL sideloading in the Duplicate Files Finder app across Latin America and Spain, while ErrTraffic ClickFix campaigns deliver Cruciferra (BYOVD) and Remus Stealer. OpenAI also previewed Private Safety Processing, a privacy-centric approach to monitoring model misuse without retaining customer content.

The Hacker News · 26d agoThreat actor1

NightEagle targets Russian companies

Kaspersky links NightEagle (APT-Q-95) attacks on Russian firms to compromised VPN credentials, a GhostContainer Exchange backdoor, RDP tunneling, BlueKeep exploitation, and DCSync.

Kaspersky's Global Emergency Response Team investigated NightEagle (APT-Q-95) incidents over the past year, finding the group—active since at least 2023 and formerly focused on Asia—now targeting Russian businesses. Attackers used compromised VPN credentials and deployed the GhostContainer .NET backdoor on Microsoft Exchange servers, built from Neo-reGeorg, a CVE-2020-0688 exploit, and ysoserial's GhostWebShell, injected in memory via VIEWSTATE manipulation with AMSI bypass. For lateral movement they combined Microsoft dev tunnels with rdp2tcp over RDP, exploited BlueKeep (CVE-2019-0708) to create local admin accounts, and performed DCSync replication against Active Directory.

Kaspersky Securelistupdated · 4h agofirst · 9h agoThreat actor in the wild 2 sourcesCVE-2020-0688CVE-2019-0708

Counterfeit installers to system compromise: Tracking a deceptive software download campaign

Microsoft tracks a counterfeit software-installer campaign compromising multinationals' China operations, moderately linked to the Silver Fox (Yinhu) actor.

Microsoft Defender Experts is tracking an active campaign using spoofed software download sites for brands such as Razer, Kaspersky, Microsoft Edge, Calibre, and Baidu Netdisk on .com.cn and .hl.cn domains, delivering installer archives whose hashes change per download, indicating server-side payload generation. The implants establish persistence, weaken security protections, and communicate with attacker-controlled infrastructure, with confirmed compromises across healthcare, manufacturing, gaming, technology, logistics, government, and education. Microsoft assesses with moderate confidence that the activity matches the publicly reported Silver Fox (Yinhu) fake software campaign; it has not attributed it to a nation-state actor.

Microsoft Security Blog · 14d agoThreat actor in the wild1

Cybersecurity jobs available right now: April 14, 2026

Help Net Security lists active cybersecurity job openings at employers including MANTECH, Honeywell, SMBC Group and SBS Transit across multiple countries.

The roundup aggregates cybersecurity vacancies spanning application security, GRC consulting, cyber threat intelligence, digital forensics, SOC analysis and OT security. Openings were posted in India, the United Kingdom, Italy, the USA, Singapore, France, Germany, Ireland and the UAE. Most roles were no longer accepting applications at publication. Named employers include Honeywell, MANTECH, TENEX.AI, Oxford Nanopore Technologies, SMBC Group, SBS Transit and VINCI Energies.

Help Net Security · 21d agoIndustry2

Who's governing your AI? A trust framework for enterprise agents and models

DigiCert pitches AI Trust framework using PKI, DNS policy records and workload identity to govern shadow AI agents across enterprises.

The Register-sponsored piece outlines DigiCert's AI Trust framework for governing AI agents, built on PKI, DNS, and attestation, citing IBM's 2026 Cost of a Data Breach report that 68% of organizations lack AI governance or shadow AI detection. The approach treats agent identity as workload identity aligned with IETF WIMSE, NIST CSF 2.0, and SPIFFE/SPIRE, using short-lived credentials instead of static API keys. DigiCert also proposes DMARC-style DNS agent policy records and an AI Agent Passport cryptographically binding agent identity to approved operations, with a unified kill switch.

The Register · Security · 1d agoAI safety & security1

Suspected Russian Hackers Abuse Google OAuth and WhatsApp Linking to Hijack Accounts

Google tracked three suspected Russian espionage clusters abusing OAuth flows, app passwords, and WhatsApp linking to hijack accounts of diplomats and defense targets.

Google Threat Intelligence Group detailed three suspected Russian espionage clusters, UNC6293, UNC7005 (Storm-2945), and UNC5976, targeting academia, aerospace, defense, governments, and think tanks in Europe, the US, Ukraine, and Armenia. UNC6293, assessed as a sub-cluster of APT29/Ice Relic, conducted OAuth and application-specific password phishing while impersonating State Department officials. UNC5976 registered file-sharing-themed domains hosting fake OAuth login pages and deployed a malicious Excel plugin codenamed HEADRUSH, while UNC7005 abused WhatsApp device linking to hijack accounts and record victims' audio and video.

The Hacker News · 26d agoThreat actor in the wild

8,539 Reasons To Rethink How Vulnerabilities Get Patched

Rapid7 counted 8,539 high and critical CVEs in Q2 2026, double last year, with PoC availability up 76%.

Rapid7's Q2 2026 Threat Landscape Report tallied 8,539 high- and critical-severity vulnerability disclosures, twice the number recorded in Q2 2025, with newly disclosed flaws having public proof-of-concept code up 76% year over year. Of newly exploited vulnerabilities, 62% were network-exploitable and required neither authentication nor user interaction. Fake CAPTCHA and ClickFix social engineering accounted for 31.8% of incident response cases, the United States recorded 881 listed ransomware victims, and APT28 exploited SOHO routers for DNS hijacking while Iranian groups targeted US industrial control and OT systems.

Help Net Security · 27d agoResearch