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New Agent Tesla Malware Variant Boosts Evasion Capabilities

KnowBe4 documented an Agent Tesla v4 campaign using emoji-based code obfuscation to evade detection.

KnowBe4 researchers reported a campaign distributing Agent Tesla v4, a long-running Windows keylogger and infostealer. The new variant uses emoji-based code obfuscation, a novel technique, to hinder static analysis and evade security tooling. Defenders should watch for behavioral indicators such as credential theft and unusual process activity.

Infosecurity Magazine · 26d agoMalware in the wild

The State of AI-Enabled Malware August 2026: From Brand Abuse to Agentic Execution

Unit 42's August 2026 report tracks the rise of AI-enabled malware, from brand abuse to agentic execution, and how behavioral detection stops AI-authored code.

Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 released its August 2026 assessment of AI-enabled malware, covering attacker use cases from brand abuse to agentic execution. The report details how existing behavioral detection and endpoint analytics can stop AI-authored code before execution.

Palo Alto Unit 42 · 22d agoResearch

Muhstik Botnet Attacks Tomato Routers to Harvest New IoT Devices

Unit 42 found a Muhstik botnet variant brute-forcing Tomato router web authentication to harvest IoT devices for crypto mining and DDoS attacks.

Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 researchers in December 2019 identified a new Muhstik botnet variant scanning Tomato routers on TCP 8080 and brute-forcing default admin credentials, targeting roughly 4,600 exposed devices found via Shodan. The variant also scans WordPress and Webuzo installations and exploits the Oracle WebLogic deserialization flaw CVE-2019-2725 for unauthenticated remote code execution. Muhstik, active since March 2018, self-propagates like a worm and typically monetizes infections through cryptocurrency mining and DDoS attacks controlled via an IRC C2 channel.

Palo Alto Unit 42 · 28d agoMalware in the wildCVE-2019-2725

Scans for Proxmox Servers, (Wed, Sep 9th)

SANS observed increased scanning and brute-force attacks on port 8006 targeting unsupported Proxmox VE 7 servers after a recent vulnerability advisory.

SANS Internet Storm Center reported a bump in scans for port 8006 and additional brute-force traffic against Proxmox VE servers following a Proxmox advisory about a vulnerability in older releases. The flaw only affects Proxmox VE version 7, which has been unsupported for a couple of years. Observed activity includes POST requests to /api2/json/access/ticket with root@pam usernames and weak passwords, fingerprinting requests, and POSTs to /api2/extjs/access/ticket; failed logins return 401 status codes and non-TLS POSTs return 308 redirects.

SANS Internet Storm Centerupdated · 6d agofirst · 6d agoExploit / PoC 2 sources

Once popular for attacking AI, ASCII smuggling is embraced by spammers

Spammers adopt ASCII smuggling—invisible Unicode tag characters—to evade email filters, with Microsoft Defender detections spiking to 2.5 million per day.

ASCII smuggling hides text in Unicode tag characters (e.g., U+E0041 for "A") that are invisible to humans but readable by LLMs and text processors. The technique gained attention as a stealthy prompt-injection vector and is now used by spammers to obfuscate keywords from email detectors. Microsoft reported Defender for Office smuggling detections jumped from roughly 21,000 per day to over 1.3 million in early February, reaching 2.5 million within four days, before falling sharply in mid-May.

Ars Technica · Security · 12d agoPhishing & fraud

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

Copyright scammers get Instagram accounts suspended and demand payment

Scammers file fake Instagram copyright complaints to suspend accounts, then demand ransom via Telegram; Meta restored some affected accounts.

Criminals impersonate rights holders to file fraudulent copyright complaints on Instagram, and repeated claims can trigger temporary account suspensions. They then move victims to Telegram and demand payment, often in cryptocurrency, to withdraw the complaint; one history account owner paid $50 and was targeted again immediately. Meta's automated system does not verify complainants before acting, and the Delhi High Court is examining whether platforms can legally suspend accounts over copyright claims. Meta acknowledged in court that 13 strike notices against one user were fraudulent, and after BBC review it restored affected content and added unspecified protections.

Malwarebytes Labs · 6d agoPhishing & fraud in the wild