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Multiple Chinese hacking groups seen using identical Chrome zero-day exploit

Four China-linked espionage groups share identical BlueMoon Chrome zero-day exploit kit targeting US defense contractors and Asian government agencies.

Proofpoint identified at least four Chinese-aligned espionage groups (TA412/RedBravo, UNK_LateNight, UNK_DoubleCheck, UNK_QuietRacket) using an identical Chrome zero-day exploit kit dubbed BlueMoon in late August through this week. Targets include US defense contractors, NGOs, mining companies, and Southeast Asian government agencies. The exploit chains a Chromium patch-gap vulnerability with a Windows flaw, delivering malware such as ShadowPad and a fake Gemini browser extension backdoor, with possible AI-assisted exploit development.

The Record · 7d agoExploit / PoC in the wild 2 sources1

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

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.

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.

The Hacker Newsupdated · 54m agofirst · 1d agoThreat actor in the wild 22 sourcesCVE-2026-85046CVE-2026-87491CVE-2026-858801· 1 read

Pro-Ukraine Hacking Cat group deploying new malware against Russian targets

Kaspersky links pro-Ukraine hacktivist group Hacking Cat to Gorilla RAT and Monkey Ransomware in destructive attacks on Russian targets.

Kaspersky reports that pro-Ukraine group Hacking Cat, active since February 2024, has shifted from defacements to destructive encryption attacks, using a previously undocumented Gorilla RAT remote-access tool and Monkey Ransomware, which appends the .monkey extension to files. Initial access in some attacks came from exploited Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities, and rapid multi-language malware variants suggest possible generative AI assistance. Shared tools like Nemo Wiper across groups including Ukrainian Cyber Alliance complicate attribution, and targets include Rosatom contractor and heating provider Donbassteploenergo.

The Record · 2d agoThreat actor in the wild

Microsoft’s Patching

Microsoft's September Patch Tuesday fixes a record 972 vulnerabilities, 112 rated critical, amid AI-accelerated vulnerability discovery.

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday patches a record ~972 vulnerabilities, 112 rated critical, following records of 570 two months ago and ~620 last month. Schneier attributes the surge to AI-powered vulnerability finding, citing an open letter from OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS, Google, Microsoft and roughly 100 organizations warning of an AI-enabled attack tsunami. He predicts AIs will reverse-engineer exploits from patches, weaponizing flaws immediately upon release and shrinking the patch window to 'immediately.'

Schneier on Security · 2d agoVulnerability1

Anthropic Says Russian Hackers Used Claude AI to Automate Malware Evasion

Anthropic disrupted Midnight Blizzard campaigns where AI agents automatically rebuilt malware to evade detection, targeting 20+ government and defense organizations.

Anthropic's threat intelligence report documents the Russian state-nexus actor Midnight Blizzard using Claude to automatically monitor, modify, and redeploy malware until it evaded security products. The campaign hit more than 20 organizations, including Ukrainian and European government ministries, defense bodies, embassies, and think tanks, with mailbox theft from two drone component manufacturers and compromise of hotel guest Wi-Fi via DNS hijacking. The report also describes financially motivated groups GTG-50020 and GTG-50021 targeting AI credentials, including a prompt-injection attack on an automated evaluation sandbox that yielded production API keys and attempts to reach a pre-release Claude model across roughly 30 AI companies.

SecurityWeekupdated · 4d agofirst · 5d agoThreat actor in the wild 13 sources4

ICS Patch Tuesday: Schneider Electric, Siemens Fix Critical Flaws

September ICS Patch Tuesday brings critical fixes from Schneider Electric, Siemens, and Aveva, including CVSS 9.2 authentication flaw CVE-2026-3869 in Modicon M580 controllers.

Schneider Electric's September advisories include a critical authentication vulnerability, CVE-2026-3869 with a CVSS score of 9.2, in Modicon M580 and Modicon M580 Safety controllers, plus high-severity bugs in PowerLogic T300 and EcoStruxure IT Data Center Expert. Siemens published nine new advisories, four rated critical across Reyrolle 7SR5, Open Interface Services, Industrial Edge Management, and SIMOVE Fleetmanager and SIPLANT, and began rolling out fixes for CVE-2026-31431, a 7.8-rated Linux kernel flaw enabling root shell access. Aveva disclosed four flaws in Pipeline Integrity Monitor's PIMBoards, including a hardcoded encryption key and MD5-hashed passwords, plus an unsafe deserialization issue in Enterprise SCADA. Rockwell Automation separately issued nine advisories covering RSLinx Classic and multiple controller products.

China-Made ZBT Routers Ship With Two Implants Giving Unauthenticated Attackers Root Access

VulnCheck discloses two factory implants, SPEAKINGSTONE and DARKLANTERN, in ZBT router firmware granting unauthenticated remote attackers root command execution.

VulnCheck found two previously undocumented implants in firmware from Shenzhen Zhibotong Electronics (ZBT), tracked as CVE-2026-74232 (SPEAKINGSTONE) and CVE-2026-74233 (DARKLANTERN), each rated 9.8 on CVSS 3.1. SPEAKINGSTONE (yunmgrd) beacons to a hardcoded C2 over UDP port 10000 and supports root command execution, PPPoE credential exfiltration, DNS hijacking, and reverse SSH tunnels; DARKLANTERN (infosrvd) listens on UDP port 9992 with weak hardcoded authentication. Scanning found 203 internet-facing DARKLANTERN instances across 22 countries, and 392 devices reported to the SPEAKINGSTONE backup C2, nearly all in China on China Mobile. No fixed firmware release is named, and ZBT's white-labeling means model number rather than brand is the reliable detection check.

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 · 28d agoThreat actor in the wild1

GitLab Patches Critical Unauthenticated GraphQL Vulnerability

GitLab issued an emergency patch for a critical unauthenticated GraphQL flaw (CVE-2026-19478, CVSS 9.4) enabling remote modification or deletion of public projects.

GitLab patched CVE-2026-19478 (CVSS 9.4), an unauthenticated GraphQL directive flaw allowing remote modification or deletion of public projects and user data on self-managed servers. The emergency patch released August 17 covers versions 19.2.4, 19.1.6, 19.0.8, and 18.11.11, but no fixes exist for the 18.2-18.10 branches. A second issue, a CSRF weakness in GraphQL multiplex queries (CVE-2026-19650, CVSS 7.1), shipped in the same release. No exploitation or public PoC has been observed; the flaw was reported by hiimguardian through HackerOne.