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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.

ClickFix attacks are tricking Mac and Windows users into hacking themselves

ClickFix campaigns trick users into pasting terminal commands via fake CAPTCHAs; latest wave abused HBO Max's hacked Reddit account to push infostealer ads.

ClickFix attacks use fake CAPTCHA or anti-bot prompts on hacked or counterfeit websites to convince victims to copy a command into Windows Command Prompt or macOS Terminal, instantly installing infostealers that steal passwords, logged-in sessions, and crypto wallets. The latest campaign compromised HBO Max's official Reddit account to post hundreds of fake ads linking to a spoofed HBO Max page carrying the lure, per researchers at Hudson Rock. It is unclear how many users were compromised. Because execution happens in the terminal, many attacks evade antivirus tools; enterprises can block terminals domain-wide and Mac users can deploy BlockBlock.

TechCrunch · Security · 1d agoPhishing & fraud in the wild1

Okta Patches Auth0 and Access Gateway Vulnerabilities Let Attackers Enable XSS, Authentication Bypass and SQL Injection

Okta patches three high-severity flaws in Auth0 AD/LDAP Connector and Access Gateway: stored XSS, auth bypass, SQL injection.

Okta disclosed on September 8, 2026 three vulnerabilities: CVE-2026-85982, a CVSS 9.0 stored XSS in Auth0 AD/LDAP Connector before 8.0.0; CVE-2026-78626, a CVSS 8.1 Protected Rule authorization bypass in Access Gateway before 2026.9.1; and CVE-2026-78623, a CVSS 7.7 SQL injection in Access Gateway advanced-mode datastores. Exploitation requires authenticated access and specific configurations. Fixes require upgrading the connector to 8.0.0+ and Access Gateway to 2026.9.1+.

PaperCut Replaces Emergency Patches With Fixes for Two Actively Exploited Flaws

PaperCut shipped maintenance releases replacing emergency patches for two actively exploited flaws abused in AI-assisted attacks on 395 organizations.

PaperCut released PaperCut NG/MF versions 26.0.5, 25.0.13 and 24.1.10, superseding Emergency Patch Releases 1-3 for CVE-2026-81578 and CVE-2026-82078, which enable authentication bypass and arbitrary code execution on susceptible instances. GreyNoise and Blackpoint Cyber reported a suspected Russian-speaking actor weaponizing both flaws against at least 395 organizations in 48 countries, concentrated in the U.S. education sector. The campaign used hundreds of AI agents powered by OpenAI's Codex harness and a DeepSeek model, originating from IP 45.142.193.132, and avoided organizations in Russia, China, Hong Kong, Thailand and Iran.

The Hacker Newsupdated · 5d agofirst · 5d agoExploit / PoC in the wild 7 sourcesCVE-2026-81578CVE-2026-820781

Off Guard: Breaking LiteLLM from authentication bypass to cloud compromise

Wiz found LiteLLM auth bypass (CVE-2026-59822) and post-auth RCE (CVE-2026-59821) chainable to cloud compromise; the bypass is in CISA KEV with in-the-wild exploitation.

Wiz scanned roughly 3,074 internet-facing LiteLLM deployments and found 9.6% accepted the default master key sk-1234 or required no authentication, making post-auth attacks effectively pre-auth. The MCP endpoint accepts any Bearer token and grants a valid session (CVE-2026-59822), confirmed exploited in the wild via honeypots and added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. Custom code guardrails allow post-auth root-level RCE via exec(compile(...)) (CVE-2026-59821), while pass-through endpoints lack URL validation, enabling cloud credential theft in post-auth scenarios. All assigned vulnerabilities have been patched; the research was presented at DEF CON 34.

Wiz Blog · 7d agoExploit / PoC in the wildCVE-2026-59822CVE-2026-598211

Cisco bundles fixes for multiple vulnerabilities, some critical, into one patch

Cisco patched seven IOS XR vulnerabilities, two rated CVSS 9.8, allowing unauthenticated remote code execution and root access on carrier routers; no exploitation observed.

Cisco released fixes for seven internally discovered vulnerabilities in IOS XR, its Linux-based network operating system for carrier-grade routers. Two flaws, CVE-2026-20274 and CVE-2026-20279, are rated CVSS 9.8 (critical) and involve lifetime resource control issues that can enable unauthenticated remote code execution with root access; the other five are rated 8.2-8.8 and cover buffer overflows, access control failures, and out-of-bounds access. All IOS XR releases including IOS XR7 are affected regardless of configuration, no workarounds exist, and remediation requires software maintenance upgrades (SMUs) or fixed releases 26.2.2/26.3.1. Cisco says the flaws are not known to be actively exploited, but experts urge immediate patching of internet-facing and core routing systems, citing parallels with Salt Typhoon tradecraft.

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.

Microsoft September 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes 966 flaws, 2 zero-days

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes a record 966 flaws, including two Windows zero-days actively exploited to gain SYSTEM privileges.

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday addresses a record 966 vulnerabilities, including 105 rated Critical, 81 of them remote code execution bugs. Two zero-days were actively exploited: a Windows Update Stack link-following flaw and a Windows ALPC heap-based buffer overflow, both allowing local elevation to SYSTEM privileges. The ALPC flaw was reported by Volexity and Proofpoint researchers, while the Update Stack flaw was credited to Romain Deperne and the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Centre. Microsoft shared no details on how the flaws were exploited in attacks.

BleepingComputer · 7d agoAdvisory in the wildCVE-2026-69805CVE-2026-58649CVE-2026-69806+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 · 7d agoVulnerability in the wildCVE-2026-81963CVE-2026-858801

Risky Bulletin: Russia tells data centers to deploy drone defenses

Russia ordered data center operators to deploy drone strike defenses under a Putin decree allowing temporary state takeover of unprotected critical infrastructure.

The Russian government instructed data center operators to deploy protections against drone strikes under a presidential decree signed by Putin that allows temporary state administration of critical infrastructure operators failing to defend against Ukrainian hacks and drone strikes. Although data centers are not formally critical infrastructure in Russia, the decree applies to them because other sectors depend heavily on cloud services; Russia has more than 180 data centers, over 80% in the European region within range of Ukrainian strikes. The digest also reports a Dropbox breach affecting nearly 5,000 accounts via the Lenovo ID integration, spyware attacks on at least 14 Serbians using NoviSpy or Pegasus, and a password recovery attack targeting hundreds of thousands of X accounts tied to the new X Money service. Other items include a 14-hour compromise of Coder's Cloudflare infrastructure delivering malicious Terraform modules, donor data breaches at Davayte and You Are Not Alone via the Stripe/WooCommerce integration, a $2.5M Aquifer crypto heist, and a TVING breach exposing data of almost 40 million accounts.

Risky Business News · 12d agoPolicy & legal

Rogue ScreenConnect Installations Across Unrelated Hosts Suggest Worm-Like Activity

Huntress observed rogue ScreenConnect deployments with worm-like VBScript propagation across unrelated organizations, prompting a ConnectWise advisory on file transfer behavior.

Huntress identified multiple incidents in late August 2026 where social engineering led to rogue ScreenConnect remote access clients deployed on victim machines, which then spawned wscript.exe to run four VBScript payloads (1.vbs through 4.vbs) for profiling, telemetry collection, and persistence via a WindowsServiceHost Run key. Modified ScreenConnect clients propagated the VBScript chain to connected endpoints, creating worm-like spread. ConnectWise published an advisory on September 3, 2026, confirming an issue affecting file transfer behavior in both cloud and on-premises ScreenConnect deployments, with a CVE and fix expected within the week; partners were advised to review and disable TransferFiles permissions in the interim.

Huntress · 13d agoExploit / PoC in the wild1

Hackers Chain Two New SonicWall Zero-Day Vulnerabilities

SonicWall warns two zero-days (CVE-2026-83548 SSRF, CVE-2026-83549 post-auth RCE) in SMA1000 appliances are being actively exploited.

A September 1 SonicWall advisory discloses actively exploited zero-days in SMA1000 appliance models 6210, 7210 and 8200v, affecting platform-hotfix versions 12.4.3-03453 and 12.5.0-02835 and older. CVE-2026-83548 (CVSS 10.0) is a pre-authentication SSRF in the Appliance Work Place interface via an unintended alternate access path; CVE-2026-83549 (CVSS 7.8) is post-authentication OS command injection enabling RCE in the Appliance Management Console. SonicWall urges hotfix upgrades, IOC checks with SonicWall support, and re-imaging plus credential and TOTP resets if compromise is found.

SonicWall SMA 1000 appliances under attack via zero-day flaws

SonicWall confirms active exploitation of zero-day SSRF (CVE-2026-83548) and command injection (CVE-2026-83549) flaws in SMA 1000 remote access appliances.

SonicWall confirmed attackers are actively exploiting two previously undisclosed vulnerabilities in SMA 1000 SSL VPN appliances, affecting physical and virtual models 6210, 7210, and 8200v but not SMA 100 appliances or SonicWall firewalls. CVE-2026-83548 is a pre-authentication SSRF in the Appliance Work Place interface allowing remote unauthenticated attackers to gain unauthorized access to sensitive functionality, while CVE-2026-83549 is an OS command injection in the Appliance Management Console that can yield remote code execution under specific conditions for authenticated admins. The vendor urged immediate hotfix deployment, IoC review with technical support, and re-imaging or redeployment plus password and TOTP token resets on confirmed compromise. This is the latest in a series of zero-day attacks against SMA 1000 appliances following waves in late 2025 and June-July 2026.

Help Net Security · 14d agoExploit / PoC in the wildCVE-2026-83548CVE-2026-83549

FBI Probes Service Selling 153M+ Drivers Licenses

Dark web service Nexus sells scans of 153M+ US and Canadian drivers licenses, apparently siphoned from a breached identity verification company; FBI opened an inquiry.

A new dark web identity theft service called Nexus, advertised on the Exploit forum, offers scans of more than 153 million drivers licenses from the US and Canada, plus over 10 million ID cards and millions of travel and medical documents. The data appears to come from an ongoing breach at a major Louisiana-based identity verification company, with records growing by roughly 400,000 in 24 hours. Records include high-ranking US officials such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and timestamps suggest data was captured during car rentals and travel. The FBI's New Orleans field office has launched an official inquiry into the source of the images.

Krebs on Security · 14d agoData breach in the wild1

APT28-Linked HOOKEDGE Backdoor Targets European Government and Diplomatic Organizations

Recorded Future links new HOOKEDGE batch-script backdoor campaigns against Romanian, Spanish and Turkish government targets to Russia's APT28 (BlueDelta).

Recorded Future's Insikt Group identified campaigns deploying the previously undocumented HOOKEDGE backdoor against government and diplomatic organizations in Romania, Spain and Türkiye from late September 2025 to early April 2026. The lightweight Windows batch backdoor is delivered via macro-enabled Word documents and attributed with moderate confidence to APT28 (Fancy Bear, tracked as BlueDelta), described as the evolutionary successor to HEADLACE, using webhook.site for C2, payload staging and exfiltration. HOOKEDGE fetches .cmd payloads and returns output through headless Microsoft Edge HTTP requests, maintains a 30-minute scheduled task, and a second-stage implant gives high-value targets five-minute beaconing for interactive operator tasking.

The Hacker News · 19d agoThreat actor 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

Two alleged TeamPCP hackers arrested over global supply chain attacks

AFP and FBI arrested two alleged TeamPCP hackers behind open-source supply chain attacks that stole 500,000+ credentials from 1,000+ organizations.

Australian Federal Police, working with the FBI and Western Australia Police, arrested a 21-year-old from Cottesloe and a 23-year-old from Mandurah on August 26, 2026, over alleged membership in the TeamPCP cybercrime group. The group allegedly planted malicious code in open-source packages, harvesting credentials, authentication tokens and at least 300 GB of data from over 1,000 organizations, with remediation costs estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars. TeamPCP has been linked to supply chain attacks on GitHub, Telnyx, LiteLLM, Aqua Trivy, Checkmarx KICS, TanStack, MistralAI and Red Hat using a cloned self-replicating worm dubbed Shai-Hulud. Researchers note TeamPCP cloned the Shai-Hulud worm but was not behind the original 2025 attacks.

Help Net Security · 20d agoThreat actor

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

Clop-Linked Windchill Web Shell Decrypts Credentials and Maps Engineering Data

ReliaQuest details a bespoke JSP web shell that Clop deploys on hacked PTC Windchill and FlexPLM servers after exploiting CVE-2026-12569.

ReliaQuest analyzed a custom Java web shell planted on vulnerable PTC Windchill and FlexPLM servers following exploitation of CVE-2026-12569 (CVSS 9.3). The implant decrypts Windchill keystore credentials including the LDAP manager password, enumerates the file vault for engineering data, and loads attacker-supplied Java classes in memory for post-exploitation. Commands let operators read and delete files, exfiltrate results, and deliver follow-on payloads such as ransomware. Ransom-ISAC, eCrime.ch and Defused previously attributed the campaign to the Clop data-theft extortion group.

The Hacker News · 28d agoThreat actor in the wildCVE-2026-12569

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.

Apple Warns Users in 110 Countries They May Be Targets of Mercenary Spyware

Apple sent mercenary spyware threat notifications to users in 110 countries, including Ukrainian military members, in what researchers call an unprecedented notification wave.

Apple notified an unspecified number of users in 110 countries that they may have been targeted by mercenary spyware attacks, bringing total notifications to over 150 countries since the program began in late 2021. Apple does not attribute the attacks but describes the alerts as high-confidence indicators of individual targeting against journalists, activists, politicians, and diplomats. Citizen Lab's John Scott-Railton called the geographic scale unprecedented, and Access Now reported a record number of help requests, with recipients including members of Ukraine's military. Apple advised users to update devices, enable 2FA and Lockdown Mode, and use Stolen Device Protection.

The Hacker News · 29d agoThreat actor in the wild

⚡ Weekly Recap: VMware Exploits, Windows 0-Day, MCP Attacks, Browser Hijacks and More

Weekly recap: suspected China-nexus APT exploited VMware vCenter CVE-2026-59310, Lazarus used Windows zero-day CVE-2026-68820, and macOS flaw dropped Monero miners.

The week's top stories included a suspected China-nexus APT exploiting VMware vCenter CVE-2026-59310 (CVSS 9.8), a directory-traversal flaw enabling arbitrary code execution, with backdoors, reverse SSH and Babuk-derived ransomware deployed, per QUIRSO. NCSC-NL reported active exploitation of macOS Screen Sharing flaw CVE-2026-65400 (CVSS 9.8) to install Monero miners on systems with port 5900 exposed. Lazarus Group exploited Windows zero-day CVE-2026-68820 (CVSS 7.0) in Operation Dream Job, delivering ForestTiger and Troy backdoors to defense and aerospace targets. GeoServer patched a critical SQL injection flaw exploited within hours of disclosure, and Jamf analyzed the new Amnesia Stealer for macOS with live browser control.

Microsoft’s massive Patch Tuesday releases continue as AI reshapes bug discovery

Microsoft patches 419 vulnerabilities in record-breaking Patch Tuesday; Windows Winsock zero-day CVE-2026-68820 is actively exploited by Lazarus Group.

Microsoft's August Patch Tuesday fixes 419 vulnerabilities (62 critical, 357 important), among the largest monthly counts on record, following 206 fixes in June and 622 in July as AI-assisted discovery drives unprecedented volume. Three flaws are zero-days; Windows Winsock bug CVE-2026-68820 is exploited in the wild by Lazarus Group in job-themed attacks using PDFs with a trojanised reader. CVE-2026-62832, publicly disclosed by researcher Nightmare Eclipse via the LegacyHive PoC, is also patched. Microsoft now lists bugs by product family instead of itemized CVEs, which defenders warn complicates triage.

The Record · Aug 12, 2026Vulnerability in the wildCVE-2026-68820CVE-2026-62832