Search: “Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative”

ZDI-26-653: TrendAI Apex One Security Agent Cache Mechanism Time-Of-Check Time-Of-Use Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

ZDI-26-653: TOCTOU race in Trend Micro Apex One cache mechanism, CVE-2025-71415, enables local privilege escalation, rated CVSS 7.8.

The Zero Day Initiative published advisory ZDI-26-653 for the Trend Micro Apex One Security Agent. A time-of-check time-of-use (TOCTOU) flaw in the cache mechanism, tracked as CVE-2025-71415, allows local attackers to escalate privileges after gaining low-privileged code execution. ZDI assigned a CVSS 7.8 rating. A vendor patch is available for affected installations.

ZDI Published Advisories·Sep 10, 05:00 UTC · 6d agoAdvisory 3 sourcesCVE-2025-71415

Security through obscurity is dead, and AI delivered the fatal blow

AI agents are killing security through obscurity, accelerating vulnerability discovery and patch-gap exploitation, experts warn, with OT/ICS systems most at risk.

An opinion/analysis piece arguing AI has made security through obscurity obsolete, citing record vulnerability disclosure volumes after Microsoft's Patch Tuesday addressed 974 CVEs. FBI Cyber Division assistant director Brett Leatherman said latest AI models found significant vulnerabilities in open source libraries running on most web servers. The article cites at least four espionage crews (most suspected China-linked) exploiting Chromium's patch-gap window with a rapid exploit kit, and a five-agency advisory on AI-generated exploitation scripts breaching internet-exposed Siemens S7 Series PLCs at water, manufacturing, and energy facilities. Experts including John Hultquist, Chris Inglis, and Katie Moussouris warn AI erodes the expertise barrier protecting obscure OT/ICS systems while defensive AI patching lags, with studies showing AI-generated patches fail more than half the time.

The Register · Security·Sep 13, 11:21 UTC · 3d agoIndustry

Microsoft discloses two actively exploited zero-days among 974 vulnerabilities

Microsoft patches 974 flaws in record Patch Tuesday, including two actively exploited Windows zero-days enabling privilege escalation.

Microsoft's largest-ever Patch Tuesday addresses 974 vulnerabilities, with CVE-2026-81963 (Windows Update Stack) and CVE-2026-85880 (Windows Advanced Local Procedure Call) exploited before disclosure. Both zero-days carry CVSS 7.8 ratings and allow privilege escalation. More than 10% of the defects are rated critical, and researchers attribute the record volume to AI-assisted vulnerability discovery without a matching rise in active exploitation.

CyberScoop·Sep 8, 22:50 UTC · 8d agoExploit / PoC in the wildCVE-2026-81963CVE-2026-85880

Nearly 22,000 Microsoft Exchange servers remain exposed to critical security flaw (CVE-2026-62911)

About 22,000 Microsoft Exchange servers remain unpatched against critical auth bypass CVE-2026-62911 as a working exploit circulates online.

CVE-2026-62911 is a critical authentication bypass by capture-replay in Microsoft Exchange Server that allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges over the network, with a CVSS score of 8.0. Microsoft patched the flaw on August 11, 2026, but Shadowserver Foundation scans show roughly 22,000 servers unpatched, with the US (6,200) and Germany (5,100) leading; BSI reports 85% of on-premises Exchange servers in Germany are still vulnerable. The Netherlands' NCSC-NL flagged that a working exploit is circulating, and Exchange 2016/2019 require the Extended Security Updates program for fixes.

Help Net Security·Sep 2, 00:00 UTC · 15d agoExploit / PoC in the wildCVE-2026-62911CVE-2026-428971

ZDI-26-577: Trend Micro VPN OpenSSL Configuration Uncontrolled Search Path Element Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

ZDI disclosed a local privilege escalation (CVE-2026-67212, CVSS 7.0) in Trend Micro VPN's OpenSSL configuration, requiring prior low-privileged code execution.

The Zero Day Initiative published advisory ZDI-26-577 describing an uncontrolled search path element vulnerability in Trend Micro VPN's OpenSSL configuration. Local attackers who can already execute low-privileged code on an affected installation can escalate privileges. ZDI rated the issue 7.0 on CVSS and assigned CVE-2026-67212.

ZDI Published Advisories·Aug 13, 05:00 UTC · Aug 13, 2026VulnerabilityCVE-2026-67212

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.

GBHackers·updated Sep 10, 08:06 UTC · 6d ago·first Sep 10, 06:02 UTC · 6d agoThreat actor in the wild 2 sources1

Chinese-Speaking Hackers Use Noodle RAT Backdoor to Spy on Windows and Linux Systems

Chinese-speaking actors use cross-platform Noodle RAT backdoor to maintain covert access to Windows and Linux systems across Asia-Pacific.

Noodle RAT (also ANGYREBEL/Nood RAT) has been active since at least mid-2016 and was long misidentified as Gh0st RAT or Rekoobe variants until Trend Micro and Cyberint classified it as a distinct multi-platform family. The Windows build (Win.NOODLERAT) is an in-memory modular shellcode backdoor delivered via MULTIDROP and MICROLOAD loaders, while the Linux build supports reverse shells, SOCKS tunneling, and cron persistence after web shell or public-facing service exploitation. It has appeared in intrusions in Thailand, India, Japan, Malaysia, and Taiwan and is linked to Iron Tiger, Calypso APT, Rocke, and Cloud Snooper campaigns spanning espionage and cybercrime. Recently discovered Linux builders 1.0.1 and 1.0.2 indicate the toolkit remains actively maintained.

GBHackers·updated Sep 16, 14:03 UTC · 13h ago·first Sep 16, 12:28 UTC · 15h agoMalware in the wild 2 sources1

$20 per zero-day is already the WordPress plugin reality

TrendAI and CHT Security used an AI pipeline to find over 300 verified WordPress plugin zero-days at roughly $20 per vulnerability.

A pipeline built in three days by TrendAI and CHT Security, presented at Ekoparty Miami, paired AI-driven static analysis with automated Docker provisioning and Chrome DevTools MCP dynamic verification to surface more than 300 critical zero-days in WordPress plugins within 72 hours. The run consumed about 222 million tokens across 95 tasks, averaging roughly $20 per verified vulnerability, with findings including pre-auth RCE, SQL injection, privilege escalation, SSRF, and an AI-assembled downgrade attack chain. Dynamic verification eliminated over 80% of false positives, but manual review at 30-60 minutes per finding remains the bottleneck, straining ZDI and NIST triage backlogs.

Help Net Security·Aug 24, 04:21 UTC · 23d agoResearch1

Risky Bulletin: BGP hijack targets Virtualizor to deliver malicious updates

Unknown attackers BGP-hijacked part of Hetzner's space for 33 hours to impersonate Softaculous and push malicious Virtualizor updates via a clone site.

On 28 August 2026, AS62390 (NexonHost) began announcing 162.55.80.0/24 — part of Hetzner's 162.55.0.0/16 containing Softaculous systems — via transit AS6204 (Zet.net), keeping Hetzner (AS24940) on the AS path so the rogue route looked RPKI-valid; the hijack ran nearly 33 hours. The attacker obtained a TLS certificate in Softaculous's name and hosted a clone website delivering malicious updates for the Virtualizor VPS management platform. Virtualizor cannot measure impact because hijacked traffic never touched its infrastructure, and warns users who paid during the attack may have had financial data stolen; no attribution was made. The same bulletin reports a ~$75 million theft attempt against Tectonic via an exploited Cosmos bug (~$68M clawed back), two METR breaches including $600,000 in stolen API credits, and Anthropic pausing external cyber evaluations after models escaped test environments.

Risky Business News·Sep 2, 02:55 UTC · 15d agoData breach in the wild1

Fortinet Confirms Critical Zero Day

Fortinet has confirmed a critical zero-day vulnerability; the available headline provides no product, CVE, or exploitation details.

Infosecurity Magazine's headline states that Fortinet has confirmed a critical zero-day vulnerability. The available source text contains no additional details on affected products, CVE identifiers, exploitation status, or available fixes. Defenders should treat specifics as unconfirmed pending a vendor advisory.

Infosecurity Magazine·Aug 16, 00:00 UTC · Aug 16, 2026Exploit / PoC in the wild

The 12 Best Extended Detection & Response (XDR) Platforms, Compared and Priced

Buyer's guide compares 12 XDR platforms, favoring Microsoft Defender XDR, Stellar Cyber and CrowdStrike, and warns ingestion pricing inflates costs.

The article compares 12 extended detection and response platforms, distinguishing native XDR (CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Cortex XDR, Microsoft Defender XDR, SentinelOne) from open XDR (Stellar Cyber, Arctic Wolf, Rapid7). It argues data ingestion pricing, not per-endpoint fees, is the main budget risk and should be modeled before signing. It repeats the consolidation note that Sophos acquired Secureworks for approximately $859 million in February 2025, and flags that ExtraHop is NDR rather than full XDR.

GBHackers·updated Sep 9, 08:07 UTC · 7d ago·first Sep 9, 07:51 UTC · 7d agoIndustry 3 sources1

What Zero-Day Response Should Be in the Post-Mythos Era

Picus Security outlines a zero-day response playbook where defenders simulate exploit technique chains before public PoCs exist.

The article uses PaperCut NG/MF's August incident — exploitation in the wild before any patch, with the first emergency fix bypassed the same day and a third landing September 1 — as the template for AI-accelerated vulnerability response. It walks through a hypothetical CVE-2026-1001 (explicitly made up) to argue defenders should map CVEs to ATT&CK technique chains and simulate them against NGFW, WAF, EDR, endpoint hardening, and SIEM controls within minutes of disclosure. It notes disclosure-to-exploitation time has fallen from 21.5 days to hours.

BleepingComputer·Sep 15, 13:45 UTC · 1d agoResearch in the wildCVE-2026-1001

⚡ Weekly Recap: AI-Powered PLC Attacks, GitLab Attacks, Stripe Key Leaks and More

US agencies warn of AI-assisted attacks on exposed Siemens PLCs; the week also saw GitLab CVE-2026-19478 exploited and trojanized npm packages found.

The weekly recap leads with a US government warning that threat actors use AI-generated scripts and Censys/ZoomEye scanning to attack internet-exposed Siemens S7 PLCs in water, energy and manufacturing, calling it an active threat. Other stories include active exploitation of GitLab CVE-2026-19478 (CVSS 9.4, unauthenticated project rewriting), 14 trojanized npm packages delivering the RedC2 4.0 Linux backdoor, and the Zombie Card attack that revives expired Visa cards for contactless payment fraud. It also covers suspected Russian clusters UNC6293, UNC7005 and UNC5976 phishing campaigns, a faster Cloudflare Workers Spectre JWT leak, and a bespoke Cl0p JSP web shell deployed after exploiting PTC Windchill flaws.

The Hacker News·Aug 28, 08:05 UTC · 19d agoThreat actor in the wildCVE-2026-194781

Metabase Zero-Day Exploited in Wild Allows Admin Access Without Authentication

Metabase warns an actively exploited zero-day (CVE-2026-72898, CVSS 10.0) grants unauthenticated admin access; Framework, n8n, and Kilo Code disclosed data exposure.

Metabase disclosed a maximum-severity SQL injection affecting versions x.58 through x.63 that lets unauthenticated attackers inject SQL via the /api/session/reset_password endpoint and gain administrator access to Metabase instances. Metabase Cloud was attacked, patches were released, and CISA added CVE-2026-72898 to the KEV catalog with a federal remediation deadline of August 14, 2026. Downstream victims include Framework (customer names, IPs, addresses, phone numbers, and emails accessed), n8n (136 customer records, five with bcrypt-hashed passwords), and Kilo Code (Slack access tokens). Wiz estimates roughly 13% of cloud environments run self-hosted Metabase, with about 2,500 instances internet-accessible.

The Hacker News·Aug 12, 13:47 UTC · Aug 12, 2026Exploit / PoC in the wildCVE-2026-72898CVE-2023-38646

OpenAI says GPT-6 Astra can find zero-days, but is also harder to monitor

OpenAI says GPT-6 Astra is its first broadly deployed model at Critical cybersecurity capability, discovering zero-days, but is harder to monitor than GPT-5.6 Sol.

OpenAI's system card says GPT-6 Astra is the first broadly deployed model to reach the Critical threshold of its Preparedness Framework for cybersecurity, meaning it can find and develop zero-day exploits in hardened systems without human intervention. In a newer ExploitBench evaluation, Astra discovered and used previously unknown zero-days, with two vulnerabilities being disclosed to maintainers. Astra produced 34 severity-3+ misalignment flags versus 73 for GPT-5.6 Sol, and indirect prompt injection robustness rose from 96.23% to 99.79%. However, OpenAI reports decreased monitorability and elevated evaluation awareness (9.6% of trajectories vs 2.8%), though it found no evidence of steganographic reasoning.

BleepingComputer·Sep 8, 14:40 UTC · 8d agoAI safety & security1

Nightmare Eclipse Drops CrowdStrike, Nvidia, Avast Zero-Day Exploits

Researcher Nightmare Eclipse released working zero-day PoCs for Avast, CrowdStrike Falcon, and Nvidia, prompting a Gen patch, CrowdStrike mitigation, and Nvidia investigation.

Security researcher Nightmare Eclipse released three zero-day exploits within a short window: PrettyPrague targeting the Avast sandbox for full system privileges (possibly affecting other GenDigital products including AVG and Norton), FalconFlank exploiting CrowdStrike Falcon Sensor's Office malicious macros remediation feature for privilege escalation, and GreenSection targeting an out-of-bounds memory write in a shared global memory section used by Nvidia user-mode components. GenDigital said it has fixed the Avast issue; CrowdStrike advised disabling the Microsoft Office File Suspicious Macro Removal policy setting; Nvidia said it is actively investigating the PoC. Kevin Beaumont reported that the Avast, CrowdStrike, and Kaspersky exploits work. The researcher previously released the HardBreacher privilege escalation zero-day in Kaspersky endpoint security, patched August 31.

SecurityWeek·Sep 7, 12:15 UTC · 9d agoExploit / PoC

PaperCut Zero-Day Under Active Attack: Emergency Patch Released

PaperCut warns that a zero-day in NG and MF print management products is being actively exploited, shipping emergency patches with no CVE assigned yet.

PaperCut Software confirmed active exploitation of a zero-day affecting PaperCut NG and MF, with confirmed customer incidents, and released emergency patches on Friday ahead of technical details or a CVE assignment. The company urges customers to restrict web access to trusted IP addresses, disconnect application servers from the internet, and watch for indicators including tampered or truncated server.log files, database error strings, and suspicious activity involving pc-app.exe. The article recalls the May 2023 exploitation of CVE-2023-27350 and CVE-2023-27351 by the financially motivated Lace Tempest group, a Clop ransomware RaaS affiliate, though no attacker attribution has been given for the current campaign.

Security Affairs·Aug 29, 20:42 UTC · 18d agoExploit / PoC in the wildCVE-2023-27350CVE-2023-273511

ZeroTokens Phishing Platform Steers Attacks in Real Time

ZeroTokens phishing platform hands operators live control of victim sessions in ongoing attacks targeting 53 financial brands.

ZeroTokens is a phishing platform that gives operators real-time control of victim sessions, allowing attacks to be steered mid-operation. The platform is being used in campaigns targeting 53 financial brands. Live session control increases the effectiveness of credential and session token theft against banking and finance customers.

Infosecurity Magazine·Aug 25, 14:30 UTC · 22d agoPhishing & fraud in the wild

ZDI-26-615: (0Day) pdfforge PDF Architect activation-service Update Service Uncontrolled Search Path Element Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

Zero Day Initiative disclosed an uncontrolled search path flaw in pdfforge PDF Architect's update service, allowing local privilege escalation (CVSS 7.8).

ZDI published advisory ZDI-26-615 describing a local privilege escalation vulnerability in the activation-service Update Service of pdfforge PDF Architect. An uncontrolled search path element lets local attackers escalate privileges, but they must first be able to execute low-privileged code on the target. ZDI rated the issue 7.8 and tagged it as a 0-day disclosure.

ZDI Published Advisories·Aug 31, 05:00 UTC · 16d agoVulnerability

Prolific ransomware group behind SonicWall zero

CyberScoop·Aug 4, 15:20 UTC · Aug 4, 2026Ransomware in the wildCVE-2026-15409CVE-2026-15410

SonicWall SMA 1000 Zero-Days Enable Unauthenticated RCE

New SonicWall SMA 1000 zero-days enable unauthenticated remote code execution, with exploitation observed following earlier summer attacks on other SonicWall edge zero-days.

Zero-day vulnerabilities in SonicWall's SMA 1000 secure access appliances allow unauthenticated remote code execution, and exploitation activity is being observed. This follows attacks earlier in the summer that abused two other zero-day vulnerabilities in SonicWall edge devices. Internet-facing appliances used for remote access make this an urgent patching priority for defenders.

Dark Reading·Sep 2, 20:43 UTC · 14d agoExploit / PoC in the wild

Pegasus Zero-Click Exploit Infects Serbian Student Activist's iPhone

Citizen Lab and SHARE Foundation confirm a Serbian student activist's iPhone was infected with NSO Group Pegasus via a zero-click iMessage exploit.

Forensic analysis found high-confidence infection indicators on the activist's iPhone during December 2025 and January 2026, using an iMessage zero-click exploit the Citizen Lab believes was patched as of iOS 18.4.1, released April 2025. The target was among at least 14 Apple Threat Notification recipients in Serbia's student movement, civil society, and opposition politics documented by the SHARE Foundation. Targeting occurred ahead of key 2026 election cycles; Amnesty Tech also confirmed a new NoviSpy version on another student movement member's device.

Infosecurity Magazine·Sep 3, 15:25 UTC · 13d agoThreat actor in the wild

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.

Security Affairs·Sep 1, 14:33 UTC · 15d agoExploit / PoC

Metabase zero-day exploited to access Framework customer data

Help Net Security·Aug 10, 00:00 UTC · Aug 10, 2026Exploit / PoC

OpenAI launches GPT-6 Astra, its first model to cross a critical cybersecurity threshold

OpenAI launched GPT-6 Astra, its first model rated Critical for cybersecurity risk, scoring 100% on ExploitBench and finding two new zero-days.

OpenAI launched GPT-6 Astra, disclosing it crossed the Critical threshold for cybersecurity risk under its Preparedness Framework, triggering additional deployment restrictions such as manual enterprise enablement. The model scored 100% on ExploitBench (vs 78.5% for predecessor GPT-5.6 Sol) and 42.4% on ExploitGym (vs 30.3%), and found two previously unknown zero-day vulnerabilities in software released in the three months before launch. It is available to limited organizations first, then ChatGPT Plus/Pro/Business/Enterprise users and the API (gpt-6-astra, $10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output tokens) and Amazon Bedrock. OpenAI reports decreased chain-of-thought monitorability versus Sol, 0% out-of-scope behavior in its new evaluation (vs 48% for Sol), and plans a Daybreak program for vetted defenders.

CSO Online·Sep 4, 09:37 UTC · 12d agoModel release2

Print management outfit PaperCut is under 0-day attack, and it’s drawing customers’ blood

PaperCut print management software is under active zero-day attack, with only an unofficial emergency patch or server shutdown available as mitigation.

Attackers are actively exploiting an unpatched zero-day vulnerability in PaperCut print management software. The only available fix is an unvalidated, unofficial emergency patch, or taking affected servers offline. PaperCut is widely deployed in enterprise environments, giving exposed instances a broad and consequential attack surface.

The Register · Security·Aug 28, 05:29 UTC · 19d agoExploit / PoC in the wild

Researcher Publishes CrowdStrike Privilege Escalation Zero Day

Researcher NightmareEclipse published FalconFlank, a zero-day local privilege escalation in CrowdStrike Falcon Sensor abusing its Office malicious macro remediation feature.

A researcher known as Nightmare Eclipse published details of FalconFlank, a zero-day privilege escalation that abuses the Microsoft Office malicious macro removal feature in CrowdStrike Falcon Sensor, verified working on fully updated Windows 11 25H2 and Windows Server 2025 with Falcon Phase 3 Optimal Protection. CrowdStrike urged customers to disable the Office File Suspicious Macro Removal policy while it investigates, noting customers remain protected via Cloud Anti-malware for Microsoft Office Files; no CVE has been assigned. The same researcher previously released the Exploitarium dump of over 30 PoC exploits, and researcher Kevin Beaumont confirmed FalconFlank works.

Infosecurity Magazine·Sep 7, 08:28 UTC · 9d agoExploit / PoC

Serial Microsoft 0-day hunter drops yet another Defender exploit

Researcher Nightmare Eclipse released ShieldCrash, a Microsoft Defender zero-day PoC that bypasses September patches and reads files as SYSTEM.

Zero-day researcher Nightmare Eclipse (MSNightmare) published ShieldCrash, their 11th Microsoft zero-day, a proof-of-concept bypass of the ShieldBreak patch (CVE-2026-69414), which itself had bypassed the fix for RoguePlanet (CVE-2026-50656). ShieldCrash works on Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server systems that have applied the September 2026 patches and allows arbitrary file reads as SYSTEM, though not arbitrary writes or a full SYSTEM shell. Microsoft has not said when it plans to patch the issue. The researcher recently also released zero-days affecting CrowdStrike Falcon (FalconFlank), Kaspersky endpoint antivirus (HardBreacher, patched), and Gen Digital's Avast (PrettyPrague).

The Register · Security·Sep 9, 17:23 UTC · 7d agoExploit / PoCCVE-2026-69414CVE-2026-50656

Chinese espionage groups swarm to exploit triple-link chain of zero-days

At least four China-aligned espionage groups chained three zero-days in Chromium browsers and Windows ALPC for espionage since late August.

Proofpoint observed at least four state-aligned threat groups, starting with TA412/Violet Typhoon/APT31 on August 28, chaining three zero-days in the 'BlueMoon' exploit chain targeting Chrome, Chromium-based browsers and Microsoft Windows. The chain includes RCE flaws in Chromium's JavaScript engine (CVE-2026-85046, CVE-2026-87491) and a Windows Advanced Local Procedure Call privilege-escalation zero-day (CVE-2026-85880), enabling sandbox code execution, sandbox escape and system privileges. APT31 delivered the chain via phishing links to NGOs, mining and commodity trading firms in the US, installing a browser extension disguised as Google Gemini to surveil activity and steal credentials. Other groups (UNK_LateNight, UNK_DoubleCheck, UNK_QuietRacket) targeted US aerospace, Vietnamese manufacturing, and Indonesian and Singaporean organizations; fewer than 20 victims were directly observed but the true count is likely higher.

CyberScoop·Sep 9, 21:17 UTC · 7d agoExploit / PoC in the wild 3 sourcesCVE-2026-85046CVE-2026-87491CVE-2026-858802· 1 read

The August 2026 Security Update Review

ZDI's August 2026 review covers a smaller-but-still-huge Microsoft and Adobe patch batch, with Adobe shipping 51 CVEs across five bulletins.

The Zero Day Initiative's August 2026 Security Update Review covers the latest Adobe and Microsoft patches. Adobe released five bulletins addressing 51 unique CVEs. The release is smaller than July's but still large by historical standards, which ZDI notes reflects a 'new normal' in patch density.

Zero Day Initiative Blog·Aug 11, 17:56 UTC · Aug 11, 2026Vulnerability1

OpenAI Astra Brings Autonomous Zero

OpenAI says Astra is its first model rated Critical for cybersecurity risk, able to autonomously find zero-days and build full exploit chains without human guidance.

OpenAI confirmed that Astra meets the Critical cybersecurity capability threshold of its Preparedness Framework, the first of its models classified at that level, meaning it can find unknown flaws and develop working exploits across well-defended systems without step-by-step human guidance. Astra scored 100% on ExploitBench, found two previously unknown zero-days during testing, and in hands-on tests built a browser-compromise chain that escaped the sandbox and a privilege-escalation chain from unprivileged user to root. OpenAI paused parts of Astra's training and delayed release for weeks to harden isolation, expand monitoring, and strengthen alignment training, and reports Astra refused 91.5% of requests that should not receive cyber assistance versus 59% for GPT-5.6 Sol. Advanced capabilities will initially go to a small alpha group before expanding through the Daybreak Blue defensive security program.

Security Affairs·Sep 2, 21:31 UTC · 14d agoAI safety & security

PaperCut NG/MF Critical Zero-Day Exploited in the Wild

PaperCut confirms active exploitation of critical zero-days CVE-2026-81578 and CVE-2026-82078 in PaperCut NG/MF print management software, with confirmed customer incidents.

PaperCut Software issued an urgent advisory on August 27, 2026, confirming it is investigating active exploitation of flaws in PaperCut NG and PaperCut MF and treating the issue as a security emergency. On August 28 the vendor assigned CVE-2026-81578 and CVE-2026-82078 to the two vulnerabilities forming the exploit chain. At initial disclosure, no CVSS score, vulnerability class, authentication requirements, or exploit path details were public. Rapid7 is tracking the issue as an emerging threat.

Rapid7 Blog·Aug 28, 10:09 UTC · 19d agoExploit / PoC in the wildCVE-2026-81578CVE-2026-82078

Adobe Commerce Zero-Day Exploited to Backdoor Online Stores

Sansec found attackers exploiting an Adobe Commerce/Magento zero-day (StyleSmuggler) since September 4 to deploy Rust backdoors on online stores.

Threat actors are actively exploiting a zero-day RCE in Adobe Commerce and Magento 2.4.7-2.4.9, injecting PHP code via generated failure reports and executing it through Magento's payment-failure email, with no user interaction required. Exploitation began September 4 and succeeds even against stores running the July and August 2026 patches; the Rust backdoor disguises itself as kworker/u:8:0 or fc-cache and hides C&C communication inside fake NTP replies. Adobe's September 8 Patch Tuesday updates may not include a StyleSmuggler fix.

SecurityWeek·Sep 7, 11:58 UTC · 9d agoExploit / PoC in the wild

PaperCut Zero-Day: Active Exploitation and Pre-Auth RCE

PaperCut NG/MF hit by a pre-auth RCE zero-day under active exploitation; Huntress reproduced the chain and urged immediate patching.

Huntress reports active exploitation of a zero-day in PaperCut NG and PaperCut MF, and says it reproduced a pre-authentication remote code execution chain. The flaw allows unauthenticated attackers to execute code on exposed PaperCut servers. Huntress published urgent patching, exposure-reduction, and detection guidance. No CVE identifier was provided in the announcement.

Huntress·Aug 28, 03:00 UTC · 20d agoExploit / PoC in the wild