Search: “active-directory”

Hackers Pose as Domain Controllers to Steal Active Directory Password Hashes

Attackers abuse Active Directory replication (DCSync) via the DRSUAPI protocol to steal password hashes and forge Golden Tickets for persistent domain compromise.

Security reporting citing Trellix details how threat actors impersonate domain controllers to request replication data and obtain NTLM password hashes without dumping LSASS on the domain controller. With Domain Admin or replication rights, attackers can steal the KRBTGT hash and forge long-lived Golden Tickets that survive password resets. Defenders should monitor DRSUAPI requests from non-DC systems, restrict replication permissions, and enforce MFA and tiered administrative access.

Cyber Security News·updated Sep 10, 12:00 UTC · 6d ago·first Sep 10, 11:29 UTC · 6d agoResearch 2 sources3· 1 read

Advanced URL Filtering Archives

Palo Alto Networks markets Advanced URL Filtering as combining a malicious URL database with real-time ML and DL web protection.

The Unit 42 blog page is a product category archive for Advanced URL Filtering. The product description states it combines a malicious URL database with a real-time web protection engine powered by machine learning and deep learning models. No research findings, incidents, or vulnerabilities are discussed.

Palo Alto Unit 42·Sep 8, 14:27 UTC · 7d agoIndustry 6 sources

CISA Shares 17 Techniques Used by Hackers to Compromise Active Directory

CISA and five international agencies publish joint guidance detailing 17 techniques attackers use to compromise Microsoft Active Directory environments.

CISA, NSA, and the Australian Signals Directorate's ACSC, with contributions from Canadian, UK, and New Zealand cyber centers, released technical guidance on 17 Active Directory attack techniques. It covers AD Domain Services, AD Certificate Services, and AD Federation Services, including Kerberoasting, DCSync, Golden Ticket, Golden SAML, Skeleton Key, and Shadow Credentials. The guidance recommends treating domain controllers, CAs, AD FS servers, and Entra Connect systems as Tier 0 assets with phishing-resistant MFA, Kerberos pre-authentication enforcement, and disabling NTLM/SMBv1.

Cyber Security News·Sep 15, 16:05 UTC · 21h agoAdvisory

AD Rights Management Service (Part 1): Architecture, Deprecation, and Reconnaissance

Huntress maps AD RMS architecture and recon paths, setting up an offline key-extraction attack against its unrotatable 255-year root key.

Huntress's multi-part research examines Active Directory Rights Management Services, Microsoft's enterprise DRM role that still ships in Windows Server 2025 despite migration guidance favoring Azure Information Protection. Part 1 covers the trust model and how an ordinary domain account can locate RMS clusters and read rights-policy templates. Part 2 will detail four independent paths for extracting the Server Licensor Certificate (SLC) private key via service-group membership and the configuration database, enabling fully offline decryption of protected documents. The SLC certificate is valid from 2002 to 2258 and has no key-rotation mechanism, so a stolen key decrypts protected content indefinitely.

Huntress·Sep 8, 04:00 UTC · 8d agoResearch1

CISA Warns Hackers Exploit 17 Active Directory Techniques to Gain Control of Enterprise Networks

CISA and Five Eyes agencies issued joint guidance detailing 17 Active Directory attack techniques like Kerberoasting and DCSync, with hardening and detection advice.

CISA, the NSA, and cyber agencies from Australia, Canada, the UK, and New Zealand released joint guidance on September 15 covering 17 techniques attackers use to compromise Active Directory, including AD CS, Certificate Services, and Federation Services attacks. Named techniques include Kerberoasting, AS-REP roasting, password spraying, DCSync, NTDS.dit dumping, Golden and Silver Tickets, Golden SAML, and Skeleton Key. Recommendations include minimizing SPN accounts, enforcing AES encryption, disabling NTLM, account lockout thresholds of five attempts, phishing-resistant MFA, and Tier 0 prioritization. The guide also lists Windows event IDs 4769, 4768, 4625, 4771, and 2889 for detecting Kerberoasting and password spraying on domain controllers.

GBHackers·06:04 UTC · 7h agoAdvisory

Privilege escalation from IIS AppPool to NT Authority/SYSTEM

A write-up demonstrates privilege escalation from an IIS AppPool identity to NT AUTHORITY/SYSTEM via the AD CS RPC endpoint.

A technical write-up details a Windows privilege escalation path that moves an IIS application pool identity to NT AUTHORITY/SYSTEM by abusing the Active Directory Certificate Services RPC endpoint. The technique chains the restricted IIS AppPool service context with AD CS access to reach SYSTEM on the host. The post is relevant for defenders mapping privilege escalation paths on Windows web servers.

Lobsters · security·Aug 31, 12:36 UTC · 16d agoResearch

VU#614868: OpenCart ecommerce platform contains directory traversal vulnerability

OpenCart 4.2.0.0 extension installer fails to validate zip extraction paths, allowing directory traversal (CVE-2026-18412) to write files outside intended directories.

CERT/CC VU#614868 discloses CVE-2026-18412, a directory traversal vulnerability in OpenCart v4.2.0.0's extension installer. The installer extracts uploaded .ocmod.zip files using zip entry filenames as filesystem paths without verifying the resolved path stays inside the intended directory. A malicious extension zip could result in arbitrary file writes outside the target directory.

CERT/CC Vulnerability Notes·Aug 10, 14:47 UTC · Aug 10, 2026VulnerabilityCVE-2026-184121

OWASP's subtractive security project measures the attack paths you erased

Help Net Security·Aug 4, 00:00 UTC · Aug 4, 2026Policy & legal

Exploits in the Wild for Citrix ADC and Citrix Gateway Directory Traversal Vulnerability CVE-2019

Unit 42 confirmed in-the-wild exploitation of CVE-2019-19781, a critical Citrix ADC/Gateway directory traversal flaw enabling unauthenticated file access and RCE.

CVE-2019-19781, a CVSS 9.8 directory traversal vulnerability, affects all supported versions of Citrix ADC and Citrix Gateway. Unit 42 captured multiple exploitation attempts in the wild and identified scanning activity from roughly 700 Shodan-exposed hosts. The flaw stems from improper pathname handling in Apache, allowing unauthenticated attackers to read sensitive files like smb.conf or achieve remote code execution via crafted XML. Palo Alto Networks released Threat Prevention signatures 57497 and 57570 on January 7, 2020, while Citrix published advisories CTX267027 and CTX267679 with responder policy mitigations pending a late-January patch.

Palo Alto Unit 42·Aug 17, 13:07 UTC · Aug 17, 2026Exploit / PoC in the wildCVE-2019-19781

[webapps] C-MOR 6.0104 - Directory Traversal

A directory traversal proof-of-concept for video surveillance software C-MOR version 6.0104 has been published on Exploit-DB.

Exploit-DB entry 52666 discloses a directory traversal vulnerability in C-MOR version 6.0104, a video surveillance platform. The issue is listed under web application vulnerabilities. No CVE identifier or exploitation evidence is included in the listing.

Exploit-DB·Aug 31, 00:00 UTC · 16d agoExploit / PoC

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·Sep 8, 12:10 UTC · 8d agoThreat actor in the wild

Trends in Web Threats: Old Web Skimmer Still Active Today

Unit 42 detected 577,000 landing URL incidents in Q1 2022, with an old web skimmer family still actively stealing payment card data.

Palo Alto Unit 42 detected 577,275 landing URL incidents (116,643 unique) and 2,043,862 malicious host URL incidents (180,370 unique) between January and March 2022. Web threat volumes declined after the November 2021 holiday peak, but an old web skimmer family remained active. Business and economy sites overtook personal sites as the most common apparently benign entry points. Most malicious domains geolocated to the United States, Germany, and Russia, though proxy servers and VPNs obscure true locations.

Palo Alto Unit 42·Aug 17, 13:05 UTC · Aug 17, 2026Research

[webapps] Ray 2.56.0 - Directory Traversal & Local File Inclusion

Public exploit released for directory traversal and local file inclusion in Ray 2.56.0, the widely used distributed ML framework.

Exploit-DB entry 52635 publishes a web application exploit targeting Ray 2.56.0, the distributed computing framework from Anyscale commonly used for ML workloads. The PoC demonstrates a directory traversal and local file inclusion condition, allowing attackers to read files outside the intended path on an exposed Ray instance. Ray dashboard instances exposed to the internet could leak sensitive files such as credentials and configuration.

Exploit-DB·Aug 11, 00:00 UTC · Aug 11, 2026Exploit / PoC

A rant about phishing: It's not the user's fault (and not DNS either)

Opinion piece argues multi-domain login redirects make legitimate flows indistinguishable from phishing, urging organizations to standardize on one recognizable root domain.

The author shows a real-world login flow that chains through numerous third-party domains (identity providers, cloud auth endpoints, OAuth APIs, 2FA pages), none on the company's own domain, so credentials and 2FA prompts are trivially impersonable. The piece argues URLs are inherently confusing because the security-relevant second-level domain sits mid-string, and that users trained to ignore URLs cannot distinguish legitimate pages from scams. It proposes RFC 2119-style requirements: single recognizable root domain, internal services on its subdomains, emailed or SMS links on that domain, and local redirects instead of third-party hosted pages.

Lobsters · security·Sep 10, 15:14 UTC · 5d agoPhishing & fraud

ApateWeb: An Evasive Large-Scale Scareware and PUP Delivery Campaign

Unit 42 uncovers ApateWeb, a campaign using over 130,000 domains and multilayered redirects to deliver scareware, adware and PUPs to millions of users.

Unit 42 discovered ApateWeb, a large-scale campaign using a network of more than 130,000 domains to deliver scareware, potentially unwanted programs, adware including a rogue browser and browser extensions, and scam pages. The campaign uses a three-layer structure with deceptive emails as the entry point, centralized victim tracking via UUIDs, intermediate adware or anti-bot redirections, and evasion tactics such as cloaking, bot detection error pages, and wildcard DNS abuse. Activity spiked since August 2022, with several hundred attacker-controlled sites remaining in Tranco's top 1 million rankings and millions of monthly hits; Unit 42 blocked an estimated 3.5 million sessions across 74,711 devices in November 2023.

Palo Alto Unit 42·Aug 17, 12:48 UTC · Aug 17, 2026Phishing & fraud in the wild

NSA, CISA, FBI, DOE, and EPA Warn of Active AI

Five US agencies warn of active AI-assisted attacks on internet-exposed Siemens S7 PLCs across critical infrastructure, using disguised snap7 scripts for pre-positioning reconnaissance.

NSA, CISA, FBI, DOE, and EPA issued joint advisory CISA AA26-231A warning of an active hacking campaign against Siemens S7-series PLCs, from S7-200 through S7-1500 F-series, across US critical infrastructure. Threat actors use internet scanning services such as Censys and ZoomEye to locate exposed controllers, then perform read operations over S7comm on TCP port 102 using the legitimate snap7.dll and python-snap7 libraries, disguising AI-generated exploitation scripts as monitoring tools. The agencies assess the activity as pre-positioning ahead of possible process disruption, equipment damage, or safety incidents in Energy, Water, Critical Manufacturing, Chemical, Food and Agriculture, and Commercial Facilities sectors.

Security Affairs·Aug 20, 17:36 UTC · 26d agoExploit / PoC in the wild

Trends in Web Threats in CY Q2 2022: Malicious JavaScript Downloaders Are Evolving

Unit 42 detected 751,000 landing URL incidents in Q2 2022 and documented malicious JavaScript downloaders evolving to evade detection.

Unit 42 detected 751,331 landing URL incidents (253,644 unique) and 1,744,629 malicious host URL incidents (256,844 unique) from April through June 2022. Total landing URL incidents rose compared with Q1 2022, and unique host URL incidents grew 42%, indicating attackers deploying more variants. The report includes a case study of a JavaScript downloader campaign demonstrating new evasion techniques. Personal sites, blogs, and business sites were the top apparently benign entry points.

Palo Alto Unit 42·Aug 17, 13:05 UTC · Aug 17, 2026Research

Sevii APS Module preempts attacks with autonomous cyber defens

Help Net Security·Aug 4, 00:00 UTC · Aug 4, 2026Exploit / PoC

CVE-2026-79993: Apache ZooKeeper: Missing ACL check on deleteContainer opcode allows unauthorized deletion of any empty persistent/container znode

Critical ZooKeeper flaw lets any authenticated client delete arbitrary empty persistent or container znodes by bypassing ACL checks.

CVE-2026-79993 (critical severity) affects Apache ZooKeeper 3.9.0-3.9.5 and 3.8.0-3.8.6. The deleteContainer opcode (0x14/20) is processed without verifying the caller's ACL permissions, allowing any authenticated client to delete specific empty znodes in the data tree regardless of ACL restrictions on the znode or its parent. This can corrupt coordination state for dependent distributed systems like Kafka, HBase, or Solr clusters relying on ZooKeeper.

oss-security·Sep 15, 18:24 UTC · 18h agoVulnerabilityCVE-2026-79993

Flextype v1.0.0-alpha.3 Path Traversal in Entry Copy Allows Arbitrary Directory Copy and File Disclosure

Flextype CMS v1.0.0-alpha.3 entries copy endpoint accepts path traversal in source and destination parameters, enabling arbitrary directory copies and file disclosure.

Flextype CMS v1.0.0-alpha.3 constructs entry directory paths in the copy functionality by directly concatenating supplied entry identifiers with the configured entries directory. The /api/v1/entries/copy endpoint accepts directory traversal sequences in both the source id and destination new_id parameters. An authenticated remote attacker can thereby copy arbitrary directories and disclose files outside the intended entries directory. Ron E disclosed the issue on the Full Disclosure mailing list on September 3, 2026.

Full Disclosure·Sep 4, 00:13 UTC · 12d agoVulnerability 8 sources

From Infostealer Log to Marketplace Listing: A Technical Walkthrough of the Credential Theft Pipeline

Cyble walkthrough maps how infostealer logs move from endpoint infection through aggregation and enrichment to dark web credential marketplace sales.

Cyble breaks the credential theft pipeline into stages: infostealer execution harvesting browser credential stores, cookies, session tokens, crypto wallets, and FTP configurations; aggregation of stealer logs via C2 panels into bundled archives; parsing and enrichment against previously leaked datasets; and final listing on dark web marketplaces. Enrichment adds employer and role context that raises prices and enables credential stuffing across reused passwords. The report advises SOC teams to monitor stealer logs and marketplace chatter early rather than waiting for breach alerts.

Cyble·Sep 10, 10:45 UTC · 6d agoMalware1

ZDI-26-569: Linux Kernel Net Scheduler True Link Equalizer Race Condition Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

ZDI publishes ZDI-26-569, a CVSS 7.5 race condition local privilege escalation in the Linux kernel net scheduler true link equalizer.

The Zero Day Initiative disclosed a race condition in the Linux kernel's net scheduler true link equalizer component enabling local privilege escalation. Exploitation requires the attacker to first run high-privileged code on the target system. The advisory carries a CVSS rating of 7.5; no CVE id is listed in the disclosure text.

ZDI Published Advisories·Aug 13, 05:00 UTC · Aug 13, 2026Advisory

[webapps] CubeCart 6.7.4 - Stored XSS

A proof-of-concept stored cross-site scripting exploit targeting CubeCart 6.7.4 was published on Exploit-DB.

Exploit-DB lists a proof-of-concept exploit for a stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in CubeCart 6.7.4, a PHP-based e-commerce web application. The listing demonstrates injection of attacker-controlled script that persists in the application, but no exploitation in the wild or CVE assignment is reported in the provided text.

Exploit-DB·Aug 31, 00:00 UTC · 16d agoExploit / PoC1

Survey of filesystem MCP servers: how the "sandboxed filesystem" boundary is enforced (one breach, four defended-by-design)

Survey finds one filesystem MCP server vulnerable to a symlink-based sandbox escape while four others are defended by design.

A survey of five filesystem MCP servers assessed how each enforces its path-confinement boundary against symlink escapes in recursive directory walkers. The iceener/files-stdio-mcp-server is vulnerable to a read-side sandbox escape. The other four are defended by design or make no confinement claim. The author describes the vulnerability class as small but real.

oss-security·Sep 10, 01:14 UTC · 6d agoVulnerability

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

ZDI-26-579: Cisco Identity Services Engine zipFiles Directory Traversal Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

ZDI disclosed an authenticated directory traversal flaw (CVE-2026-20181) in Cisco Identity Services Engine allowing remote code execution, CVSS 7.2.

The Zero Day Initiative published ZDI-26-579 describing a directory traversal in the zipFiles functionality of Cisco Identity Services Engine. Authenticated remote attackers can execute arbitrary code on affected installations. ZDI assigned a CVSS score of 7.2 and the identifier CVE-2026-20181.

ZDI Published Advisories·Aug 13, 05:00 UTC · Aug 13, 2026VulnerabilityCVE-2026-20181

[dos] LuCI DHCPv6 - Lease Hostname Stored Cross-Site Scripting

Stored cross-site scripting in OpenWrt LuCI via malicious DHCPv6 lease hostnames allows router interface attacks.

Exploit-DB entry 52637 describes a stored cross-site scripting vulnerability in LuCI, the OpenWrt web administration interface. A attacker on the local network can set a malicious hostname that gets stored in DHCPv6 lease data and rendered unsafely in the LuCI UI. When an administrator views the lease status page, the injected script executes in the router's management context.

Exploit-DB·Aug 11, 00:00 UTC · Aug 11, 2026Exploit / PoC

Trends in Web Threats: Attackers Were More Active During Holiday Season

Unit 42 tracked 533,000 malicious landing URL incidents from October-December 2021, showing web threats peaked during the holiday shopping season.

Unit 42 detected 533,452 malicious landing URL incidents (120,753 unique) and 2,906,875 malicious host URL incidents (165,255 unique) from October through December 2021. Threat activity peaked in November, likely tied to Black Friday in the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany. Most malicious domains appeared to originate in the United States, followed by Russia and Germany. Personal sites, blogs, business sites, and shopping sites were the most common apparently benign entry points for attacks.

Palo Alto Unit 42·Aug 17, 13:06 UTC · Aug 17, 2026Research