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LiteLLM Flaws Let Attackers Execute Code as Root and Steal Cloud Credentials

Wiz disclosed LiteLLM flaws including CVE-2026-59822 MCP auth bypass, now in CISA KEV, enabling root RCE and AWS credential theft from exposed gateways.

Wiz researchers disclosed weaknesses in the open-source LiteLLM AI gateway: CVE-2026-59821 allows authenticated administrators to execute code as root via the Custom Code Guardrails feature, while CVE-2026-59822 is an MCP authentication bypass where a meaningless Bearer token establishes a valid session. The MCP bypass was observed in the wild through Wiz honeypots and added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on September 2. A scan of 3,074 internet-facing instances found 294 (9.6%) accepting the default master key sk-1234 or lacking authentication. Fixes shipped in LiteLLM 1.82.0 (guardrail hardening) and 1.84.0 (MCP bypass); exposed instances can leak provider API keys and temporary AWS IAM credentials via the pass-through feature and metadata service, with a related config-check issue tracked as CVE-2026-35029.

Cyber Security Newsupdated Sep 10, 12:56 UTC · 6d agofirst Sep 10, 12:26 UTC · 6d agoExploit / PoC in the wild 3 sources CVE-2026-59821 CVE-2026-59822 CVE-2026-35029

Cisco Identity Services Engine Authentication Bypass Vulnerability

Cisco patched an unauthenticated API authentication bypass in Identity Services Engine allowing attackers to access the web-based management interface.

A vulnerability in an API of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) stems from insufficient authentication control on an API endpoint. An unauthenticated remote attacker can send a crafted request to bypass authentication and gain unauthorized access to the device via the web-based management interface. Cisco has released software updates and no workarounds are available.

Cisco Security Advisories16:00 UTC · 4h agoAdvisory 15 sources

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 BlogSep 9, 16:06 UTC · 7d agoExploit / PoC in the wildCVE-2026-59822 CVE-2026-598211

Grok exfiltrates user data when malicious instructions are encrypted

Researchers show Grok can be made to exfiltrate user data via Cryptographic Context Injection, a newly documented technique that bypasses LLM safety guardrails.

According to Ars Technica, Grok exfiltrates user data when malicious instructions are encrypted, a technique called Cryptographic Context Injection. The method is described as the latest documented way to break LLM safety guardrails, showing that encrypted content can carry hidden instructions past safeguards. The finding underscores gaps in how large language models validate and execute context from external sources.

Ars Technica · SecurityAug 20, 13:00 UTC · 27d agoAI safety & security1

Critical NetScaler Flaw Can Bypass Authentication on Certain Gateway and AAA Servers

Citrix patches critical NetScaler Gateway and AAA authentication bypass CVE-2026-19490 (CVSS 9.3) plus a SIP ALG memory overflow flaw; exploitation attempts observed.

Citrix fixed CVE-2026-19490 (CVSS 9.3), an authentication bypass affecting customer-managed NetScaler ADC and Gateway appliances configured as Gateway (SSL VPN, ICA Proxy, CVPN, RDP Proxy) or AAA virtual servers, and CVE-2026-19489 (CVSS 8.8), a memory overflow causing DoS when SIP ALG is enabled in Large Scale NAT groups. Updates are available in versions 14.1-73.32, 13.1-63.21, and corresponding FIPS/NDcPP builds, while Citrix-managed cloud services were already patched. The flaws were reported by Samarth Vashisht of JPMorgan Chase's penetration-testing team, and Previdian later observed 10 exploitation attempts against CVE-2026-19490 from six unique IP addresses in Australia, Germany, Japan, and the US, with no confirmed compromise.

The Hacker NewsSep 4, 17:00 UTC · 12d agoVulnerability in the wildCVE-2026-19489 CVE-2026-19490 CVE-2026-8451

Threats Making WAVs - Incident Response to a Cryptomining Attack

Guardicore researchers dissect a cryptomining attack that hid a cryptominer inside WAV files, mapping the full infection chain and response steps.

Guardicore security researchers present a full analysis of a cryptomining attack that concealed a cryptominer inside WAV audio files. The report documents the complete attack chain from detection through infection, network propagation, and malware analysis. It also includes recommendations for optimizing incident response processes in data centers.

Akamai BlogSep 8, 15:13 UTC · 8d agoMalware in the wild

Understanding the Security Boundary of Obfuscation-based On-Device LLM Protection

Researchers formalize obfuscation primitives for TEE-protected on-device LLMs and show a Collapse attack breaks ArrowCloak, TSQP, and LoRO, then extend the boundary.

The paper formalizes obfuscation primitives for TEE-Shielded LLM Partition (TSLP) schemes that offload computationally intensive layers from a Trusted Execution Environment to external GPUs. A novel primitive-guided attack, Collapse, demonstrates a shared vulnerability in prominent published methods including ArrowCloak (Security'25), TSQP (S&P'25), and LoRO (NeurIPS'25). The authors then introduce two new obfuscation primitives and integrate them with existing constructs to formulate an extended security boundary (O_ext).

arXiv cs.CRSep 9, 12:51 UTC · 7d agoAI safety & security

Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center Software Authentication Bypass Vulnerability

Cisco warns of a critical authentication bypass in Secure Firewall Management Center that lets unauthenticated attackers execute scripts and obtain root access.

A vulnerability in the web interface of Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) Software allows an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass authentication and execute script files on an affected device to obtain root access to the underlying operating system. The flaw stems from an improper system process created at boot time and is triggered via crafted HTTP requests. If the FMC management interface does not have public internet access, the attack surface is limited.

Cisco Security AdvisoriesSep 9, 16:00 UTC · 7d agoAdvisory 2 sources CVE-2026-20079

Closing the Loop: Bidirectional Fully Encrypted Protocols

Researchers show naively composing unidirectional fully encrypted protocols is detectable and construct provably secure bidirectional FEPs, validated in Rust.

The paper introduces formal security definitions for bidirectional fully encrypted protocols (BiFEPs), covering exact shaping, delivery, protocol-state integrity, private half-close, and cross-direction isolation. It shows trivially composing two unidirectional FEPs enables detection attacks via cross-direction dependencies like traffic imbalance and connection tear-down. The authors construct provably secure BiFEPs for datastream and datagram settings, validated with a Rust implementation; no surveyed deployed protocol provides the full set of properties.

arXiv cs.CRSep 15, 16:32 UTC · 1d agoResearch

Stealth rootkit targeting F5 BIG-IP could expose enterprise identity gateways

Sophos analyzed a stealth Linux rootkit that hides a web shell in memory on compromised F5 BIG-IP APM identity gateways, evading file-based detection.

Sophos analyzed a second-stage Linux rootkit implant found in compromised F5 BIG-IP APM environments running Apache and PHP, linked to exploitation of CVE-2025-53521, an unauthenticated RCE. The implant hooks Apache's PHP-loading process and serves modified in-memory versions of three legitimate webtop PHP files (apm_css.php3, full_wt.php3, webtop_popup_css.php3), leaving on-disk files untouched so hashes and integrity checks pass. It also establishes access via an authenticated local UNIX socket that can provide an interactive /bin/bash session. Experts warn compromised APM appliances, which handle federated SSO and terminate TLS at enterprise perimeters, could enable SSO token theft and lateral movement to trusted downstream applications.

CSO OnlineSep 10, 11:51 UTC · 6d agoMalware in the wildCVE-2025-53521

Cisco BroadWorks CommPilot Application Software Authorization Bypass Vulnerability

Cisco patched a BroadWorks CommPilot authorization bypass letting low-privileged authenticated users alter device configurations via crafted HTTP requests.

A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco BroadWorks CommPilot Application Software is caused by missing authorization checks. An authenticated remote attacker with low privileges can send crafted HTTP requests to alter configurations on select pages. Cisco has released software updates and no workarounds are available.

Cisco Security Advisories16:00 UTC · 4h agoAdvisory

cPanel LiteSpeed Web Server Vulnerability Allows Shared Server Users to Gain Root-Level Access

Critical LiteSpeed Enterprise flaw fixed in 6.3.7 lets low-privilege shared-hosting users escalate to root and bypass CageFS.

cPanel issued an urgent advisory for a critical privilege escalation in LiteSpeed Web Server Enterprise versions before 6.3.7, allowing a low-privilege shared-hosting account to gain root-level server control and bypass tenant isolation controls including CloudLinux CageFS. Root access would let attackers access other hosted sites, steal databases and credentials, deploy phishing pages, and install backdoors. Administrators are urged to upgrade to 6.3.7 immediately via lsup.sh and to review privileged account activity, cron jobs, SSH keys, and system binaries; no CVE identifier was published.

Cyber Security NewsSep 15, 13:52 UTC · 1d agoVulnerability

Cisco Secure Email Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions Ciphertext Decryption Vulnerabilities

Cisco released an advisory for S/MIME ciphertext decryption flaws in Secure Email that could let unauthenticated remote attackers recover plaintext via machine-in-the-middle.

Multiple vulnerabilities in the S/MIME decryption functionality of Cisco Secure Email stem from insufficient validation of message integrity. An unauthenticated remote attacker could intercept and modify traffic between email gateways using a machine-in-the-middle technique to obtain plaintext from encrypted messages. No workarounds are available; no CVE identifiers or exploitation status were included in the advisory text.

Cisco Security AdvisoriesSep 8, 11:22 UTC · 8d agoAdvisory

ClearFake Deploys Crypto Stealer That Uses Vulnerable Driver to Kill EDR Security Tools

Cisco Talos details ClearFake's fake-CAPTCHA chain deploying ZigCryptoStealer with a BYOVD attack that kills EDR processes, observed at a Ukrainian government organization in April 2026.

ClearFake compromises websites, injects JavaScript via a malicious Cloudflare Worker, retrieves instructions from BNB Smart Chain contracts (EtherHiding), and presents a fake Google CAPTCHA that tricks Windows users into pasting a command that loads a remote library over WebDAV via rundll32. The crypto-stealer branch uses DLL side-loading with a signed Chrome component to launch ZigCryptoStealer, which hijacks clipboard cryptocurrency addresses, alongside a signed but vulnerable Windows driver used in a BYOVD attack to terminate EDR processes. A parallel branch delivers Amatera secondary payloads that install a hidden remote-access client providing operator desktop control, with Cisco Talos tracking the remote-loader activity as UAT-10820. Talos observed unusual remote library execution at a Ukrainian government organization in April 2026 and assesses the attacks are part of a broader theft operation rather than a single targeted campaign.

Cyber Security NewsSep 9, 14:26 UTC · 7d agoMalware in the wild1

Large Universe Subset Predicate Encryption with IND-CCA Security (with Constant-size Ciphertext and Keys)

New construction achieves first large-universe subset predicate encryption with IND-CCA security and constant-size ciphertexts and keys under subgroup decision assumptions.

The paper proposes the first large-universe subset predicate encryption scheme achieving IND-CCA security with both constant-size ciphertexts and constant-size secret keys. Prior large-universe constructions by Chatterjee and Mukherjee either achieved only restricted selective security with constant sizes or adaptive security with attribute-dependent ciphertext size, and none achieved CCA security. The new construction is proven selectively secure under standard subgroup decision problems. Black-box transformations yield the first CCA-secure WIBE and WKD-IBE with constant-size ciphertexts and keys.

arXiv cs.CRSep 14, 10:02 UTC · 2d agoResearch

Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance and Secure Firewall Threat Defense Software Object Group Access Control List Bypass Vulnerabilities

Cisco patched ACL Object Group Search bypass flaws in ASA and FTD firewall software that let unauthenticated attackers reach protected networks.

Cisco disclosed multiple vulnerabilities in the ACL Object Group Search implementation of Secure Firewall ASA and FTD Software, caused by a logic error in populating group access control policies. An unauthenticated remote attacker could send traffic that should be blocked through the device, bypassing configured access controls. Cisco has released software updates; no exploitation is mentioned.

Cisco Security Advisories16:00 UTC · 4h agoAdvisory 9 sources

JSCeal Malware Can Bypass Google Authentication Using Stolen Session Cookies

Check Point details JSCeal, a V8-compiled JavaScript stealer that replays stolen cookies to bypass Google authentication, spread via crypto malvertising.

Check Point Research's new report analyzes JSCeal, a compiled V8 JavaScript malware obfuscated with javascript-obfuscator using RC4-protected strings, control-flow flattening, and proxy functions. Delivered through fake TradingView installers on malvertising sites overlapping the WEEVILPROXY/MeadowLocust and SourTrade campaigns, it harvests cookies, passwords and OAuth tokens from Chromium browsers, records keystrokes and screenshots, and can replay stolen Google session cookies to bypass authentication. It also installs a local proxy with service-specific handlers for Binance, Bybit, and Ledger to intercept and modify cryptocurrency-related traffic.

The Hacker NewsSep 7, 07:53 UTC · 9d agoMalware in the wild1

Go-Based macOS Malware Steals Crypto and Secrets

Security researchers detected Go-based macOS malware stealing cryptocurrency, passwords, and other secrets from infected systems.

A Go-based malware variant targeting macOS has been detected in active use. The malware steals cryptocurrency, passwords, and other sensitive secrets from infected Macs.

Infosecurity MagazineAug 10, 10:00 UTC · Aug 10, 2026Malware in the wild

[webapps] miniOrange 5.4.3 - Unauthenticated Auth Bypass

A proof-of-concept exploit for an unauthenticated authentication bypass in miniOrange 5.4.3 has been published on Exploit-DB.

Exploit-DB lists a public proof-of-concept exploit for an unauthenticated authentication bypass in miniOrange 5.4.3. The flaw allows attackers to bypass authentication without credentials. No in-the-wild exploitation or CVE identifier is stated in the listing.

Exploit-DBSep 1, 00:00 UTC · 15d agoExploit / PoC

JSCeal Hides Crypto Malware in V8 Bytecode

Check Point details JSCeal, a crypto-stealing malware delivered as compiled V8 bytecode, and built a decompiler pipeline to expose its capabilities.

JSCeal, tracked by Check Point Research since early 2025, is a cryptocurrency stealer delivered as heavily obfuscated JavaScript compiled to V8 bytecode (.jsc) and run by a bundled Node.js runtime. Check Point, presenting at Black Hat USA 2026, extended the open-source View8 decompiler into a pipeline that recovered readable code from 23 samples, revealing theft of browser credentials and cookies, Telegram sessions, keystrokes, screenshots, HTTPS traffic interception with attacker-controlled certificates, and automated Google account takeover. Targeted overrides rewrite content for Binance, Bybit, and Ledger users. Later samples added AES-256-CBC encryption with externally supplied keys and expanded targeting to macOS.

Security AffairsSep 7, 10:19 UTC · 9d agoMalware1

Why Johnny Can't Encrypt: A Usability Evaluation of PGP 5.0 (1999)

Seminal 1999 USENIX study finds most novice users cannot correctly sign and encrypt email with PGP 5.0 in 90 minutes.

Whitten and Tygar's USENIX Security Symposium paper evaluates whether cryptography novices can use PGP 5.0 effectively, using cognitive walkthrough analysis and a laboratory user test. The majority of test participants failed to successfully sign and encrypt a message within 90 minutes, despite PGP 5.0 having a well-regarded graphical interface. The authors argue that security requires usability standards beyond those of general consumer software and propose domain-specific UI design principles for security. The paper is a foundational reference in usable security research.

Lobsters · securitySep 9, 06:47 UTC · 7d agoResearch

Hackers Use Fake Claude and ChatGPT Installers to Infect Mac Users With Password-Stealing Malware

Attackers distribute MacSync macOS infostealer via fake Claude and ChatGPT installers and sponsored search ads, stealing passwords, cookies, keys, and wallets.

SEQRITE reports a malware-as-a-service campaign pushing MacSync, a macOS password stealer, through sponsored search results and fake Claude and ChatGPT download pages. ClickFix-style prompts trick users into pasting a Terminal command that launches a stager, which loads an in-memory AppleScript to harvest credentials. The malware collects browser vaults, Keychain data, SSH keys, session cookies, messaging sessions, and cryptocurrency wallets, then persists via renamed LaunchAgents and can request screen-recording permissions.

Cyber Security NewsSep 10, 09:53 UTC · 6d agoMalware in the wild 2 sources

Access Control as Verified Parse Constraints

Researchers verify a class of EverParse validators that correctly enforce access-control policies, deploying a machine-checked enforcement gate on seL4.

The paper targets enforcement-code bugs in commercial security gateways by proving that forward-only, backtrack-free EverParse validators are verified recognizers for a bounded finite-state class that includes access-control decision functions with fixed-offset fields and bounded disjunction. Encoding a bounded policy language into a fixed-size byte buffer allows an SMT solver to verify the enforcement code once, covering all byte values, policies, requests, and sessions. Editing rule content over a fixed endpoint set requires no new proof, while adding endpoints reruns the toolchain. A deployment on the seL4 microkernel ensures every request passes through the gate and unverified components cannot corrupt the enforcement chain.

arXiv cs.CRSep 11, 06:33 UTC · 5d agoResearch

Understanding the Usability of Cryptographic Verification Tools

Survey of Tamarin and ProVerif users reveals usability barriers: debugging non-termination, model validation, and opaque proof failures hinder cryptographic protocol verification.

The paper presents an exploratory human-centered survey of researchers, graduate students, and practitioners with hands-on experience using Tamarin, ProVerif, and related cryptographic protocol verification tools. Findings reveal usability barriers across the verification workflow, including difficulties debugging non-termination and performance issues plus the lack of systematic methods for validating formal models against real protocols. When proofs fail without concrete attacks, users commonly simplify models, add helper lemmas, and revisit modeling abstractions. Participants called for actionable diagnostics, clearer explanations of results, visualization, and automation for recurring proof tasks.

arXiv cs.CRSep 14, 20:40 UTC · 1d agoResearch

ROSETTA: Efficient and Accurate Privacy-Preserving LLM Decoding via Hybrid CKKS/TFHE Evaluation

ROSETTA is a hybrid CKKS/TFHE homomorphic encryption framework for privacy-preserving LLM decoding, achieving up to 4.8x Softmax and 2.1x end-to-end speedups.

The paper proposes ROSETTA, a hybrid CKKS/TFHE fully homomorphic encryption framework for private inference on generative LLMs, targeting the nonlinear operations that dominate autoregressive decoding cost. It introduces an adaptive segmented lookup-table protocol based on TFHE and a scheme-aware operator-selection framework that assigns each nonlinear operator to CKKS or TFHE to minimize latency. Experiments show up to 4.8x Softmax speedup and 1.5-2.1x end-to-end decoding speedup over the state-of-the-art CacheMir framework.

arXiv cs.CRSep 15, 09:51 UTC · 1d agoResearch

Cisco confirms CVE-2026-20079 Secure FMC flaw exploited in attacks

Cisco confirmed active exploitation of CVE-2026-20079, a CVSS 10.0 authentication bypass enabling unauthenticated root command execution in Secure FMC; CISA added it to KEV.

Cisco confirmed in August 2026 that CVE-2026-20079 (CVSS 10.0), an unauthenticated authentication bypass in Secure Firewall Management Center, is being actively exploited, allowing remote attackers to execute scripts and commands as root via crafted HTTP requests to the web interface. CISA added the flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, ordering federal civilian agencies to patch by September 12, 2026. Shared IOCs, identical hot fixes, and a July 23 log entry suggest CVE-2026-20079 was used alongside the separately exploited static-credential flaw CVE-2026-20316 in the same attacks. Cisco released patches and cloud fixes, warns hot fixes do not remediate already-compromised devices, and says there are no workarounds.

BleepingComputerupdated Sep 14, 09:27 UTC · 2d agofirst Sep 9, 21:40 UTC · 6d agoExploit / PoC in the wild 11 sources CVE-2026-20079 CVE-2026-20316

Operation ASTERIX: Anatomy of a Crypto Fraud Pipeline

Rapid7 exposed infrastructure behind a cryptocurrency fraud pipeline using phishing panels, voice-dialing scripts, fake wallets, and AI coding assistants.

Rapid7 researchers identified an exposed web directory on infrastructure used to support a cryptocurrency fraud operation tracked as Operation ASTERIX. The server contained raw phone-number datasets, account-validation tools, enriched lead records, phishing panels, voice-dialing scripts, fake wallet applications, persistence mechanisms, and Telegram exfiltration code. Recovered prompts, shell history, and project files show the operator relied on AI coding assistants to package Electron applications, obfuscate code, troubleshoot builds, and modify phishing infrastructure.

Rapid7 BlogAug 17, 11:29 UTC · Aug 17, 2026Phishing & fraud

Scaling Verification of Cryptographic Software with Aeneas, Rust, and Lean

Microsoft SymCrypt implementations of SHA-3 and ML-KEM verified in Lean via Aeneas-extracted Rust models, with AI agents writing proofs.

The paper develops a methodology for verifying production Rust cryptographic code by using Aeneas to extract pure models into Lean, avoiding low-level pointer and aliasing reasoning. Applied to Microsoft's SymCrypt, it verifies SHA-3 and ML-KEM implementations ported from C to Rust and extends SymCrypt with FrodoKEM, ML-DSA, and HPKE. A 237 KLOC Lean development establishes safety, panic-freedom, and functional correctness of 16.7 KLOC of Rust supporting post-quantum cipher suites on x86-64 and ARM. AI agents autonomously write formal proofs verified by the Lean kernel, and evaluation shows verified Rust meets SymCrypt's performance and portability requirements.

arXiv cs.CRSep 14, 14:32 UTC · 2d agoResearch1