Search: “pass-ta-key”

Passkey-themed phishing attacks lead to Microsoft 365 data theft

Microsoft links ShinyHunters- and Helix-affiliated actors to passkey-themed vishing and device-code phishing that compromises Microsoft 365 accounts and steals cloud data.

Microsoft attributes passkey- and SSO-themed social engineering activity, observed since May 2026, to Storm-3121 (linked to ShinyHunters and Falcon) and Storm-3032 (tied to BlackFile members now operating as Helix). Attackers impersonate corporate IT help desks by phone or SMS, urging fake passkey, MFA, or SSO updates and directing victims to adversary-in-the-middle phishing pages or device-code authentication flows that yield credentials, session tokens, and OAuth tokens. Post-compromise behavior includes Microsoft Graph enumeration of users, SharePoint, and OAuth grants, plus persistence via attacker-controlled MFA methods. Google Threat Intelligence tracks related activity as UNC6671, linked to the BlackFile, Helix, Falcon, Pink, and Redact extortion gangs.

BleepingComputer·updated Sep 16, 14:54 UTC · 14h ago·first Sep 11, 17:26 UTC · 5d agoPhishing & fraud in the wild 9 sources2

New Pass-ta-key attack reveals all the things we didn't know about passkeys

Ars Technica explains why the new Pass-ta-key attack on passkeys is largely a non-issue, revealing OS differences in passkey apps.

The newly disclosed Pass-ta-key attack against passkeys is assessed as mostly a nothingburger with minimal real-world impact. Ars Technica's analysis details how the attack exposes differences in how passkey apps treat Windows compared to other operating systems. The coverage helps defenders calibrate passkey risk.

Ars Technica · Security·Aug 11, 11:30 UTC · Aug 11, 2026Research

New Passkey Attacks Can Recover Synced Private Keys or Bypass Phishing

Three research teams showed passkey bypasses: WebAuthn assertion replay in Microsoft Entra ID, synced-passkey key recovery in Google Password Manager, and Windows Hello key reuse.

SpecterOps' Pass-the-Passkey research showed Windows stored past YubiKey signatures in cleartext and chained this with Microsoft Entra ID passkey validation weaknesses to impersonate privileged users despite phishing-resistant MFA; the Windows Event Logging Service issue is tracked as CVE-2026-34348 (CVSS 6.5) and fixed in July 2026 updates. Unit 42's Golden Pass-ta-key attack recovered the 32-byte Security Domain Secret protecting Google Password Manager synced passkeys from Chrome on Windows via pre-existing malware. Dirk-jan Mollema showed in-session malware can use a hardware-bound Windows Hello for Business key without a fresh PIN or biometric check. Microsoft applied Entra-side mitigations for the relay assertion issue; no real-world exploitation has been reported.

The Hacker News·Aug 11, 12:45 UTC · Aug 11, 2026VulnerabilityCVE-2026-34348

Google Password Manager Attacks Could Let Malware Hijack Passkey

Unit 42 details three attack paths letting Windows malware silently sign into passkey-protected accounts via Chrome's Google Password Manager without user verification.

Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 described three post-compromise attack paths—Pass-ta-key, Silver Pass-ta-key and Golden Pass-ta-key—against Chrome's Google Password Manager cloud authenticator on TPM-equipped Windows systems. The attacks can silently obtain valid authentication assertions, install attacker-controlled user-verification keys, or extract the 32-byte Security Domain Secret used to decrypt synced passkey private keys, enabling reusable access from the attacker's own environment. No CVE was assigned and no exploitation in the wild was reported; demonstrations were validated against Chrome 142 and parts of the architecture are corroborated by Chromium source. GitHub enforced the User Verified flag check, while eBay accepted a test assertion lacking it before fixing its validation gap after disclosure.

The Hacker News·Aug 11, 20:22 UTC · Aug 11, 2026Research

RightCrowd Pass unifies mobile, physical, and biometric credentials

RightCrowd launched Pass, a credentialing platform unifying mobile, physical, and biometric access credentials, cutting credential revocation from 12.2 minutes to under 60 seconds.

RightCrowd announced Pass, a solution that issues and manages mobile, physical, and biometric access credentials from a single platform instead of fragmented badge programs. Mobile credentials are provisioned through a web-based API and can be suspended or revoked individually or in groups in under 60 seconds, versus an average 12.2 minutes for handling a lost or damaged physical badge. Each mobile credential is tied to a device via two-factor authentication, works with HID, Wavelynx, and LEGIC infrastructure, and counts toward LEED and BREEAM sustainability credits. The product is available now to new and existing customers and can be added to current RightCrowd SmartAccess deployments.

Help Net Security·Aug 26, 00:00 UTC · 22d agoTools

UK Government Enables Passkey Login for 23 Million Users to Fight Phishing Attacks

UK Government enables optional passkey login for GOV.UK One Login, offering 23 million users phishing-resistant FIDO authentication.

The UK government has rolled out passkey authentication for GOV.UK One Login, the single sign-on for services like tax, State Pension, and driver's license renewals, available to over 23 million users. Passkeys are device-bound, unlocked via fingerprint, Face ID, or device PIN, and the government reports they are up to eight times faster than password plus two-step verification. During the initial trial over 300,000 users adopted passkeys, with nearly one in ten daily sign-ins already using them, saving roughly £600 per day in SMS costs. The NCSC endorses passkeys as phishing-resistant credentials that cannot be intercepted or reused, and biometric data never leaves the user's device.

GBHackers·Sep 15, 05:48 UTC · 1d agoPolicy & legal

VU#431093: TCG TPM 2.0 reference code found vulnerable to information leakage and timing side-channel attacks

CERT/CC discloses two TPM 2.0 reference code flaws allowing RSA key decryption and forged TPM attestations via crafted commands.

CERT/CC published VU#431093 covering two vulnerabilities in the TCG TPM 2.0 reference implementation: CVE-2026-6726 (information leakage via falsified TPM keys) and CVE-2026-6727 (timing side-channel in RSA OAEP decryption). An attacker with privileged access to a TPM command interface could send crafted TPM commands to decrypt ciphertexts for affected TPM-managed RSA keys, including the RSA Endorsement Key, or obtain credentials enabling forged TPM 2.0 attestations. Remediation is tracked in TCGVRT010 and TCGVRT0011.

CERT/CC Vulnerability Notes·Aug 11, 15:12 UTC · Aug 11, 2026VulnerabilityCVE-2026-6726CVE-2026-6727

ChatGPT advanced account security adds passkeys and hardware keys

OpenAI launches Advanced Account Security for ChatGPT and Codex, replacing passwords with passkeys or hardware keys and disabling email/SMS recovery.

The opt-in setting disables password sign-in plus email and SMS account recovery for ChatGPT and Codex accounts, allowing only passkeys, hardware security keys, and user-held recovery keys, with shortened sessions and automatic exclusion of enrolled accounts' conversations from model training. OpenAI partnered with Yubico to offer discounted bundles of the YubiKey C Nano and C NFC, while any FIDO2/WebAuthn-compliant key or software passkey is supported, mirroring standards adopted by Google, Microsoft, and GitHub. Individual members of Trusted Access for Cyber using the most permissive models must enable the setting from June 1, 2026, or their organizations can attest to phishing-resistant authentication in their single sign-on.

Help Net Security·Aug 24, 04:21 UTC · 24d agoAI industry

Signing TLS handshakes inside a TPM

Blog post demonstrates signing TLS handshakes in Go with a TPM-held private key; full text was unavailable behind an Anubis challenge.

The title indicates a technique write-up on using a TPM-protected private key to sign TLS handshakes from Go. The full article text was not retrievable because the site serves an Anubis Hashcash-style proof-of-work challenge to automated fetchers, so no additional technical details (code, library, or threat model) could be extracted at collection time.

Lobsters · security·Sep 7, 14:54 UTC · 9d agoResearch

Has anybody seen my keys? A key-hierarchy strategy for rack-level security

Oxide's RFD 0301 proposes a rack-level key hierarchy using Shamir secret sharing and a trust quorum to protect data-at-rest keys.

Oxide's request for discussion (RFD 0301) lays out a key-hierarchy strategy for rack-level security, deriving keys from a rack secret protected by Shamir secret sharing across a trust quorum of sleds, with keys exchanged over authenticated sprockets sessions. The document maps which keys protect control-plane data, metrics, Crucible extents, and authentication tokens, and defines open questions on key lifecycle, locality, and compromise handling. Future work includes sealing shares with the root of trust so an attacker would need to steal K whole sleds to reconstruct the rack secret.

Hacker News · security·Sep 7, 02:14 UTC · 10d agoResearchHN 52↑ · 3 comments

Your passkeys can now move between password managers on Android

Google enabled direct password and passkey transfers between Android password managers, initiated from the destination app without unencrypted file exports.

Android now supports moving passwords and passkeys directly between password managers without exporting them to a file, replacing the previous unencrypted-export workflow. The transfer is initiated in the receiving app, which hands off to Android to detect installed managers and request authorization in the source app. The feature works today with Google Password Manager, 1Password, Bitwarden, and Dashlane, with more partners promised but unnamed. Google says data moves between apps in seconds and calls the handoff secure, without detailing the protections.

Help Net Security·Sep 10, 16:00 UTC · 6d agoTools

Microsoft Copilot reveals secret input that allowed it to be hacked

Microsoft disclosed a hidden input in Copilot that let attackers steal passwords from users who clicked a crafted link.

Microsoft revealed that Copilot contained a secret, undocumented input parameter that allowed the assistant to be compromised. Attackers could abuse the hidden input to steal passwords when a target clicked a malicious link. The disclosure highlights hidden-parameter risks in widely deployed AI assistants.

Ars Technica · Security·Aug 18, 13:00 UTC · 29d agoAI safety & security in the wild1

Lazarus Used Post-Quantum Key Exchange to Deliver Zero-Day

Lazarus used a post-quantum key exchange to shield delivery of a Windows zero-day exploit, adding stealth to its campaign.

North Korean Lazarus Group malware used a post-quantum key exchange to protect the delivery of a Windows zero-day exploit. The technique adds a layer of stealth to the campaign's initial access, complicating detection and traffic inspection. It signals growing APT adoption of post-quantum cryptography in offensive operations.

Infosecurity Magazine·Aug 12, 13:35 UTC · Aug 12, 2026Threat actor in the wild

UK Government Begins Moving 23 Million Users Away From Passwords

UK government rolls out passkeys for GOV.UK One Login, giving 23 million users phishing-resistant passwordless access to public services.

The UK government has begun deploying passkeys across GOV.UK One Login for more than 23 million users, replacing passwords and SMS one-time codes with FIDO2 cryptographic credentials. A trial saw over 300,000 people adopt passkeys, and nearly one in ten daily authentications already use them, cutting SMS verification costs by almost £600 per day. Passkeys remain optional, with password-based sign-in retained as a fallback, and the NCSC endorses the approach as phishing-resistant.

Cyber Security News·Sep 14, 16:52 UTC · 2d agoPolicy & legal

JWT used for authentication in web GUI signed with static key

Fortinet warns that FortiMonitorOnSight's web GUI uses JWTs signed with a static key, enabling remote unauthenticated authentication bypass.

Fortinet advisory FG-IR-26-170 discloses a CVSS 9.6 vulnerability (CWE-540, sensitive information in source code) in the FortiMonitorOnSight web portal. The web GUI's JWT authentication tokens are signed with a static key, allowing a remote unauthenticated attacker to bypass authentication via forged or reused JWTs. The advisory was revised on September 8, 2026.

Fortinet PSIRT·Sep 8, 07:00 UTC · 8d agoAdvisory

This Key Will Self-Destruct: An Open Standard for Revocable API Keys

SecurityWeek opinion piece proposes ORKS, an open standard adding issuer prefixes, discovery files, and unauthenticated revocation endpoints to make leaked API keys quickly revocable.

The article argues that plain API keys leak frequently yet lack any standardized revocation mechanism, unlike OAuth tokens which gained RFC 7009 revocation in 2013, and that GitHub's Secret Scanning Partner Program solves this only in a proprietary, invite-only way. The author proposes ORKS (Open Revocable Key Standard), with a draft spec on GitHub, built on four parts: keys embedding their issuer domain in a fixed prefix format, a discoverable /.well-known/api-key-config JSON file, unauthenticated revocation by possession of the full key, and declared constraints such as IP allowlists, expiry, scopes, and mTLS. An optional quarantine mode inspired by Toyota's andon cord restricts a reported key to read-only and throttled operation for a default 24-hour window before automatic revocation. The piece frames AI agents as making this urgent, since agents hold many credentials, can exfiltrate them via prompt injection, and can leak secrets into logs at machine speed.

SecurityWeek·Sep 9, 10:00 UTC · 7d agoTools1

Passkey-themed social engineering leads to identity and cloud compromise

Microsoft tracks ongoing cloud intrusions where passkey-themed helpdesk lures enable AiTM credential theft, MFA persistence, and SharePoint data theft.

Microsoft Security Research is tracking active cloud-based intrusions, observed since May 2026, that begin with helpdesk impersonation calls and SMS lures urging urgent passkey, MFA, or SSO updates. The lures lead to adversary-in-the-middle phishing or device-code authentication flows that capture credentials and session tokens or grant actor access, after which the actors add authentication methods, conduct Microsoft Graph reconnaissance, and download SharePoint and OneDrive content via REST APIs. Phishing domains embed victim organization names as subdomains (e.g., contoso.add-passkey[.]com), are often registered with Nicenic, and go operational within hours. Microsoft advises revoking sessions and removing unauthorized authentication methods for confirmed compromises.

Microsoft Security Blog·Sep 9, 17:41 UTC · 7d agoThreat actor in the wild2

NIS2 compliance: Fixing IAM and access control before the 2026 audit

EU NIS2 enforcement deadlines approach; organizations are urged to prioritize service account inventory, lifecycle offboarding, and phishing-resistant MFA before audits.

EU member states are moving from NIS2 transposition into enforcement, with fines up to 10 million euros or 2% of global turnover for essential entities and personal liability for management bodies. The article argues access management is the fastest high-ROI starting point, estimating 2-4 weeks to enforce fine-grained password policy, vault shared credentials, and deploy phishing-resistant MFA versus 6-12 months for supply chain risk management. It flags three common pre-audit failures: unmanaged service accounts and API keys, dormant accounts from broken offboarding, and SMS OTP instead of phishing-resistant MFA under NIST SP 800-63B. The piece promotes Passwork as a single control plane for credential storage, RBAC, and WebAuthn.

Help Net Security·Sep 1, 00:00 UTC · 16d agoIndustry

I've factored the RSA keys of a Certificate Authority from the 90s

Security researcher factored two 512-bit RSA root CA keys from defunct 1990s certificate authority E-Certify using CADO-NFS on a desktop in roughly 30 hours each.

A researcher extracted legacy root certificates from archived Netscape and Internet Explorer installers, identifying two 512-bit RSA roots shipped with Netscape 4.51 in 1999 by the defunct Canadian CA E-Certify. Using CADO-NFS on a Ryzen 9 5950X desktop, the keys were factored in 32 and 29 hours respectively, allowing private key reconstruction. The work comes shortly after RSA-260 (862-bit) was factored, the largest known factorization to date. The researcher also built a legacy TLS server and published keys and tools on GitHub.

Hacker News · security·Sep 8, 01:16 UTC · 9d agoResearchHN 411↑ · 86 comments

Signal's new security feature checks if your encrypted chats were tampered with

Signal adds automatic key verification, a key-transparency system audited by Cloudflare and Trail of Bits that detects key-directory tampering in E2EE chats.

Signal launched automatic key verification, a key-transparency system that confirms a phone number or username remains bound to a consistent encryption key across Signal's key directory. Cloudflare and Trail of Bits independently audit the system, with cryptographic protection preventing auditors from seeing users' identifiers in plaintext. The feature mitigates key substitution by a compromised directory or privileged insider, though it currently requires the contact's phone number and users can fall back to manual Safety Number verification.

Help Net Security·Aug 12, 00:00 UTC · Aug 12, 2026Tools

WhatsApp Adds Multiple Passkeys for Phishing-Resistant Sign

Meta now allows multiple passkeys per WhatsApp account and upgraded two-step verification to full passwords, hardening sign-in for more than 1 billion users.

Meta announced support for multiple passkeys on a single WhatsApp account for iOS and Android, noting more than 1 billion people already use a passkey to log in. WhatsApp also upgraded two-step verification from a six-digit PIN to a full alphanumeric password and added Android call context such as origin location, contact status, and shared groups. The features aim to harden account sign-in against phishing and one-time passcode interception and to counter caller scams relying on urgency.

The Hacker News·Aug 25, 17:16 UTC · 22d agoTools

Switching Password Managers in 2026

An Apple password-management engineer (writing personally) explains switching password managers via iOS direct app-to-app export, crediting FIDO Credential Exchange for passkey portability.

Ricky Mondello, an Apple engineer in password management and authentication (writing personally, not for Apple), demonstrates moving 100 items from 1Password to Apple Passwords via the iOS system export, which transfers passwords, passkeys, verification codes, and notes directly between apps with Face ID confirmation and no intermediate files. He credits the FIDO Alliance's Credential Exchange format (first draft May 2024, now an open spec) and iOS 26/macOS 26 for enabling phishing-resistant credential transfer between apps like 1Password, Bitwarden, Dashlane, DuckDuckGo, and Devolutions. The post is advice rather than news, recommending bulk transfer on the existing device, switching AutoFill to the new app, and treating the new manager as the source of truth.

Lobsters · security·Sep 8, 13:55 UTC · 8d agoIndustry1

UK.gov begins killing off passwords for 23 million users

UK government rolls out passkeys to 23 million GOV.UK One Login users, saving £600 daily in SMS costs and resisting phishing.

The UK government is expanding passkey sign-in across GOV.UK One Login for more than 23 million users after a trial with over 300,000 people. Nearly one in ten daily One Login sign-ins already use passkeys, which the government says are up to eight times faster than password plus 2FA code. The switch saves taxpayers nearly £600 per day in SMS costs, and the NCSC is encouraging adoption while passwords remain optional.

The Register · Security·Sep 14, 09:16 UTC · 2d agoPolicy & legal

Nearly 1 in 10 Exposed LiteLLM Gateways Accepted the Example "sk-1234" Admin Key

Wiz found 294 of 3,074 internet-facing LiteLLM gateways accepted the documented default admin key sk-1234, exposing provider API keys and cloud IAM credentials.

Wiz Research's February Shodan scan found 3,074 LiteLLM gateways, 294 of which accepted the setup guide's sk-1234 admin key; 191 had no master key set and would accept any credential. The master key doubles as the authentication switch, and before 1.82.0-stable a gateway started without one granted every request full admin rights, exposing stored provider API keys, prompts, and MCP-connected tools. A documented pass-through endpoint lacks checks against private and cloud metadata addresses, letting an admin-key holder retrieve cloud IAM credentials, though no real-world abuse is reported. Related LiteLLM flaws include CVE-2026-59821 (disputed guardrail code execution), CVE-2026-59822 (CVSS 8.8, added to CISA KEV on September 2 and observed against Wiz honeypots), and CVE-2026-42271, used to install a cryptominer.

The Hacker News·updated Sep 10, 12:56 UTC · 6d ago·first Sep 10, 07:12 UTC · 6d agoVulnerability in the wild 3 sourcesCVE-2026-59821CVE-2026-59822CVE-2026-42271+2 CVEs

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

Product showcase: Enpass Password Manager breaks away from the proprietary cloud model

Help Net Security·Aug 10, 00:00 UTC · Aug 10, 2026Industry

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 · Security·Aug 20, 13:00 UTC · 27d agoAI safety & security1

Boost Engagement with Free Passkeys by Wordfence

Wordfence 9 introduces free passkey support, letting WordPress users log in without passwords and reducing authentication friction.

Wordfence announced that version 9 of its WordPress security plugin introduces passkeys. The feature removes the need for users to remember or copy passwords from a manager. Wordfence is offering the passkey capability for free.

Wordfence·Sep 15, 19:55 UTC · 1d agoTools