Operation WilySupply - Software remote update channel of the supply chain exploited as attack vector
August 2026 CVE Landscape
Insikt Group catalogs 73 high-impact August 2026 CVEs (43 Very Critical), including PaperCut, Zimbra, and Metabase flaws actively exploited or weaponized.
Recorded Future's Insikt Group identified 73 high-impact vulnerabilities in August 2026, 43 rated Very Critical, spanning 45 vendors with Microsoft accounting for roughly 11%. 31 vulnerabilities surfaced via CISA's KEV catalog, with others validated via open sources, vendor telemetry, and honeypot data. New Nuclei detection templates were released for CVE-2025-62593 (Ray), CVE-2026-72898 (Metabase), and CVE-2026-9198 (IBM Langflow). The report also highlights two AI-assisted operations: UAT-10147 exploited Zimbra, AjaxPro, Nacos, and Telerik servers before using DeepAudit and PentestGPT post-compromise, while a separate Chinese-speaking actor weaponized Hermes Agent and DeepSeek in a failed attempt.
PaperCut Flaws Exploited in Attacks on U.S. and European Schools
Attackers are chaining recently disclosed PaperCut flaws CVE-2026-81578 and CVE-2026-82078 to steal credentials and create privileged accounts at US and European schools.
Arctic Wolf researchers observed threat actors exploiting PaperCut servers via CVE-2026-81578 and CVE-2026-82078, chaining an authentication bypass with remote code execution. Post-exploitation included creating a privileged account named Administrator17, downloading credential-harvesting tools with certutil, Meterpreter Java payloads, and registry hive collection to recover the Windows BootKey and reach the SAM database. PaperCut disclosed active exploitation on August 27, 2026, and CISA added both flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on August 31. PaperCut has a history of exploitation, including attacks that delivered LockBit ransomware.
Attackers Exploit PaperCut Flaws to Steal Credentials From Schools and Universities
Attackers exploit newly disclosed PaperCut auth bypass CVE-2026-81578 and RCE CVE-2026-82078 to steal credentials from schools and universities in the US and Europe.
Arctic Wolf observed threat actors chaining CVE-2026-81578 (authentication bypass) and CVE-2026-82078 (remote code execution) in PaperCut to execute commands, perform reconnaissance, and create privileged accounts on servers at K-12 schools and universities in the US and Europe. Post-exploitation includes registry hive collection with lsa_collect.exe delivered via certutil, Meterpreter Java payloads from 194.180.48.134, and searches of PaperCut config files for passwords, LDAP bindings, and tokens. Stolen logins could provide a pathway into other critical systems across compromised environments.
UAT-10147 Uses AI to Scale Server Attacks, Deploys SPECTRE With EDR Bypass and Linux Rootkit
Cisco Talos exposes UAT-10147, a Chinese-speaking group using AI tools to automate intrusions, deploy SPECTRE, BadIIS, and rootkits against web servers worldwide.
Cisco Talos detailed UAT-10147, a Chinese-speaking cybercrime group conducting SEO fraud and data theft against Windows and Linux web servers in education, media, technology, and gaming sectors, with most victims in Brazil, Bolivia, China, Canada, and Vietnam. The actor exploits publicly disclosed vulnerabilities for initial access, including Zimbra (CVE-2022-27925) and Alibaba Nacos (CVE-2021-29441), and abuses Linux LPE flaws like CVE-2022-0847 and CVE-2021-3156 for root. Its toolset includes AI-assisted frameworks DeepAudit and PentestGPT, plus implants such as SPECTRE, BadIIS, Quasar RAT, Gh0stCringe, and Noodle RAT. An exposed directory contained a target list of roughly 170,000 URLs, with the US, India, UK, Germany, and Netherlands as top destinations.
The Gopher in the Room: Analysis of GoLang Malware in the Wild
Unit 42 analysis of 10,700 Go-compiled malware samples shows steady growth in the wild, with 92% targeting Windows and top families including Veil, GoBot2, and HERCULES.
Unit 42 collected roughly 10,700 unique Go-compiled malware samples and found that Go usage by malware developers has steadily risen in recent months. About 92% of samples targeted Windows and 75% were attributed to known families, led by Veil, GoBot2, and HERCULES. The most prevalent groupings were penetration testing tools, remote access Trojans, and backdoors. Statically linked Go binaries average 4.65MB, which can complicate phishing delivery but sometimes causes antivirus products to skip or fail scanning.
Unit 42 Researchers Discover Multiple Espionage Operations Targeting Southeast Asian Government
Unit 42 attributes three espionage clusters targeting a Southeast Asian government to Stately Taurus, Alloy Taurus, and Gelsemium APTs.
Unit 42 investigated espionage attacks starting in late 2022 against multiple governmental entities in a Southeast Asian country, including critical infrastructure, public healthcare, financial administrators, and ministries. Analysis revealed three distinct clusters: CL-STA-0044 attributed to Stately Taurus (Mustang Panda), CL-STA-0045 to Alloy Taurus (GALLIUM), and CL-STA-0046 to Gelsemium. The first cluster used a ToneShell backdoor variant, ShadowPad, China Chopper web shells, Impacket, and credential dumping tools across roughly Q1 2021 to Q3 2023. All three operated with distinct tools, infrastructure, and long-term surveillance tradecraft consistent with APTs.