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Iran-Linked Hackers Use Fake LinkedIn Job Offers to Deploy NodeRabbit and PollCat RATs

Iran-linked Mirage Kitten targets software engineers with fake LinkedIn recruiter coding tests deploying new NodeRabbit and PollCat RATs.

Kaspersky researchers link the campaign to Mirage Kitten (also tracked as UNC1549, Smoke Sandstorm, Nimbus Manticore), with victims in aviation, aerospace and fintech in Egypt, Ethiopia and Afghanistan. Trojanized npm dependencies (colorized_terminal, pretty-log) bundled in coding-challenge archives launch the Node.js implants across Windows, Linux and macOS. NodeRabbit uses AES-256-GCM-encrypted C2 via Azure, and its third variant persists through a fake GitHub Copilot Helper VS Code extension plus Git post-merge/post-checkout hooks. PollCat is an obfuscated JavaScript RAT that registers with C2 before OTP authentication and inventories tools from 24 security vendors.

GBHackers · 7d agoThreat actor in the wild1

Untracked Nightmares: The Threats Hiding Behind Commodity Infrastructure

Unit 42 exposes CL-CRI-1171, a pay-per-install network spreading malware like Insomnia RAT via YouTube channels and SEO poisoning for over two years.

Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 details CL-CRI-1171, a cybercrime cluster operating a pay-per-install (PPI) marketplace that has delivered multiple malware families for at least two years. The group used at least eleven YouTube gaming channels with hundreds of thousands of followers, plus SEO poisoning promoting trojanized software such as a Bluetooth driver and WinDirStat, infecting gamers and corporate endpoints including critical infrastructure and government entities. A single shared loader delivered payloads including Insomnia RAT, ARKTunnel, Docro Hijacker, GCleaner and Socks5Systemz between July 2025 and April 2026, with more than 10,000 distinct loader samples and over 200 rotating C2 domains identified. YouTube terminated the malicious channels after Unit 42 notified the platform.

Palo Alto Unit 42 · 7d agoMalware in the wild1

China-Linked Hackers Exploit Chrome-Windows Zero-Day Chain to Deploy GRIMWEDGE

Volexity attributes spear-phishing campaign exploiting Chrome-Windows zero-day chain to Chinese actors UTA0560 and APT31 deploying GRIMWEDGE and LONGTALE.

Volexity attributes a September 1, 2026 spear-phishing campaign targeting NGOs to China-linked UTA0560, which abused a reflected XSS flaw on a US university website to trigger a three-part exploit chain (CVE-2026-85046, CVE-2026-87491, CVE-2026-85880) escaping the Chrome V8 and browser sandboxes to deploy the GRIMWEDGE JavaScript backdoor with reconnaissance, file management, and command execution capabilities. The same chain was used near-simultaneously by JungleBamboo (APT31) to deploy SUPERSTOMP, installing the LONGTALE/GemStone credential-stealing Chrome extension masquerading as Google Gemini. The Chrome flaws were patched in Chromium but not yet in stable Chrome, creating an unusual patch-gap zero-day window attackers raced to exploit.

The Hacker Newsupdated · 1h agofirst · 1d agoThreat actor in the wild 19 sourcesCVE-2026-85046CVE-2026-87491CVE-2026-858801· 1 read

Google fixes the seventh actively exploited Chrome zero-day of 2026

Google patched 230 Chrome flaws in version 153.0.8010.36, including actively exploited V8 out-of-bounds write CVE-2026-87491 (CVSS 8.8), the seventh 2026 Chrome zero-day.

Google released Chrome 153.0.8010.36 on Linux and 153.0.8010.36/.37 on Windows and Mac, fixing 230 security vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-87491, an out-of-bounds write in the V8 JavaScript and WebAssembly engine (CVSS 8.8), is being exploited in the wild through specially crafted HTML pages to execute arbitrary code inside Chrome's sandbox. Google says it is the seventh actively exploited Chrome zero-day of 2026, following CVE-2026-2441, CVE-2026-3909, CVE-2026-3910, CVE-2026-5281, CVE-2026-11645, and CVE-2026-85046. Researcher Jihyeon Jeong of Seoul National University reported it on 2026-08-06 and received a $2,500 bounty; Google disclosed no technical details or attribution.

Security Affairs · 7d agoExploit / PoC in the wildCVE-2026-87491CVE-2026-2441CVE-2026-3909+4 CVEs

CISA tells operators to harden Siemens S7 PLCs. Here’s how to do it without disrupting production

CISA, NSA, FBI and other agencies warn of active targeting of internet-exposed Siemens S7 PLCs and urge patching, exposure removal and hardening.

Joint advisory AA26-231A from the NSA, CISA, FBI, Department of Energy and EPA warns that actors are actively targeting Siemens S7 PLCs using internet scanning, AI-assisted scripts and libraries such as Snap7 and python-snap7 over S7comm on TCP port 102. The advisory covers S7-200 through S7-1500 series controllers and recommends patching, removing internet exposure, access controls, monitoring and disabling unneeded services. Siemens states no new S7 vulnerabilities are involved, only misconfigurations addressed in existing ProductCERT guidance SSB-104599. The article details how to apply each measure without breaking production dependencies such as remote I/O, HMI links and diagnostics.

CSO Online · 8d agoAdvisory in the wild

ownCloud Flaw Exploited to Steal Nuclear Records From Philippine Research Body

A Chinese-speaking actor exploited ownCloud CVE-2023-49105 to steal 176 nuclear research files from Philippine organizations, prompting CISA to add the flaw to KEV.

CISA added CVE-2023-49105 (CVSS 9.8), an ownCloud WebDAV API authentication bypass fixed in version 10.13.1, to the KEV catalog after Hunt.io found an open directory hosting custom Python exploit scripts and tools including Sliver, Metasploit, and Mettle. The actor downloaded 176 files (~372 MB) from a Philippine nuclear research body, including nuclear-material account records, 2023-2028 strategic plans, BitLocker keys, and a KeePass database; a second intrusion exploited LiteSpeed Cache CVE-2024-28000 at a shipbuilding firm serving the Philippine Navy, with XML-RPC brute-force and an EtherHiding/ClickFix component. FCEB agencies must patch by August 30, 2026. CISA also added Linux Kernel CVE-2026-53362 and Artifactory CVE-2026-66384 after OpenAI said its AI agents exploited them against internal infrastructure.

The Hacker News · 19d agoExploit / PoC in the wildCVE-2023-49105CVE-2024-28000CVE-2026-53362+1 CVEs1

Attackers Breached JetBrains Cadence via Unpatched TeamCity, Extracting AWS Credentials

Unknown attackers exploited critical TeamCity flaw CVE-2026-63077 to breach JetBrains Cadence, stealing a 2024 backup, user data, and AWS credentials; rotation urged.

JetBrains disclosed that threat actors exploited CVE-2026-63077 (CVSS 9.8), a TeamCity deserialization vulnerability added to CISA's KEV catalog on August 5, 2026, to breach its Cadence cloud computing service, with the intrusion running August 8-24, 2026. Confirmed access includes personal data (usernames, names, emails, login timestamps, IPs), a full 2024 Cadence server backup containing credentials and configuration, multiple AWS IAM users and secrets, files in JetBrains S3 buckets, and possibly PyCharm-synchronized source code. The compromised api.cadence.jetbrains.com server has been taken offline and all Cadence plugin access tokens invalidated. JetBrains urges users to immediately revoke or rotate all credentials used with Cadence and treat all executions, inputs, and outputs as potentially untrusted.

The Hacker News · 11d agoData breach in the wildCVE-2026-63077

⚡ 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 · 19d agoThreat actor in the wildCVE-2026-194781

Using AI for Weapons Development

Anthropic report reveals Yemen-based actors used Claude Code to build guidance software for guided rockets and ballistic missiles.

Bruce Schneier highlights Anthropic's misuse disclosure describing a threat actor cell in northern Yemen running three weapons programs: a guided rocket with phone-class homing guidance, a 2,000+ km multi-stage ballistic missile, and the 'R2000' hypersonic glide vehicle set. The actors used Claude Code as a substitute for human engineers to write GNC software, integrate an open-source autopilot, tune controls, and run flight simulations, orchestrating multiple Claude instances in delegated roles. Safeguards blocked many requests but evasion tactics included hiding intent and splitting work across sessions; one guided rocket test-fire failed but no operational device was fielded.

Schneier on Security · 2d agoAI safety & security in the wild

Multiple Chinese hacking groups seen using identical Chrome zero-day exploit

Four China-linked espionage groups share identical BlueMoon Chrome zero-day exploit kit targeting US defense contractors and Asian government agencies.

Proofpoint identified at least four Chinese-aligned espionage groups (TA412/RedBravo, UNK_LateNight, UNK_DoubleCheck, UNK_QuietRacket) using an identical Chrome zero-day exploit kit dubbed BlueMoon in late August through this week. Targets include US defense contractors, NGOs, mining companies, and Southeast Asian government agencies. The exploit chains a Chromium patch-gap vulnerability with a Windows flaw, delivering malware such as ShadowPad and a fake Gemini browser extension backdoor, with possible AI-assisted exploit development.

The Record · 7d agoExploit / PoC in the wild 2 sources1

China-Linked Hackers Exploit Sogou One-Click RCE to Deploy GRAYRABBIT Backdoor

China-linked UNC3569 exploited CVE-2026-51990 in Sogou Input Method to deploy the GRAYRABBIT backdoor in active espionage intrusions.

Gen Threat Labs discovered UNC3569 exploiting CVE-2026-51990, a one-click RCE in Tencent's Sogou Input Method for Windows that chains an insecure sgbiz: protocol handler with an unsandboxed Chromium 80 CEF webview. The chain weaponizes CVE-2021-38003 (V8 type confusion) to run shellcode that DLL-sideloads via 7z.exe/7z.dll and deploys the GRAYRABBIT backdoor, which beacons over RC4-encrypted raw TCP 443 to mail.uaiubifas[.]top. Tencent patched the issue in version 16.3.0.3498, released via automatic updates on April 21, 2026. UNC3569 is a PRC-nexus espionage actor targeting government, education, technology, and financial sectors across East and Southeast Asia.

GBHackersupdated · 2d agofirst · 2d agoThreat actor in the wild 3 sourcesCVE-2026-51990CVE-2021-380031

Risky Bulletin: BEC campaign steals €35 million from French notaries

Hackers stole over €35 million from 500+ French notary offices in a four-year BEC campaign; ANSSI spent two years helping evict the attackers.

A business email compromise campaign breached more than 500 French notary offices — about 7% of all French notaries per the Conseil Supérieur du Notariat — over four years, stealing more than €35 million by phishing initial access and silently modifying wire transfer details. France's cybersecurity agency ANSSI worked for two years behind the scenes to help notaries remove the persistent attackers, who had deep access; officials also feared hackers could issue fake notarized acts such as marriage certificates or forged real estate deals. No forged documents have been found so far, but notaries have added two-factor authentication and in-person requirements for banking details, and banks added extra checks in 2024. The newsletter also notes other incidents, including a $320 million Bitcoin extraction from Blockstream's Liquid Network and a JetBrains Cadence breach via TeamCity servers.

Risky Business News · 9d agoPhishing & fraud in the wild1

Patch Tuesday - September 2026

Microsoft's September 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes 999 CVEs, a record, with two zero-day privilege escalation flaws already exploited in the wild.

Microsoft published 974 own-product vulnerabilities plus 25 non-Microsoft CVEs, totaling 999 — the most CVEs Microsoft has ever released in a single day. Two flaws are exploited in the wild: CVE-2026-85880, an out-of-bounds write in Windows ALPC granting SYSTEM privileges, and CVE-2026-81963, an improper link resolution flaw in the Windows Update Stack also leading to SYSTEM. Chrome's V8 zero-day CVE-2026-85046 was patched in Edge on September 2, but Microsoft had not published a corresponding advisory, leaving uncertainty about other Chromium fixes in Edge. October 14 lifecycle changes end servicing for Windows 11 24H2 Home/Pro, Office 2021, and Exchange Server 2016/2019.

Rapid7 Blog · 7d agoVulnerability in the wildCVE-2026-85880CVE-2026-81963CVE-2026-85046+10 CVEs

Four groups caught using the same Chrome and Windows exploit kit

Proofpoint reports at least four hacking groups, some China-linked, share the BlueMoon exploit kit chaining Chromium and Windows kernel vulnerabilities to install malware.

Proofpoint named the nearly identical kit BlueMoon; it chains two Chromium vulnerabilities with one Windows kernel privilege-escalation flaw affecting Windows 10 (October 2018 Update and 2004), Windows Server 2019 and 2022, and the initial Windows 11 release. All three vulnerabilities received patches within 24 hours of the activity. The kit is being actively used by at least four hacking groups, some with Chinese government ties. Proofpoint links the rapid, visible sharing of a historically rare full browser exploit chain to the Chromium supply-chain patch gap and AI-assisted exploit development.

Proofpoint Threat Insightupdated · 6d agofirst · 6d agoExploit / PoC in the wild 3 sources1

Hackers Abuse AutoIt to Inject AsyncRAT Into Microsoft-Signed Windows Process

Attackers use AutoIt and an invoice-themed batch file to inject AsyncRAT into Microsoft-signed charmap.exe for stealthy remote access.

Point Wild Threat Intelligence documented a five-stage campaign starting with 'Right-click to open Invoice Details.bat' that launches hidden PowerShell, drops a renamed AutoIt interpreter and encrypted loader into a random Temp folder, and persists via a Startup-folder batch file. The loader decrypts AsyncRAT only in memory and injects it into the Microsoft-signed charmap.exe (Windows Character Map) process, leaving no payload file on disk. The final payload patches AMSI inside the infected process and includes screen-capture code that prepares images for transfer to a command-and-control server at 158[.]51[.]122[.]136:4944.

Cyber Security News · 2d agoMalware in the wild1

Philippine Nuclear and Naval Targets Hit by Suspected Chinese Operator

Suspected Chinese-speaking operator breached Philippine nuclear research and naval supplier systems via ownCloud CVE-2023-49103 and WordPress CVE-2024-28000.

Hunt.io found an exposed staging server containing custom Python scripts, logs, and stolen data documenting intrusions against a Philippine nuclear research body and a marine engineering company serving the Philippine Navy. The actor exploited an ownCloud authentication bypass (CVE-2023-49103) using empty-secret pre-signed WebDAV URLs and a LiteSpeed Cache plugin flaw (CVE-2024-28000) to gain WordPress admin access, also guessing passwords against XML-RPC with rockyou.txt. Roughly 9 GB was referenced as stolen from the nuclear agency, including reactor databases, radiation-safety records, and staff passport data; Simplified Chinese labels suggest a Chinese-speaking operator.

Security Affairs · 18d agoThreat actor in the wildCVE-2023-49103CVE-2024-28000

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 · 14d agoData breach in the wild1

Hackers Weaponize Agentic AI to Automate Reconnaissance, Exploitation and Post-Exploitation

Google GTIG reports threat actors using agentic AI to automate reconnaissance, exploit selection, and credential harvesting, compromising thousands of secrets.

Google Threat Intelligence Group's Q3 2026 AI Threat Tracker documents threat actors operationalizing agentic AI: in one Mandiant investigation, a financially motivated actor built and executed a credential-harvesting operation in under six hours, with an exposed 'Recon' framework managing more than 23,800 harvested secrets including cloud and AI-service API keys. A Chinese-speaking actor tracked as knaithe used a DeepSeek-powered Hermes Agent for automated reconnaissance and vulnerability enumeration, pivoting from Langflow to n8n and enabling manual exploitation of exposed Citrix NetScaler, Marimo, Apache Tomcat, and VPN infrastructure. Operators harvested Citrix session cookies from process memory to bypass MFA, obtained AWS credentials from compromised Marimo instances, and deployed the Go-based NKAbuse backdoor, with reported RCE and data exfiltration. Google notes fully autonomous end-to-end AI attack pipelines have not yet been observed in the wild.

GBHackers · 7d agoThreat actor in the wild2

Three Threat Groups Target Russian Enterprises With Backdoors, Ransomware, and Wipers

Kaspersky details NightEagle, Hacking Cat, and Toy Ghouls targeting Russian enterprises with Exchange backdoors, Gorilla RAT, and destructive Monkey ransomware.

Kaspersky reports three threat clusters targeting Russian enterprises: NightEagle (APT-Q-95), the pro-Ukrainian hacktivist group Hacking Cat, and Toy Ghouls. NightEagle uses compromised VPN credentials and the GhostContainer modular backdoor to fully compromise Microsoft Exchange servers, chaining CVE-2020-0688 exploitation, BlueKeep (CVE-2019-0708), Active Directory vulnerabilities, and DCSync to seize domain controllers. Hacking Cat exploits Exchange flaws including CVE-2021-26855 and CVE-2026-42897 to deliver the Gorilla RAT and multiple Monkey ransomware variants written in Rust, .NET, C++, and Golang targeting Windows, Linux, and VMware ESXi, with some variants acting as wipers that never store the encryption key.

Smishing Triad Hackers Use JWR Phishing Kit to Steal Cards, OTPs and Bank Credentials

Group-IB attributes large-scale smishing using the JWR real-time phishing kit to the Smishing Triad's Outsider cluster, harvesting card data, OTPs, and bank credentials.

Group-IB attributes a large-scale SMS phishing campaign to Outsider, an operator sub-cluster within the Smishing Triad phishing-as-a-service ecosystem, using a kit dubbed JWR. The Vue 2-based platform maintains real-time WebSocket communication with operators, enabling them to adapt pages live and harvest roughly 70 PII fields, card data, PINs, OTPs, identity document images, and digital wallet credentials via a dedicated PayPal sub-funnel. Unit 42 previously tied 194,345 malicious domains across 136,933 root domains to the broader operation since January 2024. Defenders can hunt for /api/open/ endpoints, /webSocket/QT/ paths, JWR-prefixed storage artifacts, and a hard-coded WebSocket token.

GBHackersupdated · 4h agofirst · 6h agoPhishing & fraud in the wild 2 sources

Clop-Linked Windchill Web Shell Decrypts Credentials and Maps Engineering Data

ReliaQuest details a bespoke JSP web shell that Clop deploys on hacked PTC Windchill and FlexPLM servers after exploiting CVE-2026-12569.

ReliaQuest analyzed a custom Java web shell planted on vulnerable PTC Windchill and FlexPLM servers following exploitation of CVE-2026-12569 (CVSS 9.3). The implant decrypts Windchill keystore credentials including the LDAP manager password, enumerates the file vault for engineering data, and loads attacker-supplied Java classes in memory for post-exploitation. Commands let operators read and delete files, exfiltrate results, and deliver follow-on payloads such as ransomware. Ransom-ISAC, eCrime.ch and Defused previously attributed the campaign to the Clop data-theft extortion group.

The Hacker News · 28d agoThreat actor in the wildCVE-2026-12569

Threat Actors Use Claude AI Agents to Automate Cyberattacks and Steal Sensitive Data

Anthropic reports state-linked and criminal actors used Claude AI agents to automate espionage, extortion, and exploit development, stealing 300,000+ identity records and drone IP.

Anthropic's threat report details AI-driven campaigns disrupted between December 2025 and August 2026, including suspected Russian cluster GTG-20006, which targeted Ukrainian and European governments, defense firms, and drone supply chains using fully automated attack chains. The group stole over 300,000 national identity records and commercial-registry data on 500,000+ companies from a North African government technology authority, plus a proprietary drone-vision SDK. Suspected ShinyHunters affiliates decompiled 1.8 million Android APKs on 10 Amazon EC2 workers to find hardcoded secrets and abused stolen AI API keys, while the Chinese-speaking GTG-10007 cluster generated over a dozen potential zero-day findings against network appliances in one month.

GBHackersupdated · 4d agofirst · 4d agoThreat actor in the wild 15 sources1

China-Linked Jewelbug Uses XG-Web for Government Espionage and Crypto Fraud

China-linked Jewelbug runs government espionage and crypto fraud from a single XG-Web browser-based control framework.

Broadcom's Symantec and Carbon Black detail Jewelbug, a China-based hackers-for-hire group conducting espionage against governments and militaries in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and South Asia, plus crypto fraud against Chinese-speaking victims. Operations center on XG-Web, a browser-centric remote-access and infostealing framework, with implants spanning browsers, Windows, Linux, and network devices. The group overlaps with CL-STA-0049, Ink Dragon, Earth Alux, and REF7707, and compromised a Middle Eastern government's webmail across 15 tenants.

The Hacker News · Aug 15, 2026Threat actor in the wild