Intelligence Feed

3mo ago · hacker-news

A threat actor leveraged the open-source Hermes AI agent in YOLO mode to conduct unattended post-exploitation activities within Thailand's Ministry of Finance network. The attacker gained initial access via a web shell and exploited misconfigured Hadoop services with default authentication disabled. The Hermes agent performed automated reconnaissance, including kernel vulnerability scanning and file system crawling, while leaving logs exposed on a public server. The operator used Chinese-language artifacts and infrastructure linked to Hong Kong, suggesting a Chinese-speaking actor, though no specific group was attributed.

3mo ago · hacker-news

The article discusses the growing challenge of securing AI agents within enterprise environments, emphasizing that mere visibility into AI agent presence is insufficient. It highlights the risks posed by AI agents' autonomy, dynamic behavior, and access to critical systems, which outpace traditional static access controls. The focus must shift from discovery to active enforcement of least privilege, intent-based policies, and identity-centric governance to mitigate privilege abuse, rogue agents, and other agentic risks.

3mo ago · hacker-news

A critical vulnerability named AgentForger in OpenAI's ChatGPT Workspace Agents could allow attackers to deploy rogue AI agents via a phishing link. The flaw, a cross-site request forgery (CSRF), enables automatic creation and execution of malicious agents within an authenticated user's session without further interaction. These agents can persist, execute tasks from emails, access enterprise data, and send phishing messages, effectively becoming autonomous insiders.

3mo ago · bleeping-computer

An Illinois man, Kyle Svara, was sentenced to six years in prison for hacking over 750 women's Snapchat accounts using social engineering tactics to steal nude photos, which he traded or sold online. He posed as a Snap Inc representative, used anonymized phone numbers, and phished Snapchat access codes between May 2020 and February 2021. Svara also distributed child sexual abuse material and falsely denied involvement during investigation.

3mo ago · bleeping-computer

Europol, in collaboration with law enforcement from nine countries, conducted a multi-week operation targeting 'The Com,' a decentralized network of violent extremist groups. The operation flagged 4,340 URLs for removal, focusing on content promoting self-harm, child sexual abuse, violence, and extremist ideologies. The Com operates through subgroups like Offline Com, Cyber Com, (S)extortion Com, and 764, which recruit and exploit minors via social media and gaming platforms. The network has been linked to ransomware attacks and child exploitation, with prior operations leading to dozens of arrests and victim identifications.

3mo ago · step-security

StepSecurity's mid-year report for 2026 highlights a significant increase in software supply chain attacks, driven by the adoption of AI by both developers and attackers. Attackers are shifting left, targeting development pipelines, CI/CD systems, and developer machines with increased efficiency and lower barriers to entry. The report emphasizes the importance of layered security controls across the entire software development lifecycle to proactively prevent and rapidly detect compromise.

3mo ago · hacker-news

A Russia-aligned threat cluster known as UAC-0099 is distributing a malicious Notepad++ plugin to deliver MATCHBOIL.V2 malware, a modified version of the C#-based loader MATCHBOIL. The attack begins with a phishing email containing an image that leads to a shortened URL, which redirects to a file-sharing service hosting a malicious ZIP file. The ZIP contains a VBScript that executes a decoy PDF while silently deploying a malicious DLL and additional payloads, including RemoteLibUpdater.exe (BURNYBEAR) and InitTest.dll. The campaign aims to establish persistence and conduct espionage, with no financial motive observed.

3mo ago · hacker-news

Redis disclosed and patched multiple memory corruption vulnerabilities in its database software that could lead to authenticated remote code execution (RCE). Two distinct exploit chains were identified: one leveraging a shared-NACK use-after-free in Redis Streams, and another exploiting an out-of-bounds write in the RedisBloom TDigest RDB loader. Both vulnerabilities require the RESTORE command and were exploited in proof-of-concept (PoC) scripts to achieve arbitrary memory access and system command execution. The flaws affect multiple Redis versions, including 6.2.22, 7.4.9, 8.6.4, and 8.8.0, with fixes released on July 23, 2026.

3mo ago · hacker-news

NodeBB patched eight high-severity vulnerabilities discovered by AI-powered pentesting tools, affecting all versions prior to 4.14.0. The flaws enable privilege escalation, private message access, unauthorized admin dashboard access, and cross-site scripting via malicious links in forum content. Five of the vulnerabilities are tied to federation functionality with the fediverse, and while no active exploitation has been reported, administrators are urged to upgrade to version 4.14.2 due to the critical nature of the exposures.

3mo ago · bleeping-computer

The Clop ransomware gang is conducting a new data theft extortion campaign by exploiting a critical vulnerability, CVE-2026-12569, in Internet-exposed PTC Windchill and FlexPLM instances. The flaw allows unauthenticated remote code execution, enabling attackers to deploy JSP webshells for data exfiltration. Organizations in high-risk sectors such as aerospace, defense, and manufacturing are targeted, with Clop using the email support@cryptohox.com for extortion demands.

3mo ago · hacker-news

A Russian state-supported espionage group exploited a zero-day vulnerability (CVE-2025-66376) in Zimbra's webmail client to conduct cyber espionage against Western government and commercial organizations. The vulnerability allowed attackers to steal emails, passwords, and 2FA codes through a zero-click exploit triggered by viewing a malicious email. The campaign, active since at least July 2025, used HTML smuggling and DNS-based exfiltration, targeting sectors including government, defense, and finance across NATO, Ukraine, CIS, and Africa.

3mo ago · bleeping-computer

The Dolphin X remote access trojan (RAT) is a newly identified malware advertised on cybercrime forums that combines credential theft with an AI-powered 'AI Profiler' to rank infected users by their potential value to attackers. The AI Profiler analyzes application usage, browser domains, installed software, and other data to generate risk scores and daily summaries, enabling threat actors to prioritize high-value targets such as those with access to corporate networks, cloud environments, or cryptocurrency assets. The malware claims to target over 300 applications, including browsers, password managers, crypto wallets, and cloud tools, though its full capabilities remain unverified due to analysis limitations.

3mo ago · bleeping-computer

A malvertising campaign leveraging Bing ads promotes a fake Claude desktop application to distribute the SectopRAT remote access trojan. The malicious installer, ClaudeDesktop.exe, sideloads a malicious DLL to deploy the malware, which establishes persistence via a scheduled task under the name DockerDesktop.exe. SectopRAT, also known as ArechClient2, steals credentials, files, and sensitive data from browsers and messaging apps, using Ethereum transactions to retrieve C2 addresses. The campaign, dubbed FakeAgent, has compromised at least 29 organizations and uses anti-analysis techniques to evade detection.

3mo ago · bleeping-computer

Australian energy provider Origin Energy confirmed a data breach involving unauthorized access to customer data, including personally identifiable information such as names, addresses, dates of birth, and partial financial details. The breach impacts an unknown number of customers, with threat actors claiming to possess data from 2 million individuals. Origin has launched an investigation, notified relevant authorities, and is contacting affected customers while working to prevent further unauthorized access.

3mo ago · talos

Cisco Talos has identified a new Rust-based remote access trojan (RAT) named msaRAT, deployed by the Chaos ransomware group. The malware leverages the Tokio asynchronous runtime and hijacks Chrome or Edge browsers via the Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP) to establish a covert command-and-control (C2) channel. It is distributed through a deceptive MSI file impersonating a Windows update, enabling in-memory execution and evasion of traditional network detection. The RAT facilitates double-extortion ransomware attacks by enabling persistence and lateral movement.

3mo ago · hacker-news

A China-nexus threat actor tracked as JadeProx has been conducting cyberattacks against government, healthcare, and education sectors in Asia and Latin America using a previously undocumented Windows loader named TriBack Loader. The attacks leverage DLL sideloading techniques and phishing campaigns, including a fake Anthropic Claude website, to deploy backdoors such as Beagle and AdaptixC2. The operators also perform large-scale scanning for known vulnerabilities and maintain persistence via malicious startup entries and webshells.

3mo ago · hacker-news

The Chaos ransomware group is leveraging a Rust-based implant called msaRAT to route command-and-control (C2) traffic through headless instances of Chrome or Edge browsers. The malware uses the Chrome DevTools Protocol to drive the browser and establishes WebRTC data channels via Twilio's TURN service, effectively concealing the attacker's infrastructure. C2 traffic is relayed through legitimate services like Cloudflare Workers and Twilio, making detection difficult. The implant is delivered via a malicious MSI installer that mimics a Windows update and loads a DLL into memory.

3mo ago · hacker-news

A sandbox escape vulnerability named SharedRoot has been discovered in Anthropic's Claude Cowork, allowing an AI agent to break out of its Linux VM and access arbitrary files on the host macOS system. The flaw stems from the entire host filesystem being mounted read-write into the VM, enabling privilege escalation via exploitation of CVE-2026-46331 (pedit COW) in the guest kernel. Although Anthropic has not issued a direct fix, the latest version defaults to cloud execution, mitigating the risk for most users, but local execution remains vulnerable.

3mo ago · hacker-news

Recent cyber threats include malicious npm and PyPI packages delivering infostealers, counterfeit VS Code extensions exfiltrating machine data, and Android spyware disguised as legitimate safety apps. Iranian-affiliated actors are targeting PLC systems in critical infrastructure, while attackers leverage AI models for prompt injection and malware development. Campaigns also involve malvertising distributing SectopRAT and MarkiRAT, DNS tunneling by TrickBot for C2 communication, and exploitation of trust in legitimate platforms to deliver malware.

3mo ago · bleeping-computer

A widespread outage affecting Microsoft 365 services, including Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, and the Admin Center, began on July 23, 2026, at 10:44 a.m. ET, primarily impacting users in North America. The issue has caused degraded functionality such as failed page loads, missing images in Teams, and inaccessible admin tools. Microsoft is investigating the incident, identified as MO1437424, and has initiated traffic rerouting to mitigate the impact, with partial recovery observed for some users.

3mo ago · bleeping-computer

Ukraine's CERT has identified a campaign by threat cluster UAC-0099 that abuses Notepad++ plugins to stealthily deploy malware. The attackers distribute a malicious archive containing a legitimate Notepad++ installation alongside a malicious plugin named NppExport.dll, which loads the LunchPoke utility to establish persistence. LunchPoke extracts and executes BurnyBear, a loader for the MatchBoil V2 malware, enabling further malicious activity including scheduled task creation and C2 communication.

3mo ago · bleeping-computer

Russian state-sponsored hacking group Laundry Bear, also known as Void Blizzard, is exploiting a patched zero-click XSS vulnerability (CVE-2025-66376) in Zimbra Collaboration Suite to steal email data, including credentials, 2FA tokens, and the Global Address List. The group targets organizations in the Defense Industrial Base, government, education, energy, and technology sectors, using both the vulnerability and adversary-in-the-middle phishing kits to bypass MFA and maintain persistent access. Stolen data is exfiltrated via DNS and HTTPS to attacker-controlled infrastructure using the 'Flowerbed' collection framework.

3mo ago · unit42

Unit 42 has identified a persistent cyberespionage campaign, tracked as CL-STA-1114, attributed to a Russian threat actor. The campaign targets Zimbra webmail users in government, defense, transportation, and financial sectors across NATO, Ukraine, CIS, and African countries. Attackers exploit CVE-2025-66376 to deliver a zero-click JavaScript payload that exfiltrates credentials, email archives, and 2FA tokens. The activity highlights ongoing state-sponsored threats leveraging unpatched vulnerabilities in widely used collaboration platforms.

3mo ago · hacker-news

Google has introduced a new selfie video verification feature to help users recover access to their accounts if locked out. The feature uses liveness detection through guided head movements and compares new selfie videos to a previously stored, encrypted video to verify identity. The feature is opt-in, not available for certain account types, and emphasizes privacy by not retaining videos beyond authentication purposes. Google also introduced a hand gesture verification system for reCAPTCHA using hand landmark data, which is deleted after verification.

3mo ago · hacker-news

Attackers have compromised GitHub repositories of a legitimate PHP developer, dinushchathurya, to distribute malicious GitHub Actions workflows. These workflows leverage GitHub-hosted runners to scan for and exploit cPanel and WHM servers vulnerable to CVE-2026-41940, an authentication bypass flaw. The campaign conducts large-scale server-side credential theft, harvesting sensitive data such as cloud keys, API tokens, and SSH credentials, while abusing legitimate development infrastructure for scalability and stealth.

3mo ago · hacker-news

The article discusses the emerging threat of synthetic identity fraud applied to machine identities, where attackers create non-human identities (NHIs) that were never legitimately provisioned. These fabricated identities blend real environmental attributes with fake ones to appear legitimate, evading detection since they have no human owner to raise alerts. As enterprises struggle to track growing numbers of NHIs and adopt agentic AI systems that dynamically create identities, the risk of undetected, privilege-accumulating fake machine identities increases significantly.

3mo ago · bleeping-computer

A race condition vulnerability in the Linux kernel's XFS filesystem, dubbed RefluXFS and tracked as CVE-2026-64600, enables local attackers to gain root privileges by exploiting reflink functionality. The flaw, present since Linux kernel 4.11, allows overwriting of protected files such as /etc/passwd or SUID-root binaries without triggering kernel logs or losing the SUID bit, making detection difficult. Exploitation is reliable, persistent across reboots, and bypasses standard security mechanisms like SELinux and KASLR. Immediate kernel patching is advised, as no practical mitigations exist.

3mo ago · bleeping-computer

The article reports on regulatory and financial penalties imposed on Google by the European Union for violations of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), including favoring its own services in search results and restricting app developers' ability to promote alternative purchase options on the Google Play store. These actions are part of broader antitrust enforcement, not cyber threat activity. There is no mention of malicious cyber operations, threat actors, or technical indicators of compromise.

3mo ago · bleeping-computer

The article discusses the transition from FedRAMP Rev5 to FedRAMP 20X, emphasizing a shift from point-in-time compliance to continuous, machine-readable assurance. It highlights the importance of Key Security Indicators (KSIs) that require ongoing validation through automated systems and trustworthy evidence. The change aims to improve security posture by ensuring controls remain effective in dynamic cloud environments, moving beyond static documentation to real-time operational resilience.

3mo ago · talos

Cisco Talos is presenting at Black Hat USA 2026, showcasing research on emerging threats involving AI agents, Warlock ransomware, and vulnerability discovery trends. The discussions emphasize the evolving tactics of adversaries using AI-driven tools and prompts to enhance attack efficiency. A main focus is on securing enterprise environments against autonomous systems acting as insider threats and improving defensive strategies using AI in security operations.