Sliver

In Q2 2026, a significant increase in registered vulnerabilities was observed, driven by AI-assisted discovery tools. Multiple critical vulnerabilities were exploited in both Windows and Linux systems, including local privilege escalation flaws in the Linux kernel's caching subsystem (e.g., Dirty Frag family) and newly disclosed Windows Defender and BitLocker bypass vulnerabilities. Exploitation of AI/LLM platforms such as OpenClaw, Dify, and Open WebUI surged, with vulnerabilities enabling session compromise, unauthorized access, and message manipulation. APT groups increasingly targeted newly published and zero-day vulnerabilities, using C2 frameworks like Sliver and Metasploit for post-exploitation. The report highlights growing risks from insecure AI tooling and the need for enhanced access controls and real-time monitoring.

A large-scale npm supply chain campaign has distributed nearly 800 malicious packages designed to deliver a cross-platform RAT and infostealer. The packages bypass typical lifecycle hook detection by instructing developers to load them via require(), triggering a downloader named WEL1DROPPER that fetches payloads from Cloudflare Workers or fallback domains using DNS TXT record exfiltration. The payloads target Windows, Mac, and Linux systems, establishing persistence, evading detection, and deploying secondary malware such as Sliver C2. The campaign, tracked as Flooding Dropper, may target Russian financial institutions and appears to evolve from the earlier Moika campaign.

Multiple active threat campaigns were reported, including a new SideWinder attack chain using ClickOnce files to deploy Rust-based backdoors, a large-scale npm supply chain attack named 'Flooding Dropper' involving 846 malicious packages, and a Chinese threat actor leveraging a DeepSeek AI agent in an LLM-managed campaign for proxyjacking. A new XCSSET macOS malware variant (v40) spreads via compromised Xcode projects and includes a Telegram trojanizer. The Gentlemen ransomware affiliate deployed EtherRAT, which retrieves C2 data from an Ethereum smart contract. Additionally, Interlock ransomware abused Volatility3 to extract credentials from memory, and a critical RCE flaw in the Odysseus AI workspace allowed authenticated users to execute OS commands. Several phishing campaigns used fake Bank of America and Coldcard wallet lures to install ScreenConnect, while AI-powered scam farms like FunFoneFarm lower the barrier to entry for cybercrime.

China-based threat actors exploited the ToolShell vulnerability (CVE-2025-53770) to compromise a telecoms company in the Middle East and multiple government agencies globally shortly after the patch was released in July 2025. The attackers deployed backdoors such as Zingdoor and ShadowPad, used DLL sideloading techniques, and leveraged tools like KrustyLoader and Sliver for post-exploitation. Activities indicate espionage motives, with credential theft and lateral movement observed across compromised networks.