⚡ Weekly Recap: Zero-Day Exploits, Developer Malware, IoT Botnets, and AI-Powered Scams

May 12, 2025Ravie LakshmananCybersecurity / Hacking News What do a source code editor, a smart billboard, and a web server have in common? They’ve all become launchpads for attacks—because cybercriminals are rethinking what counts as “infrastructure.” Instead of chasing high-value targets directly, threat actors are now quietly taking over the overlooked: outdated software, unpatched IoT […]

Continue Reading

ASUS Patches DriverHub RCE Flaws Exploitable via HTTP and Crafted .ini Files

May 12, 2025Ravie LakshmananVulnerability / Endpoint Security ASUS has released updates to address two security flaws impacting ASUS DriverHub that, if successfully exploited, could enable an attacker to leverage the software in order to achieve remote code execution. DriverHub is a tool that’s designed to automatically detect the motherboard model of a computer and display […]

Continue Reading

The Persistence Problem: Why Exposed Credentials Remain Unfixed—and How to Change That

Detecting leaked credentials is only half the battle. The real challenge—and often the neglected half of the equation—is what happens after detection. New research from GitGuardian’s State of Secrets Sprawl 2025 report reveals a disturbing trend: the vast majority of exposed company secrets discovered in public repositories remain valid for years after detection, creating an […]

Continue Reading

Fake AI Tools Used to Spread Noodlophile Malware, Targeting 62,000+ via Facebook Lures

May 12, 2025Ravie LakshmananMalware / Artificial Intelligence Threat actors have been observed leveraging fake artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools as a lure to entice users into downloading an information stealer malware dubbed Noodlophile. “Instead of relying on traditional phishing or cracked software sites, they build convincing AI-themed platforms – often advertised via legitimate-looking Facebook groups and […]

Continue Reading

Germany Shuts Down eXch Over $1.9B Laundering, Seizes €34M in Crypto and 8TB of Data

May 10, 2025Ravie LakshmananCryptocurrency / Cybercrime Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (aka Bundeskriminalamt or BKA) has seized the online infrastructure and shutdown linked to the eXch cryptocurrency exchange over allegations of money laundering and operating a criminal trading platform. The operation was carried out on April 30, 2025, authorities said, adding they also confiscated 8 […]

Continue Reading

BREAKING: 7,000-Device Proxy Botnet Using IoT, EoL Systems Dismantled in U.S. – Dutch Operation

A joint law enforcement operation undertaken by Dutch and U.S. authorities has dismantled a criminal proxy network that’s powered by thousands of infected Internet of Things (IoT) and end-of-life (EoL) devices, enlisting them into a botnet for providing anonymity to malicious actors. In conjunction with the domain seizure, Russian nationals, Alexey Viktorovich Chertkov, 37, Kirill […]

Continue Reading

OtterCookie v4 Adds VM Detection and Chrome, MetaMask Credential Theft Capabilities

The North Korean threat actors behind the Contagious Interview campaign have been observed using updated versions of a cross-platform malware called OtterCookie with capabilities to steal credentials from web browsers and other files. NTT Security Holdings, which detailed the new findings, said the attackers have “actively and continuously” updated the malware, introducing versions v3 and […]

Continue Reading

Initial Access Brokers Target Brazil Execs via NF-e Spam and Legit RMM Trials

May 09, 2025Ravie LakshmananMalware / Email Security Cybersecurity researchers are warning of a new campaign that’s targeting Portuguese-speaking users in Brazil with trial versions of commercial remote monitoring and management (RMM) software since January 2025. “The spam message uses the Brazilian electronic invoice system, NF-e, as a lure to entice users into clicking hyperlinks and […]

Continue Reading

Malicious npm Packages Infect 3,200+ Cursor Users With Backdoor, Steal Credentials

May 09, 2025Ravie LakshmananSupply Chain Attack / Malware Cybersecurity researchers have flagged three malicious npm packages that are designed to target the Apple macOS version of Cursor, a popular artificial intelligence (AI)-powered source code editor. “Disguised as developer tools offering ‘the cheapest Cursor API,’ these packages steal user credentials, fetch an encrypted payload from threat […]

Continue Reading

Beyond Vulnerability Management – Can You CVE What I CVE?

The Vulnerability Treadmill The reactive nature of vulnerability management, combined with delays from policy and process, strains security teams. Capacity is limited and patching everything immediately is a struggle. Our Vulnerability Operation Center (VOC) dataset analysis identified 1,337,797 unique findings (security issues) across 68,500 unique customer assets. 32,585 of them were distinct CVEs, with 10,014 […]

Continue Reading

Google Rolls Out On-Device AI Protections to Detect Scams in Chrome and Android

May 09, 2025Ravie LakshmananArtificial Intelligence / Online Fraud Google on Thursday announced it’s rolling out new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered countermeasures to combat scams across Chrome, Search, and Android. The tech giant said it will begin using Gemini Nano, its on-device large language model (LLM), to improve Safe Browsing in Chrome 137 on desktops. “The on-device […]

Continue Reading

Chinese Hackers Exploit SAP RCE Flaw CVE-2025-31324, Deploy Golang-Based SuperShell

May 09, 2025Ravie LakshmananVulnerability / Industrial Security A China-linked unnamed threat actor dubbed Chaya_004 has been observed exploiting a recently disclosed security flaw in SAP NetWeaver. Forescout Vedere Labs, in a report published today, said it uncovered a malicious infrastructure likely associated with the hacking group weaponizing CVE-2025-31324 (CVSS score: 10.0) since April 29, 2025. […]

Continue Reading

38,000+ FreeDrain Subdomains Found Exploiting SEO to Steal Crypto Wallet Seed Phrases

Cybersecurity researchers have exposed what they say is an “industrial-scale, global cryptocurrency phishing operation” engineered to steal digital assets from cryptocurrency wallets for several years. The campaign has been codenamed FreeDrain by threat intelligence firms SentinelOne and Validin. “FreeDrain uses SEO manipulation, free-tier web services (like gitbook.io, webflow.io, and github.io), and layered redirection techniques to […]

Continue Reading

SonicWall Patches 3 Flaws in SMA 100 Devices Allowing Attackers to Run Code as Root

May 08, 2025Ravie LakshmananNetwork Security / Vulnerability SonicWall has released patches to address three security flaws affecting SMA 100 Secure Mobile Access (SMA) appliances that could be fashioned to result in remote code execution. The vulnerabilities are listed below – CVE-2025-32819 (CVSS score: 8.8) – A vulnerability in SMA100 allows a remote authenticated attacker with […]

Continue Reading

Qilin Ransomware Ranked Highest in April 2025 with Over 45 Data Leak Disclosures

May 08, 2025Ravie LakshmananThreat Intelligence / Ransomware Threat actors with ties to the Qilin ransomware family have leveraged malware known as SmokeLoader along with a previously undocumented .NET compiled loader codenamed NETXLOADER as part of a campaign observed in November 2024. “NETXLOADER is a new .NET-based loader that plays a critical role in cyber attacks,” […]

Continue Reading

MirrorFace Targets Japan and Taiwan with ROAMINGMOUSE and Upgraded ANEL Malware

May 08, 2025Ravie LakshmananMalware / Cyber Espionage The nation-state threat actor known as MirrorFace has been observed deploying malware dubbed ROAMINGMOUSE as part of a cyber espionage campaign directed against government agencies and public institutions in Japan and Taiwan. The activity, detected by Trend Micro in March 2025, involved the use of spear-phishing lures to […]

Continue Reading

Russian Hackers Using ClickFix Fake CAPTCHA to Deploy New LOSTKEYS Malware

The Russia-linked threat actor known as COLDRIVER has been observed distributing a new malware called LOSTKEYS as part of an espionage-focused campaign using ClickFix-like social engineering lures. “LOSTKEYS is capable of stealing files from a hard-coded list of extensions and directories, along with sending system information and running processes to the attacker,” the Google Threat […]

Continue Reading

Cisco Patches CVE-2025-20188 (10.0 CVSS) in IOS XE That Enables Root Exploits via JWT

May 08, 2025Ravie LakshmananVulnerability / Network Security Cisco has released software fixes to address a maximum-severity security flaw in its IOS XE Wireless Controller that could enable an unauthenticated, remote attacker to upload arbitrary files to a susceptible system. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-20188, has been rated 10.0 on the CVSS scoring system. “This vulnerability […]

Continue Reading

OttoKit WordPress Plugin with 100K+ Installs Hit by Exploits Targeting Multiple Flaws

May 07, 2025Ravie LakshmananVulnerability / Web Security A second security flaw impacting the OttoKit (formerly SureTriggers) WordPress plugin has come under active exploitation in the wild. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-27007 (CVSS score: 9.8), is a privilege escalation bug impacting all versions of the plugin prior to and including version 1.0.82. “This is due to […]

Continue Reading

SysAid Patches 4 Critical Flaws Enabling Pre-Auth RCE in On-Premise Version

May 07, 2025Ravie LakshmananVulnerability / IT Service Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed multiple security flaw in the on-premise version of SysAid IT support software that could be exploited to achieve pre-authenticated remote code execution with elevated privileges. The vulnerabilities, tracked as CVE-2025-2775, CVE-2025-2776, and CVE-2025-2777, have all been described as XML External Entity (XXE) injections, which […]

Continue Reading

Reevaluating SSEs: A Technical Gap Analysis of Last-Mile Protection

May 07, 2025The Hacker NewsBrowser Security / Enterprise Security Security Service Edge (SSE) platforms have become the go-to architecture for securing hybrid work and SaaS access. They promise centralized enforcement, simplified connectivity, and consistent policy control across users and devices. But there’s a problem: they stop short of where the most sensitive user activity actually […]

Continue Reading

NSO Group Fined $168M for Targeting 1,400 WhatsApp Users With Pegasus Spyware

May 07, 2025Ravie LakshmananVulnerability / Spyware A federal jury on Tuesday decided that NSO Group must pay Meta-owned WhatsApp WhatsApp approximately $168 million in monetary damages, more than four months after a federal judge ruled that the Israeli company violated U.S. laws by exploiting WhatsApp servers to deploy Pegasus spyware, targeting over 1,400 individuals globally. […]

Continue Reading

Researchers Uncover Malware in Fake Discord PyPI Package Downloaded 11,500+ Times

May 07, 2025Ravie LakshmananSoftware Supply Chain / Malware Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a malicious package on the Python Package Index (PyPI) repository that masquerades as a seemingly harmless Discord-related utility but incorporates a remote access trojan. The package in question is discordpydebug, which was uploaded to PyPI on March 21, 2022. It has been downloaded […]

Continue Reading

Hackers Exploit Samsung MagicINFO, GeoVision IoT Flaws to Deploy Mirai Botnet

May 06, 2025Ravie LakshmananInternet of Thing / Vulnerability Threat actors have been observed actively exploiting security flaws in GeoVision end-of-life (EoL) Internet of Things (IoT) devices to corral them into a Mirai botnet for conducting distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. The activity, first observed by the Akamai Security Intelligence and Response Team (SIRT) in early April […]

Continue Reading

New Investment Scams Use Facebook Ads, RDGA Domains, and IP Checks to Filter Victims

Cybersecurity researchers have lifted the lid on two threat actors that orchestrate investment scams through spoofed celebrity endorsements and conceal their activity through traffic distribution systems (TDSes). The activity clusters have been codenamed Reckless Rabbit and Ruthless Rabbit by DNS threat intelligence firm Infoblox. The attacks have been observed to lure victims with bogus platforms, […]

Continue Reading