DevOps | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

Now that we are well into 2025, cloud attacks are evolving faster than ever and artificial intelligence (AI) is both a weapon and a shield. As AI rapidly changes how enterprises innovate, security teams are now tasked with a triple burden: Secure AI embedded in every part of the business. Use AI to defend faster and smarter. Fight AI-powered threats that execute in minutes—or seconds. Security is no longer about balancing speed and safety. In today's cloud-native world, real-time, context-aware defense is a baseline expectation, not a competitive edge. The recent Sysdig Cloud Defense Report 2025 breaks down this tectonic shift. Below, we unpack its key insights for security practitioners aiming to stay ahead of an accelerating threat landscape. AI: The Double-Edged Sword of Cloud Security AI is transforming the security paradigm. It's both empowering defenders while creating entirely new attack surfaces. AI for Security: Fighting Fire with Fire Attackers are automating f...

Cybersecurity researchers have demonstrated an "end-to-end privilege escalation chain" in Amazon Elastic Container Service ( ECS ) that could be exploited by an attacker to conduct lateral movement, access sensitive data, and seize control of the cloud environment. The attack technique has been codenamed ECScape by Sweet Security researcher Naor Haziz, who presented the findings today at the Black Hat USA security conference that's being held in Las Vegas. "We identified a way to abuse an undocumented ECS internal protocol to grab AWS credentials belonging to other ECS tasks on the same EC2 instance," Haziz said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "A malicious container with a low‑privileged IAM [Identity and Access Management] role can obtain the permissions of a higher‑privileged container running on the same host." Amazon ECS is a fully-managed container orchestration service that allows users to deploy, manage, and scale containerized ...

When Technology Resets the Playing Field In 2015 I founded a cybersecurity testing software company with the belief that automated penetration testing was not only possible, but necessary. At the time, the idea was often met with skepticism, but today, with 1200+ of enterprise customers and thousands of users, that vision has proven itself. But I also know that what we've built so far is only the foundation of what comes next. We are now witnessing an inflection point with AI in cybersecurity testing that is going to rewrite the rules of what's possible. You might not see the change in a month's time, but in five years the domain is going to be unrecognizable.  As the CTO of Pentera, I have a vision for the company: one where any security threat scenario you can imagine, you can test with the speed and intelligence only AI can provide. We have already started to implement the individual pieces of this reality into our platform. This article portrays the full vision I have for...

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed a high-severity security flaw in the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered code editor Cursor that could result in remote code execution. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-54136 (CVSS score: 7.2), has been codenamed MCPoison by Check Point Research, owing to the fact that it exploits a quirk in the way the software handles modifications to Model Context Protocol (MCP) server configurations. "A vulnerability in Cursor AI allows an attacker to achieve remote and persistent code execution by modifying an already trusted MCP configuration file inside a shared GitHub repository or editing the file locally on the target's machine," Cursor said in an advisory released last week. "Once a collaborator accepts a harmless MCP, the attacker can silently swap it for a malicious command (e.g., calc.exe) without triggering any warning or re-prompt." MCP is an open-standard developed by Anthropic that allows large language mode...

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed a now-patched, high-severity security flaw in Cursor, a popular artificial intelligence (AI) code editor, that could result in remote code execution (RCE). The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-54135 (CVSS score: 8.6), has been addressed in version 1.3 released on July 29, 2025. It has been codenamed CurXecute by Aim Labs, which previously disclosed EchoLeak . "Cursor runs with developer‑level privileges, and when paired with an MCP server that fetches untrusted external data, that data can redirect the agent's control flow and exploit those privileges," the Aim Labs Team said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "By feeding poisoned data to the agent via MCP, an attacker can gain full remote code execution under the user privileges, and achieve any number of things, including opportunities for ransomware, data theft, AI manipulation and hallucinations, etc." In other words, the remote code execution can trigg...

Cybersecurity researchers have alerted to a supply chain attack that has targeted popular npm packages via a phishing campaign designed to steal the project maintainers' npm tokens. The captured tokens were then used to publish malicious versions of the packages directly to the registry without any source code commits or pull requests on their respective GitHub repositories. The list of affected packages and their rogue versions, according to Socket, is listed below - eslint-config-prettier (versions 8.10.1, 9.1.1, 10.1.6, and 10.1.7) eslint-plugin-prettier (versions 4.2.2 and 4.2.3) synckit (version 0.11.9) @pkgr/core (version 0.2.8) napi-postinstall (version 0.3.1) got-fetch (versions 5.1.11 and 5.1.12) is (versions 3.3.1 and 5.0.0) "The injected code attempted to execute a DLL on Windows machines, potentially allowing remote code execution," the software supply chain security firm said. The development comes in the aftermath of a phishing campaign that...

While phishing and ransomware dominate headlines, another critical risk quietly persists across most enterprises: exposed Git repositories leaking sensitive data. A risk that silently creates shadow access into core systems Git is the backbone of modern software development, hosting millions of repositories and serving thousands of organizations worldwide. Yet, amid the daily hustle of shipping code, developers may inadvertently leave behind API keys, tokens, or passwords in configuration files and code files, effectively handing attackers the keys to the kingdom. This isn't just about poor hygiene; it's a systemic and growing supply chain risk. As cyber threats become more sophisticated, so do compliance requirements. Security frameworks like NIS2, SOC2, and ISO 27001 now demand proof that software delivery pipelines are hardened and third-party risk is controlled. The message is clear: securing your Git repositories is no longer optional, it's essential. Below, we look at the ris...

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a serious security issue that allows leaked Laravel APP_KEYs to be weaponized to gain remote code execution capabilities on hundreds of applications. "Laravel's APP_KEY, essential for encrypting sensitive data, is often leaked publicly (e.g., on GitHub)," GitGuardian said . "If attackers get access to this key, they can exploit a deserialization flaw to execute arbitrary code on the server – putting data and infrastructure at risk." The company, in collaboration with Synacktiv, said it was able to extract more than 260,000 APP_KEYs from GitHub from 2018 to May 30, 2025, identifying over 600 vulnerable Laravel applications in the process. GitGuardian said it observed over 10,000 unique APP_KEYs across GitHub, of which 400 APP_KEYs were validated as functional. APP_KEY is a random 32-byte encryption key that's generated during the installation of Laravel. Stored in the .env file of the application, it's used ...

Generative AI is changing how businesses work, learn, and innovate. But beneath the surface, something dangerous is happening. AI agents and custom GenAI workflows are creating new, hidden ways for sensitive enterprise data to leak —and most teams don't even realize it. If you're building, deploying, or managing AI systems, now is the time to ask: Are your AI agents exposing confidential data without your knowledge? Most GenAI models don't intentionally leak data. But here's the problem: these agents are often plugged into corporate systems—pulling from SharePoint, Google Drive, S3 buckets, and internal tools to give smart answers. And that's where the risks begin. Without tight access controls, governance policies, and oversight, a well-meaning AI can accidentally expose sensitive information to the wrong users—or worse, to the internet. Imagine a chatbot revealing internal salary data. Or an assistant surfacing unreleased product designs during a casual query. This isn't hypot...

DALL-E for coders? That's the promise behind vibe coding, a term describing the use of natural language to create software. While this ushers in a new era of AI-generated code, it introduces "silent killer" vulnerabilities: exploitable flaws that evade traditional security tools despite perfect test performance. A detailed analysis of secure vibe coding practices is available here . TL;DR: Secure Vibe Coding Vibe coding, using natural language to generate software with AI, is revolutionizing development in 2025. But while it accelerates prototyping and democratizes coding, it also introduces "silent killer" vulnerabilities: exploitable flaws that pass tests but evade traditional security tools. This article explores: Real-world examples of AI-generated code in production Shocking stats: 40% higher secret exposure in AI-assisted repos Why LLMs omit security unless explicitly prompted Secure prompting techniques and tool comparisons (GPT-4, Claude, Cursor, etc.) Reg...

Cybersecurity researchers from  SafeDep and Veracode detailed a number of malware-laced npm packages that are designed to execute remote code and download additional payloads. The packages in question are listed below - eslint-config-airbnb-compat (676 Downloads) ts-runtime-compat-check (1,588 Downloads) solders (983 Downloads) @mediawave/lib (386 Downloads) All the identified npm packages have since been taken down from npm, but not before they were downloaded hundreds of times from the package registry.  SafeDep's analysis of eslint-config-airbnb-compat found that the JavaScript library has ts-runtime-compat-check listed as a dependency, which, in turn, contacts an external server defined in the former package ("proxy.eslint-proxy[.]site") to retrieve and execute a Base64-encoded string. The exact nature of the payload is unknown. "It implements a multi-stage remote code execution attack using a transitive dependency to hide the malicious code,"...

AI is changing everything — from how we code, to how we sell, to how we secure. But while most conversations focus on what AI can do, this one focuses on what AI can break — if you're not paying attention. Behind every AI agent, chatbot, or automation script lies a growing number of non-human identities — API keys, service accounts, OAuth tokens — silently operating in the background. And here's the problem: 🔐 They're invisible 🧠 They're powerful 🚨 They're unsecured In traditional identity security, we protect users. With AI, we've quietly handed over control to software that impersonates users — often with more access, fewer guardrails, and no oversight. This isn't theoretical. Attackers are already exploiting these identities to: Move laterally through cloud infrastructure Deploy malware via automation pipelines Exfiltrate data — without triggering a single alert Once compromised, these identities can silently unlock critical systems. You don't get a second cha...

Human identities management and control is pretty well done with its set of dedicated tools, frameworks, and best practices. This is a very different world when it comes to Non-human identities also referred to as machine identities. GitGuardian's end-to-end NHI security platform is here to close the gap. Enterprises are Losing Track of Their Machine Identities Machine identities–service accounts, API keys, bots, automation, and workload identities–that now outnumber humans by up to 100:1 are in fact a massive blind spot in companies' security landscape: Without robust governance, NHIs become a prime target for attackers. Orphaned credentials, over-privileged accounts, and "zombie" secrets are proliferating—especially as organizations accelerate cloud adoption, integrate AI-powered agents, and automate their infrastructure . Secrets Sprawl: The New Attack Surface GitGuardian's research shows that 70% of valid secrets detected in public repositories in 2022 remained active in ...

Modern enterprise networks are highly complex environments that rely on hundreds of apps and infrastructure services. These systems need to interact securely and efficiently without constant human oversight, which is where non-human identities (NHIs) come in. NHIs — including application secrets, API keys, service accounts, and OAuth tokens — have exploded in recent years, thanks to an ever-expanding array of apps and services that must work together and identify one another on the fly. In some enterprises, NHIs now outnumber human identities by as much as 50-to-1 .  However, NHIs introduce unique risks and management challenges that have security leaders on high alert. Forty-six percent of organizations have experienced compromises of NHI accounts or credentials over the past year, and another 26% suspect they have, according to a recent report from Enterprise Strategy Group .  It's no wonder NHIs — and the difficulties they present with oversight, risk reduction, and gove...

Security teams face growing demands with more tools, more data, and higher expectations than ever. Boards approve large security budgets, yet still ask the same question: what is the business getting in return? CISOs respond with reports on controls and vulnerability counts – but executives want to understand risk in terms of financial exposure, operational impact, and avoiding loss. The disconnect has become difficult to ignore. The average cost of a breach has reached $4.88 million, according to recent IBM data . That figure reflects not just incident response but also downtime, lost productivity, customer attrition, and the extended effort required to restore operations and trust. The fallout is rarely confined to security. Security leaders need a model that brings those consequences into view before they surface. A Business Value Assessment (BVA) offers that model. It links exposures to cost, prioritization to return, and prevention to tangible value. This article will explain ...