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Meta has warned that a security vulnerability impacting the FreeType open-source font rendering library may have been exploited in the wild. The vulnerability has been assigned the CVE identifier CVE-2025-27363 , and carries a CVSS score of 8.1, indicating high severity. Described as an out-of-bounds write flaw, it could be exploited to achieve remote code execution when parsing certain font files. "An out-of-bounds write exists in FreeType versions 2.13.0 and below when attempting to parse font subglyph structures related to TrueType GX and variable font files," the company said in an advisory. "The vulnerable code assigns a signed short value to an unsigned long and then adds a static value causing it to wrap around and allocate too small of a heap buffer. The code then writes up to 6 signed long integers out of bounds relative to this buffer. This may result in arbitrary code execution." The company did not share any specifics on how the shortcoming is be...

USB drive attacks constitute a significant cybersecurity risk, taking advantage of the everyday use of USB devices to deliver malware and circumvent traditional network security measures. These attacks lead to data breaches, financial losses, and operational disruptions, with lasting impacts on an organization's reputation. An example is the Stuxnet worm discovered in 2010, a malware designed to target industrial control systems, specifically Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities. It exploited multiple zero-day vulnerabilities and spread primarily through USB drives, making it one of the first examples of a cyberattack with real-world physical effects. Stuxnet exposed the risks of removable media and raised global awareness of cybersecurity threats to critical infrastructure. How USB drive attacks propagate Attackers use various methods to deliver malicious payloads via USB drives, targeting individuals and organizations.  Drop attacks : Infected USB drives are deliberatel...

The latest Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 Cloud Threat Report found that sensitive data is found in 66% of cloud storage buckets. This data is vulnerable to ransomware attacks. The SANS Institute recently reported that these attacks can be performed by abusing the cloud provider's storage security controls and default settings. "In just the past few months, I have witnessed two different methods for executing a ransomware attack using nothing but legitimate cloud security features," warns Brandon Evans, security consultant and SANS Certified Instructor. Halcyon disclosed an attack campaign that leveraged one of Amazon S3's native encryption mechanisms, SSE-C, to encrypt each of the target buckets. A few months prior, security consultant Chris Farris demonstrated how attackers could perform a similar attack using a different AWS security feature, KMS keys with external key material, using simple scripts generated by ChatGPT. "Clearly, this topic is top-of-mind for both threat actors and ...

Cybersecurity researchers are alerting of an ongoing malicious campaign targeting the Go ecosystem with typosquatted modules that are designed to deploy loader malware on Linux and Apple macOS systems. "The threat actor has published at least seven packages impersonating widely used Go libraries, including one (github[.]com/shallowmulti/hypert) that appears to target financial-sector developers," Socket researcher Kirill Boychenko said in a new report. "These packages share repeated malicious filenames and consistent obfuscation techniques, suggesting a coordinated threat actor capable of pivoting rapidly." While all of them continue to be available on the official package repository, their corresponding GitHub repositories barring "github[.]com/ornatedoctrin/layout" are no longer accessible. The list of offending Go packages is below - shallowmulti/hypert (github.com/shallowmulti/hypert) shadowybulk/hypert (github.com/shadowybulk/hypert) belate...

Universities and government organizations in North America and Asia have been targeted by a previously undocumented Linux malware called Auto-Color between November and December 2024, according to new findings from Palo Alto Networks Unit 42. "Once installed, Auto-color allows threat actors full remote access to compromised machines, making it very difficult to remove without specialized software," security researcher Alex Armstrong said in a technical write-up of the malware. Auto-color is so named based on the file name the initial payload renames itself post installation. It's currently not known how it reaches its targets, but what's known is that it requires the victim to explicitly run it on their Linux machine. A notable aspect of the malware is the arsenal of tricks it employs to evade detection. This includes using seemingly-innocuous file names like door or egg, concealing command-and-control (C2) connections, and leveraging proprietary encryption algo...

Two security vulnerabilities have been discovered in the OpenSSH secure networking utility suite that, if successfully exploited, could result in an active machine-in-the-middle (MitM) and a denial-of-service (DoS) attack, respectively, under certain conditions. The vulnerabilities, detailed by the Qualys Threat Research Unit (TRU), are listed below - CVE-2025-26465 (CVSS score: 6.8)  - The OpenSSH client contains a logic error between versions 6.8p1 to 9.9p1 (inclusive) that makes it vulnerable to an active MitM attack if the VerifyHostKeyDNS option is enabled, allowing a malicious interloper to impersonate a legitimate server when a client attempts to connect to it (Introduced in December 2014) CVE-2025-26466 (CVSS score: 5.9) - The OpenSSH client and server are vulnerable to a pre-authentication DoS attack between versions 9.5p1 to 9.9p1 (inclusive) that causes memory and CPU consumption (Introduced in August 2023) "If an attacker can perform a man-in-the-middle a...

Threat hunters have shed light on a new campaign targeting the foreign ministry of an unnamed South American nation with bespoke malware capable of granting remote access to infected hosts. The activity, detected in November 2024, has been attributed by Elastic Security Labs to a threat cluster it tracks as REF7707 . Some of the other targets include a telecommunications entity and a university, both located in Southeast Asia. "While the REF7707 campaign is characterized by a well-engineered, highly capable, novel intrusion set, the campaign owners exhibited poor campaign management and inconsistent evasion practices," security researchers Andrew Pease and Seth Goodwin said in a technical analysis. The exact initial access vector used in the attacks is currently not clear, although it has been observed that Microsoft's certutil application is used to download additional payloads from a web server associated with the Foreign Ministry. The certutil commands used to ...

Every tap, click, and swipe we make online shapes our digital lives, but it also opens doors—some we never meant to unlock. Extensions we trust, assistants we rely on, and even the codes we scan are turning into tools for attackers. The line between convenience and vulnerability has never been thinner. This week, we dive into the hidden risks, surprising loopholes, and the clever tricks cybercriminals are using to outsmart the systems we depend on. Stay with us as we unpack what's happening behind the screen and how you can stay one step ahead. ⚡ Threat of the Week Dozens of Google Chrome Extensions Caught Stealing Sensitive Data — The challenges with securing the software supply chain reared once again after about three dozen extensions were found surreptitiously siphoning sensitive data from roughly 2.6 million devices for several months as part of two related campaigns. The compromises came to light after data loss prevention service Cyberhaven revealed that its browser extens...

Cybersecurity researchers are warning about a spike in malicious activity that involves roping vulnerable D-Link routers into two different botnets, a Mirai variant dubbed FICORA and a Kaiten (aka Tsunami) variant called CAPSAICIN. "These botnets are frequently spread through documented D-Link vulnerabilities that allow remote attackers to execute malicious commands via a GetDeviceSettings action on the HNAP (Home Network Administration Protocol) interface," Fortinet FortiGuard Labs researcher Vincent Li said in a Thursday analysis. "This HNAP weakness was first exposed almost a decade ago, with numerous devices affected by a variety of CVE numbers, including CVE-2015-2051 , CVE-2019-10891 , CVE-2022-37056 , and CVE-2024-33112 ." According to the cybersecurity company's telemetry data, attacks involving FICORA have targeted various countries globally, whereas those related to CAPSAICIN primarily singled out East Asian territories like Japan and Taiwan. T...

The developers of Rspack have revealed that two of their npm packages, @rspack/core and @rspack/cli , were compromised in a software supply chain attack that allowed a malicious actor to publish malicious versions to the official package registry with cryptocurrency mining malware. Following the discovery , versions 1.1.7 of both libraries have been unpublished from the npm registry. The latest safe version is 1.1.8. "They were released by an attacker who gained unauthorized npm publishing access, and contain malicious scripts," software supply chain security firm Socket said in an analysis. Rspack is billed as an alternative to the webpack , offering a "high performance JavaScript bundler written in Rust." Originally developed by ByteDance, it has since been adopted by several companies such as Alibaba, Amazon, Discord, and Microsoft, among others. The npm packages in question, @rspack/core, and @rspack/cli, attract weekly downloads of over 300,000 and 145...

Juniper Networks is warning that Session Smart Router (SSR) products with default passwords are being targeted as part of a malicious campaign that deploys the Mirai botnet malware. The company said it's issuing the advisory after "several customers" reported anomalous behavior on their Session Smart Network (SSN) platforms on December 11, 2024. "These systems have been infected with the Mirai malware and were subsequently used as a DDoS attack source to other devices accessible by their network," it said . "The impacted systems were all using default passwords." Mirai , which has had its source code leaked in 2016, has spawned several variants over the years. The malware is capable of scanning for known vulnerabilities as well as default credentials to infiltrate devices and enlist them into a botnet for mounting distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. To mitigate such threats, organizations are recommended to change their passwords with i...

This past week has been packed with unsettling developments in the world of cybersecurity. From silent but serious attacks on popular business tools to unexpected flaws lurking in everyday devices, there's a lot that might have flown under your radar. Attackers are adapting old tricks, uncovering new ones, and targeting systems both large and small. Meanwhile, law enforcement has scored wins against some shady online marketplaces, and technology giants are racing to patch problems before they become a full-blown crisis. If you've been too busy to keep track, now is the perfect time to catch up on what you may have missed. ⚡ Threat of the Week Cleo Vulnerability Comes Under Active Exploitation — A critical vulnerability (CVE-2024-50623) in Cleo's file transfer software—Harmony, VLTrader, and LexiCom—has been actively exploited by cybercriminals , creating major security risks for organizations worldwide. The flaw enables attackers to execute code remotely without authorization...