network security | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

Cybersecurity researchers are calling attention to multiple campaigns that leverage known security vulnerabilities and expose Redis servers to various malicious activities, including leveraging the compromised devices as IoT botnets, residential proxies, or cryptocurrency mining infrastructure. The first set of attacks entails the exploitation of CVE-2024-36401 (CVSS score: 9.8), a critical remote code execution vulnerability impacting OSGeo GeoServer GeoTools that has been weaponized in cyber attacks since late last year. "Criminals have used the vulnerability to deploy legitimate software development kits (SDKs) or modified apps to gain passive income via network sharing or residential proxies," Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 researchers Zhibin Zhang, Yiheng An, Chao Lei, and Haozhe Zhang said in a technical report. "This method of generating passive income is particularly stealthy. It mimics a monetization strategy used by some legitimate app developers who choose ...

A Russian state-sponsored cyber espionage group known as Static Tundra has been observed actively exploiting a seven-year-old security flaw in Cisco IOS and Cisco IOS XE software as a means to establish persistent access to target networks. Cisco Talos, which disclosed details of the activity, said the attacks single out organizations in telecommunications, higher education and manufacturing sectors across North America, Asia, Africa and Europe. Prospective victims are chosen based on their "strategic interest" to Russia, it added, with recent efforts directed against Ukraine and its allies following the onset of the Russo-Ukrainian war in 2022. The vulnerability in question is CVE-2018-0171 (CVSS score: 9.8), a critical flaw in the Smart Install feature of Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE software that could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to trigger a denial-of-service (DoS) condition or execute arbitrary code. It's worth noting that the security ...

A 22-year-old man from the U.S. state of Oregon has been charged with allegedly developing and overseeing a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS)-for-hire botnet called RapperBot . Ethan Foltz of Eugene, Oregon, has been identified as the administrator of the service, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) said. The botnet has been used to carry out large-scale DDoS-for-hire attacks targeting victims in over 80 countries since at least 2021. Foltz has been charged with one count of aiding and abetting computer intrusions. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. In addition, law enforcement authorities conducted a search of Foltz's residence on August 6, 2025, seizing administrative control of the botnet infrastructure. "RapperBot, aka 'Eleven Eleven Botnet' and 'CowBot,' is a Botnet that primarily compromises devices like Digital Video Recorders (DVRS) or Wi-Fi routers at scale by infecting those devices with specialized malware,"...

Cisco has released security updates to address a maximum-severity security flaw in Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) Software that could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on affected systems. The vulnerability, assigned the CVE identifier CVE-2025-20265 (CVSS score: 10.0), affects the RADIUS subsystem implementation that could permit an unauthenticated, remote attacker to inject arbitrary shell commands that are executed by the device. The networking equipment major said the issue stems from a lack of proper handling of user input during the authentication phase, as a result of which an attacker could send specially crafted input when entering credentials that get authenticated at the configured RADIUS server. "A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute commands at a high privilege level," the company said in a Thursday advisory. "For this vulnerability to be exploited, Cisco Secure FMC Software must be configured for RADIUS authentica...

Japan's CERT coordination center (JPCERT/CC) on Thursday revealed it observed incidents that involved the use of a command-and-control (C2) framework called CrossC2 , which is designed to extend the functionality of Cobalt Strike to other platforms like Linux and Apple macOS for cross-platform system control. The agency said the activity was detected between September and December 2024, targeting multiple countries, including Japan, based on an analysis of VirusTotal artifacts. "The attacker employed CrossC2 as well as other tools such as PsExec, Plink, and Cobalt Strike in attempts to penetrate AD. Further investigation revealed that the attacker used custom malware as a loader for Cobalt Strike," JPCERT/CC researcher Yuma Masubuchi said in a report published today. The bespoke Cobalt Strike Beacon loader has been codenamed ReadNimeLoader. CrossC2, an unofficial Beacon and builder, is capable of executing various Cobalt Strike commands after establishing communicati...

Story teaser text: Cybersecurity leaders face mounting pressure to stop attacks before they start, and the best defense may come down to the settings you choose on day one. In this piece, Yuriy Tsibere explores how default policies like deny-by-default, MFA enforcement, and application Ringfencing ™ can eliminate entire categories of risk. From disabling Office macros to blocking outbound server traffic, these simple but strategic moves create a hardened environment that attackers can't easily penetrate. Whether you're securing endpoints or overseeing policy rollouts, adopting a security-by-default mindset can reduce complexity, shrink your attack surface, and help you stay ahead of evolving threats. Cybersecurity has changed dramatically since the days of the "Love Bug" virus in 2001. What was once an annoyance is now a profit-driven criminal enterprise worth billions. This shift demands proactive defense strategies that don't just respond to threats—they prevent t...

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Wednesday added two security flaws impacting N-able N-central to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities ( KEV ) catalog, citing evidence of active exploitation.  N-able N-central is a Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) platform designed for Managed Service Providers (MSPs), allowing customers to efficiently manage and secure their clients' Windows, Apple, and Linux endpoints from a single, unified platform. The vulnerabilities in question are listed below - CVE-2025-8875 (CVSS score: N/A) - An insecure deserialization vulnerability that could lead to command execution CVE-2025-8876 (CVSS score: N/A) - A command injection vulnerability via improper sanitization of user input Both shortcomings have been addressed in N-central versions 2025.3.1 and 2024.6 HF2 released on August 13, 2025. N-able is also urging customers to make sure that multi-factor authentication (MFA) is enabled, particularly for admin...

Zoom and Xerox have addressed critical security flaws in Zoom Clients for Windows and FreeFlow Core that could allow privilege escalation and remote code execution.  The vulnerability impacting Zoom Clients for Windows, tracked as CVE-2025-49457 (CVSS score: 9.6), relates to a case of an untrusted search path that could pave the way for privilege escalation. "Untrusted search path in certain Zoom Clients for Windows may allow an unauthenticated user to conduct an escalation of privilege via network access," Zoom said in a security bulletin on Tuesday. The issue, reported by its own Offensive Security team, affects the following products - Zoom Workplace for Windows before version 6.3.10 Zoom Workplace VDI for Windows before version 6.3.10 (except 6.1.16 and 6.2.12) Zoom Rooms for Windows before version 6.3.10 Zoom Rooms Controller for Windows before version 6.3.10 Zoom Meeting SDK for Windows before version 6.3.10 The disclosure comes as multiple vulnerabiliti...

Fortinet is alerting customers of a critical security flaw in FortiSIEM for which it said there exists an exploit in the wild. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-25256 , carries a CVSS score of 9.8 out of a maximum of 10.0. "An improper neutralization of special elements used in an OS command ('OS Command Injection') vulnerability [CWE-78] in FortiSIEM may allow an unauthenticated attacker to execute unauthorized code or commands via crafted CLI requests," the company said in a Tuesday advisory. The following versions are impacted by the flaw - FortiSIEM 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6 (Migrate to a fixed release) FortiSIEM 6.7.0 through 6.7.9 (Upgrade to 6.7.10 or above) FortiSIEM 7.0.0 through 7.0.3 (Upgrade to 7.0.4 or above) FortiSIEM 7.1.0 through 7.1.7 (Upgrade to 7.1.8 or above) FortiSIEM 7.2.0 through 7.2.5 (Upgrade to 7.2.6 or above) FortiSIEM 7.3.0 through 7.3.1 (Upgrade to 7.3.2 or above) FortiSIEM 7.4 (Not affected) Fortinet acknowledged i...

Cybersecurity researchers are warning of a "significant spike" in brute-force traffic aimed at Fortinet SSL VPN devices. The coordinated activity, per threat intelligence firm GreyNoise, was observed on August 3, 2025, with over 780 unique IP addresses participating in the effort. As many as 56 unique IP addresses have been detected over the past 24 hours. All the IP addresses have been classified as malicious, with the IPs originating from the United States, Canada, Russia, and the Netherlands. Targets of the brute-force activity include the United States, Hong Kong, Brazil, Spain, and Japan. "Critically, the observed traffic was also targeting our FortiOS profile, suggesting deliberate and precise targeting of Fortinet's SSL VPNs," GreyNoise said . "This was not opportunistic -- it was focused activity." The company also pointed out that it identified two distinct assault waves spotted before and after August 5: One, a long-running, brute-force a...

The Dutch National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-NL) has warned of cyber attacks exploiting a recently disclosed critical security flaw impacting Citrix NetScaler ADC products to breach organizations in the country. The NCSC-NL said it discovered the exploitation of CVE-2025-6543 targeting several critical organizations within the Netherlands, and that investigations are ongoing to determine the extent of the impact. CVE-2025-6543 (CVSS score: 9.2) is a critical security vulnerability in NetScaler ADC that results in unintended control flow and denial-of-service (DoS) when the devices are configured as a Gateway (VPN virtual server, ICA Proxy, CVPN, RDP Proxy) OR AAA virtual server. The vulnerability was first disclosed in late June 2025, with patches released in the following versions - NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway 14.1 prior to 14.1-47.46 NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway 13.1 prior to 13.1-59.19 NetScaler ADC 13.1-FIPS and NDcPP prior to 13.1-37.236-FIPS and NDcPP ...

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a fresh set of security issues in the Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) communications protocol, including in its proprietary end-to-end encryption (E2EE) mechanism that exposes the system to replay and brute-force attacks, and even decrypt encrypted traffic. Details of the vulnerabilities – dubbed 2TETRA:2BURST – were presented at the Black Hat USA security conference last week by Midnight Blue researchers Carlo Meijer, Wouter Bokslag, and Jos Wetzels. TETRA is a European mobile radio standard that's widely used by law enforcement, military, transportation, utilities, and critical infrastructure operators. It was developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). It encompasses four encryption algorithms: TEA1, TEA2, TEA3, and TEA4. The disclosure comes a little over two years after the Netherlands-based cybersecurity company discovered a set of security vulnerabilities in TETRA standard called TETRA:BURST, c...

Malicious actors have been observed exploiting a now-patched critical security flaw impacting Erlang/Open Telecom Platform (OTP) SSH as early as beginning of May 2025, with about 70% of detections originating from firewalls protecting operational technology (OT) networks. The vulnerability in question is CVE-2025-32433 (CVSS score: 10.0), a missing authentication issue that could be abused by an attacker with network access to an Erlang/OTP SSH server to execute arbitrary code. It was patched in April 2025 with versions OTP-27.3.3, OTP-26.2.5.11, and OTP-25.3.2.20. Then in June 2025, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) added the flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, based on evidence of active exploitation. "At the heart of Erlang/OTP's secure communication capabilities lies its native SSH implementation — responsible for encrypted connections, file transfers and most importantly, command execution," Palo Alto Networks U...

A novel attack technique could be weaponized to rope thousands of public domain controllers (DCs) around the world to create a malicious botnet and use it to conduct powerful distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. The approach has been codenamed Win-DDoS by SafeBreach researchers Or Yair and Shahak Morag, who presented their findings at the DEF CON 33 security conference today. "As we explored the intricacies of the Windows LDAP client code, we discovered a significant flaw that allowed us to manipulate the URL referral process to point DCs at a victim server to overwhelm it," Yair and Morag said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "As a result, we were able to create Win-DDoS, a technique that would enable an attacker to harness the power of tens of thousands of public DCs around the world to create a malicious botnet with vast resources and upload rates. All without purchasing anything and without leaving a traceable footprint." In transforming...

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed multiple security flaws in video surveillance products from Axis Communications that, if successfully exploited, could expose them to takeover attacks. "The attack results in pre-authentication remote code execution on Axis Device Manager, a server used to configure and manage fleets of cameras, and the Axis Camera Station, client software used to view camera feeds," Claroty researcher Noam Moshe said . "Furthermore, using internet scans of exposed Axis.Remoting services, an attacker can enumerate vulnerable servers and clients, and carry out granular, highly targeted attacks." The list of identified flaws is below - CVE-2025-30023 (CVSS score: 9.0) - A flaw in the communication protocol used between client and server that could lead to an authenticated user performing a remote code execution attack (Fixed in Camera Station Pro 6.9, Camera Station 5.58, and Device Manager 5.32) CVE-2025-30024 (CVSS score: 6.8) - A f...

SonicWall has revealed that the recent spike in activity targeting its Gen 7 and newer firewalls with SSL VPN enabled is related to an older, now-patched bug and password reuse. "We now have high confidence that the recent SSL VPN activity is not connected to a zero-day vulnerability," the company said . "Instead, there is a significant correlation with threat activity related to CVE-2024-40766." CVE-2024-40766 (CVSS score: 9.3) was first disclosed by SonicWall in August 2024, calling it an improper access control issue that could allow malicious actors unauthorized access to the devices. "An improper access control vulnerability has been identified in the SonicWall SonicOS management access, potentially leading to unauthorized resource access and, in specific conditions, causing the firewall to crash," it noted in an advisory at the time. SonicWall also said it's investigating less than 40 incidents related to this activity, and that many of ...

Trend Micro has released mitigations to address critical security flaws in on-premise versions of Apex One Management Console that it said have been exploited in the wild. The vulnerabilities ( CVE-2025-54948 and CVE-2025-54987 ), both rated 9.4 on the CVSS scoring system, have been described as management console command injection and remote code execution flaws. "A vulnerability in Trend Micro Apex One (on-premise) management console could allow a pre-authenticated remote attacker to upload malicious code and execute commands on affected installations," the cybersecurity company said in a Tuesday advisory. While both shortcomings are essentially the same, CVE-2025-54987 targets a different CPU architecture. The Trend Micro Incident Response (IR) Team and Jacky Hsieh at CoreCloud Tech have been credited with reporting the two flaws. According to ZeroPath , CVE-2025-54948 stems from a lack of sufficient input validation in the management console's backend, thereby...

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Tuesday added three old security flaws impacting D-Link Wi-Fi cameras and video recorders to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities ( KEV ) catalog, based on evidence of active exploitation in the wild. The high-severity vulnerabilities, which are from 2020 and 2022, are listed below - CVE-2020-25078 (CVSS score: 7.5) - An unspecified vulnerability in D-Link DCS-2530L and DCS-2670L devices that could allow for remote administrator password disclosure CVE-2020-25079 (CVSS score: 8.8) - An authenticated command injection vulnerability in the cgi-bin/ddns_enc.cgi component affecting D-Link DCS-2530L and DCS-2670L devices CVE-2020-40799 (CVSS score: 8.8) - A download of code without an integrity check vulnerability in D-Link DNR-322L that could allow an authenticated attacker to execute operating system-level commands on the device There are currently no details on how these shortcomings are being exploited in th...

SonicWall said it's actively investigating reports to determine if there is a new zero-day vulnerability following reports of a spike in Akira ransomware actors in late July 2025. "Over the past 72 hours, there has been a notable increase in both internally and externally reported cyber incidents involving Gen 7 SonicWall firewalls where SSLVPN is enabled," the network security vendor said in a statement Monday. "We are actively investigating these incidents to determine whether they are connected to a previously disclosed vulnerability or if a new vulnerability may be responsible." While SonicWall is digging deeper, organizations using Gen 7 SonicWall firewalls are advised to follow the steps below until further notice - Disable SSL VPN services where practical Limit SSL VPN connectivity to trusted IP addresses Activate services such as Botnet Protection and Geo-IP Filtering Enforce multi-factor authentication Remove inactive or unused local user ac...