privilege escalation | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

Cisco has released updates to address a critical security flaw in the Integrated Management Controller (IMC) that, if successfully exploited, could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass authentication and gain access to the system with elevated privileges. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-20093, carries a CVSS score of 9.8 out of a maximum of 10.0. "This vulnerability is due to incorrect handling of password change requests," Cisco said in an advisory released Wednesday. "An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTP request to an affected device." "A successful exploit could allow the attacker to bypass authentication, alter the passwords of any user on the system, including an Admin user, and gain access to the system as that user." Security researcher "jyh" has been credited with discovering and reporting the vulnerability. The shortcoming affects the following products regardless of the dev...

Microsoft is calling attention to a new campaign that has leveraged WhatsApp messages to distribute malicious Visual Basic Script (VBS) files. The activity, beginning in late February 2026, leverages these scripts to initiate a multi-stage infection chain for establishing persistence and enabling remote access. It's currently not known what lures the threat actors use to trick users into executing the scripts. "The campaign relies on a combination of social engineering and living-off-the-land techniques," the Microsoft Defender Security Research Team said . "It uses renamed Windows utilities to blend into normal system activity, retrieves payloads from trusted cloud services such as AWS, Tencent Cloud, and Backblaze B2, and installs malicious Microsoft Installer (MSI) packages to maintain control of the system." The use of legitimate tools and trusted platforms is a deadly combination, as it allows threat actors to blend in normal network activity and incre...

For years, cybersecurity has followed a familiar model: block malware, stop the attack. Now, attackers are moving on to what’s next. Threat actors now use malware less frequently in favor of what’s already inside your environment, including abusing trusted tools, native binaries, and legitimate admin utilities to move laterally, escalate privileges, and persist without raising alarms. Most organizations fail to see this risk until after the damage is done. To help visualize this challenge, consider a complimentary Internal Attack Surface Assessment — a guided, low-friction way to see where trusted tools may be working against you. Now, let’s look at how this risk operates within your environment, and 3 reasons why attackers prefer using your own tools against you. 1. Most Attacks No Longer Look Like Attacks Threat actors prefer attacks that don’t look like attacks. Recent analysis of over 700,000 high-severity incidents shows a clear shift : 84% of attacks now abuse legitimate ...

A high-severity security flaw affecting default installations of Ubuntu Desktop versions 24.04 and later could be exploited to escalate privileges to the root level. Tracked as CVE-2026-3888 (CVSS score: 7.8), the issue could allow an attacker to seize control of a susceptible system. "This flaw (CVE-2026-3888) allows an unprivileged local attacker to escalate privileges to full root access through the interaction of two standard system components: snap-confine and systemd-tmpfiles," the Qualys Threat Research Unit (TRU) said . "While the exploit requires a specific time-based window (10–30 days), the resulting impact is a complete compromise of the host system."  The problem, Qualys noted, stems from the unintended interaction of snap-confine, which manages execution environments for snap applications by creating a sandbox, and systemd-tmpfiles, which automatically cleans up temporary files and directories (e.g.,/tmp, /run, and /var/tmp) older than a defined ...

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed multiple security vulnerabilities within the Linux kernel's AppArmor module that could be exploited by unprivileged users to circumvent kernel protections, escalate to root, and undermine container isolation guarantees. The nine confused deputy vulnerabilities have been collectively codenamed CrackArmor by the Qualys Threat Research Unit (TRU). The cybersecurity company said the issue has existed since 2017. No CVE identifiers have been assigned to the shortcomings. AppArmor is a Linux security module that provides mandatory access control (MAC) and secures the operating system against external or internal threats by preventing known and unknown application flaws from being exploited. It has been included in the mainline Linux kernel since version 2.6.36. "This 'CrackArmor' advisory exposes a confused deputy flaw allowing unprivileged users to manipulate security profiles via pseudo-files, bypass user-namespace restricti...

Veeam has released security updates to address multiple critical vulnerabilities in its Backup & Replication software that, if successfully exploited, could result in remote code execution. The vulnerabilities are as follows - CVE-2026-21666 (CVSS score: 9.9) - A vulnerability that allows an authenticated domain user to perform remote code execution on the Backup Server. CVE-2026-21667 (CVSS score: 9.9) - A vulnerability that allows an authenticated domain user to perform remote code execution on the Backup Server. CVE-2026-21668 (CVSS score: 8.8) - A vulnerability that allows an authenticated domain user to bypass restrictions and manipulate arbitrary files on a Backup Repository. CVE-2026-21672 (CVSS score: 8.8) - A vulnerability that allows local privilege escalation on Windows-based Veeam Backup & Replication servers. CVE-2026-21708 (CVSS score: 9.9) - A vulnerability that allows a Backup Viewer to perform remote code execution as the postgres user. The sho...

Microsoft on Tuesday released patches for a set of 84 new security vulnerabilities affecting various software components, including two that have been listed as publicly known. Of these, eight are rated Critical, and 76 are rated Important in severity. Forty-six of the patched vulnerabilities relate to privilege escalation, followed by 18 remote code execution, 10 information disclosure, four spoofing, four denial-of-service, and two security feature bypass flaws. The fixes are in addition to 10 vulnerabilities that have been addressed in its Chromium-based Edge browser since the release of the February 2026 Patch Tuesday update . The two publicly disclosed zero-days are CVE-2026-26127 (CVSS score: 7.5), a denial-of-service vulnerability in .NET, and CVE-2026-21262 (CVSS score: 8.8), an elevation of privilege vulnerability in SQL Server. The vulnerability with the highest CVSS score in this month's update is a critical remote code execution flaw in the Microsoft Devices ...

Cisco has disclosed that two more vulnerabilities affecting Catalyst SD-WAN Manager (formerly SD-WAN vManage) have come under active exploitation in the wild. The vulnerabilities in question are listed below - CVE-2026-20122 (CVSS score: 7.1) - An arbitrary file overwrite vulnerability that could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to overwrite arbitrary files on the local file system. Successful exploitation requires the attacker to have valid read-only credentials with API access on the affected system. CVE-2026-20128 (CVSS score: 5.5) - An information disclosure vulnerability that could allow an authenticated, local attacker to gain Data Collection Agent (DCA) user privileges on an affected system. Successful exploitation requires the attacker to have valid vManage credentials on the affected system. Patches for the security defects, along with CVE-2026-20126, CVE-2026-20129, and CVE-2026-20133, were released by Cisco late last month in the following versions - Earli...

Google on Monday disclosed that a high-severity security flaw impacting an open-source Qualcomm component used in Android devices has been exploited in the wild. The vulnerability in question is CVE-2026-21385 (CVSS score: 7.8), a buffer over-read in the Graphics component. "Memory corruption when adding user-supplied data without checking available buffer space," Qualcomm said in an advisory, describing it as an integer overflow. The chipmaker said the flaw was reported to it through Google's Android Security team on December 18, 2025. Customers were notified of the security defect on February 2, 2026. There are currently no details on how the vulnerability is being exploited in the wild. However, Google acknowledged in its monthly Android security bulletin that "there are indications that CVE-2026-21385 may be under limited, targeted exploitation." Google's March 2026 update contains patches for a total of 129 vulnerabilities, including a critica...

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a now-patched security flaw in Google Chrome that could have permitted attackers to escalate privileges and gain access to local files on the system. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-0628 (CVSS score: 8.8), has been described as a case of insufficient policy enforcement in the WebView tag. It was patched by Google in early January 2026 in version 143.0.7499.192/.193 for Windows/Mac and 143.0.7499.192 for Linux. "Insufficient policy enforcement in WebView tag in Google Chrome prior to 143.0.7499.192 allowed an attacker who convinced a user to install a malicious extension to inject scripts or HTML into a privileged page via a crafted Chrome extension," according to a description on the NIST National Vulnerability Database (NVD). Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 researcher Gal Weizman, who discovered and reported the flaw on November 23, 2025, said the issue could have permitted malicious extensions with basic permissi...

A newly disclosed maximum-severity security flaw in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller (formerly vSmart) and Catalyst SD-WAN Manager (formerly vManage) has come under active exploitation in the wild as part of malicious activity that dates back to 2023. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-20127 (CVSS score: 10.0), allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to bypass authentication and obtain administrative privileges on an affected system by sending a crafted request. Successful exploitation of the flaw could allow the adversary to obtain elevated privileges and log in to the system as an internal, high-privileged, non-root user account. "This vulnerability exists because the peering authentication mechanism in an affected system is not working properly," Cisco said in an advisory, adding the threat actor could leverage the non-root user account to access NETCONF and manipulate network configuration for the SD-WAN fabric.  The shortcoming affects the following deploym...

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a new cryptojacking campaign that uses pirated software bundles as lures to deploy a bespoke XMRig miner program on compromised hosts. "Analysis of the recovered dropper, persistence triggers, and mining payload reveals a sophisticated, multi-stage infection prioritizing maximum cryptocurrency mining hashrate, often destabilizing the victim system," Trellix researcher Aswath A said in a technical report published last week. "Furthermore, the malware exhibits worm-like capabilities, spreading across external storage devices, enabling lateral movement even in air-gapped environments." The entry point of the attack is the use of social engineering decoys, advertising free premium software in the form of pirated software bundles, such as installers for office productivity suites, to trick unsuspecting users into downloading malware-laced executables. The binary acts as the central nervous system of the infectio...

Microsoft has disclosed a now-patched security flaw in Windows Admin Center that could allow an attacker to escalate their privileges. Windows Admin Center is a locally deployed, browser-based management tool set that lets users manage their Windows Clients, Servers, and Clusters without the need for connecting to the cloud. The high-severity vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-26119 , carries a CVSS score of 8.8 out of a maximum of 10.0 "Improper authentication in Windows Admin Center allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges over a network," Microsoft said in an advisory released on February 17, 2026. "The attacker would gain the rights of the user that is running the affected application." Microsoft credited Semperis researcher Andrea Pierini with discovering and reporting the vulnerability. It's worth mentioning that the security issue was patched by the tech giant in Windows Admin Center version 2511 released in December 2025.  While the ...

Microsoft on Tuesday released security updates to address a set of 59 flaws across its software, including six vulnerabilities that it said have been exploited in the wild. Of the 59 flaws, five are rated Critical, 52 are rated Important, and two are rated Moderate in severity. Twenty-five of the patched vulnerabilities have been classified as privilege escalation, followed by remote code execution (12), spoofing (7), information disclosure (6), security feature bypass (5), denial-of-service (3), and cross-site scripting (1). It's worth noting that the patches are in addition to three security flaws that Microsoft has addressed in its Edge browser since the release of the January 2026 Patch Tuesday update , including a Moderate vulnerability impacting the Edge browser for Android ( CVE-2026-0391 , CVSS score: 6.5) that could allow an unauthorized attacker to perform spoofing over a network by taking advantage of a "user interface misrepresentation of critical information....

A new security flaw in SmarterTools SmarterMail email software has come under active exploitation in the wild, two days after the release of a patch. The vulnerability, which currently does not have a CVE identifier, is tracked by watchTowr Labs as WT-2026-0001 . It was patched by SmarterTools on January 15, 2026, with Build 9511 , following responsible disclosure by the exposure management platform on January 8, 2026. Markus Wulftange of CODE WHITE GmbH, the finder has also been credited with reporting the same flaw. It has been described as an authentication bypass flaw that could allow any user to reset the SmarterMail system administrator password by means of a specially crafted HTTP request to the "/api/v1/auth/force-reset-password" endpoint. "The kicker of course being that said user is able to use RCE-as-a-feature functions to directly execute OS [operating system] commands," watchTowr Labs researchers Piotr Bazydlo and Sina Kheirkhah said. The problem ...

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a security flaw that leverages indirect prompt injection targeting Google Gemini as a way to bypass authorization guardrails and use Google Calendar as a data extraction mechanism. The vulnerability, Miggo Security's Head of Research, Liad Eliyahu, said, made it possible to circumvent Google Calendar's privacy controls by hiding a dormant malicious payload within a standard calendar invite. "This bypass enabled unauthorized access to private meeting data and the creation of deceptive calendar events without any direct user interaction," Eliyahu said in a report shared with The Hacker News. The starting point of the attack chain is a new calendar event that's crafted by the threat actor and sent to a target. The invite's description embeds a natural language prompt that's designed to do their bidding, resulting in a prompt injection. The attack gets activated when a user asks Gemini a completely inno...

A maximum-severity security flaw in a WordPress plugin called Modular DS has come under active exploitation in the wild, according to Patchstack. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-23550 (CVSS score: 10.0), has been described as a case of unauthenticated privilege escalation impacting all versions of the plugin prior to and including 2.5.1. It has been patched in version 2.5.2 . The plugin has more than 40,000 active installs. "In versions 2.5.1 and below, the plugin is vulnerable to privilege escalation, due to a combination of factors including direct route selection, bypassing of authentication mechanisms, and auto-login as admin," Patchstack said . The problem is rooted in its routing mechanism, which is designed to put certain sensitive routes behind an authentication barrier. The plugin exposes its routes under the "/api/modular-connector/" prefix. However, it has been found that this security layer can be bypassed every time the "direct reques...

Not long ago, AI agents were harmless. They wrote snippets of code. They answered questions. They helped individuals move a little faster. Then organizations got ambitious. Instead of personal copilots, companies started deploying shared organizational AI agents - agents embedded into HR, IT, engineering, customer support, and operations. Agents that don’t just suggest, but act. Agents that touch real systems, change real configurations, and move real data: An HR agent who provisions and deprovisions access across IAM, SaaS apps, VPNs, and cloud platforms. A change management agent that approves requests, updates production configs, logs actions in ServiceNow, and updates Confluence. A support agent that pulls customer data from CRM, checks billing status, triggers backend fixes, and updates tickets automatically. These agents warrant deliberate control and oversight. They’re now part of our operational infrastructure. And to make them useful, we made them powerful ...

Fortinet has released updates to fix a critical security flaw impacting FortiSIEM that could allow an unauthenticated attacker to achieve code execution on susceptible instances. The operating system (OS) injection vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-64155 , is rated 9.4 out of 10.0 on the CVSS scoring system. "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 TCP requests," the company said in a Tuesday bulletin. Fortinet said the vulnerability affects only Super and Worker nodes, and that it has been addressed in the following versions - FortiSIEM 6.7.0 through 6.7.10 (Migrate to a fixed release) FortiSIEM 7.0.0 through 7.0.4 (Migrate to a fixed release) FortiSIEM 7.1.0 through 7.1.8 (Upgrade to 7.1.9 or above) FortiSIEM 7.2.0 through 7.2.6 (Upgrade to 7.2.7 or above) FortiSIEM 7.3.0 thr...

Microsoft on Tuesday rolled out its first security update for 2026 , addressing 114 security flaws, including one vulnerability that it said has been actively exploited in the wild. Of the 114 flaws, eight are rated Critical, and 106 are rated Important in severity. As many as 58 vulnerabilities have been classified as privilege escalation, followed by 22 information disclosure, 21 remote code execution, and five spoofing flaws. According to data collected by Fortra, the update marks the third-largest January Patch Tuesday after January 2025 and January 2022. These patches are in addition to two security flaws that Microsoft has addressed in its Edge browser since the release of the December 2025 Patch Tuesday update, including a spoofing flaw in its Android app ( CVE-2025-65046 , 3.1) and a case of insufficient policy enforcement in Chromium's WebView tag ( CVE-2026-0628 , CVSS score: 8.8). The vulnerability that has come under in-the-wild exploitation is CVE-2026-20805 (CV...