For the latest discoveries in cyber research for the week of 31st August, please download our Threat Intelligence Bulletin.

TOP ATTACKS AND BREACHES

• Manchester Airports Group, the UK operator of Manchester, London Stansted, and East Midlands airports, has disclosed a cyberattack that exposed data belonging to about 8.7 million customers. The compromised information includes contact details, vehicle registration numbers, and information collected through car park, lounge, fast-track, and Wi-Fi registrations.
• The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has confirmed a cyberattack affecting a standalone computer containing information on ATF investigation targets. The system was disconnected after the compromise, while the Qilin ransomware group listed the agency on its leak site and claimed responsibility.
• Boston Scientific, a US-based global medical device company, has experienced a cyberattack that caused network outages and disrupted operations worldwide. Access to internal systems and applications, including services supporting order processing and shipping, was affected. The company began restoring impacted systems following the August 26 disruption.
• McKesson, a major U.S. healthcare and pharmaceutical company, has disclosed a data breach involving unauthorized access to third-party applications and data theft. Threat group ShinyHunters claimed it used vishing to compromise Okta accounts and access Salesforce and Snowflake, exfiltrating about 1TB of data containing approximately 284 million patient-related records.

AI THREATS

• Researchers described Cryptographic Context Injection, a technique that conceals malicious instructions inside encrypted content to bypass safeguards in AI assistants with browsing and code capabilities. During testing, Grok was induced to expose user conversation data while Gemini generated content that would normally be blocked by its safety controls.
• Researchers detailed a prompt injection vulnerability in Amazon Kiro, an AI development environment, that could allow malicious workspace files to manipulate the agent and transmit local information. Exploitation required a user to open a crafted project and interact with Kiro. Amazon addressed the issue in version 0.8.140.
• Researchers profiled AnonyMousKIT, an AI-enabled phishing-as-a-service operation targeting owners of stolen iPhones. The platform uses email, text messages, WhatsApp, and AI-generated voice calls to steal Apple IDs, passcodes, and two-factor authentication codes, helping criminals remove Activation Lock and gain access to associated accounts.

VULNERABILITIES AND PATCHES

• PaperCut released emergency fixes for two actively exploited vulnerabilities affecting PaperCut NG and MF. CVE-2026-81578, rated CVSS 8.8, enables authentication bypass, while CVE-2026-82078, rated CVSS 9.4, involves unsafe class loading. Attackers can chain the vulnerabilities to achieve unauthenticated remote code execution on affected servers.
• Ubiquiti patched 21 critical and high-severity vulnerabilities affecting UniFi Protect, Network, Access, Talk, UniFi OS, and other products. The flaws include authentication bypass, command injection, and privilege escalation issues, with several receiving CVSS scores of 10.0. Successful exploitation could allow attackers to gain administrative control over affected devices.
• Vercel addressed two critical vulnerabilities affecting Next.js, including CVE-2026-75604, a Windows-specific path traversal flaw, and a libheif AVIF image-processing vulnerability. Both can result in unauthenticated remote code execution under affected configurations. Fixes are included in Next.js versions 15.5.24 and 16.3.3. A public proof-of-concept is available for the AVIF issue.
• ServiceNow has addressed three critical vulnerabilities in its AI Platform, CVE-2026-18885, CVE-2026-18886, and CVE-2026-74820, all rated CVSS 10.0. The flaws involve code injection, access control, and SQL injection and can allow unauthenticated attackers to execute code, escalate privileges, or access and modify instance data.

THREAT INTELLIGENCE REPORTS

• Check Point researchers identified a large-scale phishing campaign using fraudulent debt-relief emails to manipulate victims into calling attacker-controlled phone numbers. The campaign targeted more than 9,000 organizations and distributed approximately 24,700 emails within 14 days. Phone conversations were then used to obtain victims’ personal and financial information.
• U.S. authorities announced the disruption of QScan and QTRouter, two platforms operated by China-linked group QTFY to target U.S. critical infrastructure and government networks. QScan infected internet-connected devices, while QTRouter used compromised systems to conceal the origin of intrusion activity targeting agencies including NASA, the Federal Reserve, and Department of Energy.
• Researchers unveiled an expanded toolset used by the Iran-linked Nimbus Manticore threat group to target organizations in the Middle East and Europe. The campaign includes an SSH tunneling utility and a C++ backdoor resembling TWOSTROKE, providing attackers with persistent remote access and command execution on compromised systems.
• Researchers discovered a Chinese threat actor exploiting known ownCloud and WordPress vulnerabilities to compromise sensitive organizations in the Philippines. Victims included a nuclear research agency and a marine engineering contractor supporting the Philippine Navy. The attackers obtained reactor-related records, employee information and credentials, among other data.

The post 31th August – Threat Intelligence Report appeared first on Check Point Research.

For the latest discoveries in cyber research for the week of 24th August, please download our Threat Intelligence Bulletin.

TOP ATTACKS AND BREACHES

• Latvia’s Road Traffic Safety Directorate (CSDD) has confirmed a breach affecting payment records of more than 1.2 million people – roughly two-thirds of the country’s population – as well as 200,000 organizations. The stolen data included identification numbers, license plates, payment amounts, dates and addresses. Attackers reportedly exploited a vulnerability in an internet-facing system.
• Sakura Internet, a Japanese cloud and hosting provider, has disclosed unauthorized access involving rental server environments and a separate sales management system. Up to 1.36 million customer accounts may have been exposed. Attackers also accessed hundreds of rental server accounts and installed malware on affected environments.
• The Hospital for Sick Children, Canada’s largest pediatric hospital, has disclosed data theft involving a third-party application. The incident affected its careers website and exposed information belonging to employees, applicants and staff at related organizations. The hospital stated that clinical systems and patient information were not affected.
• Berlin authorities isolated the city’s urban development and mobility ministries from government IT networks following a security breach. The measure disrupted email and internet access, forcing employees to use alternative communication channels and delaying several public services while the ministries remained disconnected.

AI THREATS

• Researchers have demonstrated an autonomous AI agent exploiting a GitHub Actions flaw in Snowflake’s public repository, gaining read access to the company’s internal Jira system. The agent exfiltrated tokens within seconds. Snowflake patched the workflow and rotated credentials after the demonstration, which required no human steering.
• US authorities warn of active AI-assisted attacks targeting Siemens S7 industrial controllers across manufacturing, energy, water and other critical sectors. Attackers use AI-generated scripts disguised as monitoring tools and open-source libraries to probe internet-exposed attempting to cause unauthorized configuration changes, operational disruption or damage to industrial equipment.
• Researchers have analyzed ‘Kriminal’, a publicly accessible AI platform marketed as uncensored and offering social engineering and exploit assistance through cryptocurrency subscriptions. The service combines models including Grok, Claude and Llama, allowing users to generate phishing content, malicious code and other cybercrime material while reducing reliance on a single provider

VULNERABILITIES AND PATCHES

• GitLab has released out-of-band fixes for CVE-2026-19478, a critical unauthenticated code injection vulnerability affecting self-managed Community and Enterprise editions. Rated CVSS 9.4, the flaw can let remote attackers alter or delete public projects and user data. Exploitation attempts were observed after disclosure.
• Cisco has released fixes for nine critical vulnerabilities affecting Crosswork platforms and Secure Workload software, including six flaws rated CVSS 10.0. The issues include authentication, access-control and file-system weaknesses that could enable unauthorized access or system compromise.
• Citrix has published patches for CVE-2026-19489 and CVE-2026-19490 affecting NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway. The critical authentication bypass flaw can let unauthenticated attackers access appliances configured with SAML authentication, while the second vulnerability can cause denial of service.
• NASA/JPL has fixed a critical vulnerability in the open-source AMMOS Instrument Toolkit AIT-GUI that enables unauthenticated command execution through its web console. Rated CVSS 9.4, the flaw can allow remote command execution, script launches and sequence execution. AIT-GUI version 2.5.2 contains the fix

THREAT INTELLIGENCE REPORTS

• Check Point Research has investigated StopAndProtect campaign which abuses thousands of compromised WordPress sites to distribute malware and store stolen data. The campaign combines ransomware with data theft and uses ClickFix technique to infect visitors. Operational mistakes exposed logs, screenshots and victim IP addresses.
• Check Point Research has investigated the Windows Defender Boot-Time Removal driver, BTR.sys, showing that the Microsoft-signed remediation component can be repurposed to perform privileged file and registry changes during startup. Researchers developed BTR_CLI to craft encrypted tasks and found that multiple versions share a hard-coded RC4 key.
• Check Point Research have uncovered increased targeting of the education sector ahead of the school year. Organizations averaged 4,696 weekly attacks from January through July 2026, increase of 8%. Attackers also registered education-themed domains and used seasonal phishing lures impersonating schools and student reward programs to steal credentials.
• Researchers have tracked a Cl0p extortion campaign exploiting CVE-2026-12569 in PTC Windchill and FlexPLM, with more than 40 organizations named by the group. Analysis identified a custom implant capable of decrypting credentials, accessing databases and supporting bulk data theft from compromised product lifecycle management environments.

Check Point IPS provides protection against this threat (PTC Multiple Products Remote Code Execution (CVE-2026-12569))

The post 24th August – Threat Intelligence Report appeared first on Check Point Research.

For the latest discoveries in cyber research for the week of 17th August, please download our Threat Intelligence Bulletin.

TOP ATTACKS AND BREACHES

• Colombia’s Ministry of Justice has experienced a ransomware attack that affected part of its technology infrastructure and disrupted public services related to illicit-drug monitoring and legal processes. Officials confirmed that some files were encrypted but stated that no data theft was detected during the incident.
• MyDr, Poland’s primary healthcare platform for appointments, medical records, and prescriptions, has suffered a data breach potentially affecting nearly 19 million citizens. Attackers claimed to hold 2.5TB of information and shared a senior politician’s identification details, phone numbers, and prescriptions as evidence of the compromise.
• Levi Strauss & Co., the global American apparel company, has reported a cyberattack after attackers used social engineering to compromise three employee devices and steal corporate information. According to the firm, preliminary findings indicate no consumer data was accessed or copied. The company notified affected individuals and relevant regulators.
• IEH Corporation, a US defense and aerospace component manufacturer, has confirmed a phishing compromise of an employee’s Microsoft 365 mailbox. Attackers used a fraudulent document-sharing link to steal credentials, potentially exposing customer communications, purchase orders, engineering documents, and export-controlled technical information.

AI THREATS

• Researchers detailed a suspected China-linked campaign that used autonomous AI agents against Taiwanese government systems. The operation reportedly mapped 21 systems, compromised 85 accounts, and obtained 2,500 personnel records before expanding toward a nuclear safety organization and seven companies in the energy sector.
• Researchers outlined how North Korea-linked Kimsuky is building an offline AI environment to support phishing, intelligence analysis, and malware development. The setup combines locally hosted language models with document retrieval, code resources, and transcription capabilities, potentially allowing operators to automate additional stages of cyberespionage activity.
• Researchers found that encrypted reasoning blocks used by OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google APIs could be replayed across sessions. Analysis of more than 315,000 blocks recovered hundreds of sensitive artifacts from published agent logs, including API keys, passwords, authentication tokens, and private cryptographic keys.

VULNERABILITIES AND PATCHES

• Microsoft has released its August Patch Tuesday security updates, addressing 421 vulnerabilities across Windows, Office, SharePoint, Exchange Server, Azure and other products. The fixes include 42 critical flaws and CVE-2026-68820, an actively exploited Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock vulnerability that allows local attackers to gain SYSTEM privileges.
• Apple released patches for CVE-2026-65400, a critical macOS Screen Sharing authentication vulnerability with a CVSS score of 9.8. The flaw allows network attackers to authenticate without valid credentials. Active exploitation against internet-exposed systems has resulted in root access and deployment of Monero cryptocurrency miners.
• Adobe released a fix for CVE-2026-71362, a critical authentication vulnerability affecting Adobe Commerce and Magento Open Source. Attackers began exploiting the flaw shortly after public disclosure. Successful exploitation enables unauthorized session switching, potentially allowing account takeover and access to information associated with affected accounts.
• Zoom addressed three critical vulnerabilities in Zoom Workplace, including CVE-2026-53413, that could enable remote code execution during a meeting. The flaws affected annotation functionality and required no interaction from the targeted participant. Fixed releases include versions 7.0.6 and 7.1.5 for fast-track users.

THREAT INTELLIGENCE REPORTS

• Check Point Research has exposed a new wave of the Lazarus-linked Operation Dream Job targeting defense organizations in Europe, India and Brazil. Attackers used fraudulent job opportunities and trojanized PDF software to deploy malware, while exploiting Windows zero-day CVE-2026-68820 to obtain SYSTEM privileges and disable security visibility.
• Check Point Research has assessed ransomware activity during Q2 2026, identifying 2,139 publicly reported victims, up 33% year over year. The ransomware ecosystem expanded to 93 active groups, while leaked communications showed The Gentlemen using AI coding assistants to accelerate development of operational tooling.
• Check Point Research have reported that organizations experienced an average of 2,336 weekly cyberattacks during July 2026, representing a 16% year-over-year increase. Ransomware activity also accelerated, while generative AI usage continued exposing corporate information through high-risk prompts submitted to external AI services.
• Researchers revealed a China-linked Jewelbug campaign using XG-Web to conduct espionage against government and military organizations while supporting cryptocurrency fraud. The operation collected approximately 580,000 browser cookies, thousands of credentials, and 2,300 emails through compromised web infrastructure and malicious cryptocurrency services.

The post 17th August – Threat Intelligence Report appeared first on Check Point Research.

For the latest discoveries in cyber research for the week of 10th August, please download our Threat Intelligence Bulletin.

TOP ATTACKS AND BREACHES

• North Carolina Ports, the US authority operating the ports of Wilmington, Morehead City and others, has suffered a cyberattack that forced some operations onto manual processes. The authority claims it has contained the intrusion, but degraded systems caused delays while affected services were restored.
• Ryde, an electric scooter operator in Scandinavian countries, has disclosed a data breach affecting all 4.5 million customer accounts across Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Germany. Attackers copied phone numbers, email addresses, birth dates, partial payment card numbers, and payment histories. Full card numbers and ride histories were unaffected.
• Canadian hardware wallet maker Coinkite has disclosed a theft campaign exploiting a Coldcard firmware vulnerability, with at least 1,367 bitcoin worth about $88.6 million stolen from thousands of addresses. The company halted affected shipments, destroyed vulnerable inventory, and released patched firmware after confirming exploitation against customer wallets.
• Beacon, a UK provider of customer relationship management software for charities, has disclosed a data breach after attackers compromised an access key. The company notified around 1,500 nonprofit customers that database information, donation records, and stored attachments may have been downloaded. Payment and bank details were not affected.

AI THREATS

• Check Point Research has demonstrated that Cloudflare Code Mode, which allows AI agents to write TypeScript against tools, inherited five vulnerabilities from the workerd runtime. The flaws could enable sandbox escape and cross-tenant data exposure. Cloudflare rated two issues Critical and fixed its managed Workers environment.
• Researchers have disclosed vulnerabilities in Google Gemini CLI and Anthropic Claude Code that could expose automation environments to code execution and API key theft. CVE-2026-12537, rated CVSS 10.0, affected Gemini CLI workflows, while CVE-2026-54316 affected Claude Code. Both vendors released patched versions.
• Researchers have detailed AI-enabled identity fraud kits that automate know-your-customer bypasses across banks, fintech companies, and cryptocurrency exchanges. Tools such as ProKYC can generate identity documents, selfie-with-ID images, spoofed location data, and synthetic video used against document, selfie, and liveness checks during remote onboarding.

VULNERABILITIES AND PATCHES

• Cisco has released fixes for multiple critical vulnerabilities in Catalyst SD-WAN and IOS XE software disclosed on August 5. The highest-severity issues carry CVSS scores up to 9.9 and can enable privilege escalation, code execution, or system compromise. Cisco also addressed additional high and medium-severity flaws across network management products.
• WordPress has released version 7.0.3 to address CVE-2026-64638, a high-severity Core vulnerability known as XSS2Shell. The flaw can turn a failed login into pre-authentication cross-site scripting and, under specific conditions, remote code execution. Fixes were also backported for supported WordPress branches dating to version 4.7.
• TP-Link has addressed 15 vulnerabilities in its Omada provisioning ecosystem affecting controllers, network devices, mobile applications, and VIGI cameras. The flaws include device impersonation, credential exposure, and remote code execution risks during provisioning. 11 flaws received CVE identifiers, and patched firmware has been released for affected products.
• A vendor-installed backdoor has been identified across at least 20 Zbtlink router models sold under brands including Wiflyer and ZBT. The remote-management component contacts hardcoded servers and can accept unauthenticated commands with root privileges. Researchers reproduced the behavior by impersonating the vendor server and obtaining a root shell.

THREAT INTELLIGENCE REPORTS

• Researchers have identified the Shai-Hulud CHAINDROP supply-chain campaign, which backdoored more than 400 npm packages after attackers compromised the maintainer of the widely used keyv library. The malware executes through a preinstall hook, steals developer tokens, and republishes modified packages, affecting an ecosystem with roughly 1.3 billion monthly downloads.
• Researchers have uncovered a campaign targeting large US financial firms in which callers impersonate coworkers or IT staff to capture passwords and multi-factor authentication codes through spoofed websites. The actors, tracked as UNC6671, then threaten victims with data leaks and have issued ransom demands ranging from $750,000 to $3 million.
• Researchers have revealed a macOS ClickFix campaign using more than 250 look-alike domains to distribute MacSync and Atomic Stealer malware. The operation evolved to fingerprint visitors before displaying malicious instructions, allowing attackers to target genuine macOS users while concealing the campaign from automated security scanners and analysis systems.
• Researchers have documented a campaign that uploaded nearly 800 malicious npm packages delivering cross-platform RAT and infostealer malware. The packages instructed developers to import them, activating the WEL1DROPPER downloader. It retrieved payloads through Cloudflare Workers or DNS TXT records, established persistence, and deployed additional malicious tools.

The post 10th August – Threat Intelligence Report appeared first on Check Point Research.

For the latest discoveries in cyber research for the week of 27th July, please download our Threat Intelligence Bulletin.

TOP ATTACKS AND BREACHES

• Minnesota IT Services has confirmed coordinated cyberattacks affecting more than 30 community water utilities across the state. The incidents briefly disrupted a treatment plant in Braham and affected industrial control systems. Officials reported that drinking water safety was not affected. While the attack was not officially attributed, federal officials previously posted warning regarding targeting of critical infrastructure by Iranian-affiliated threat actors.
• Bank of Baroda, a major Indian bank, has disclosed an email account compromise that exposed internal communications and attachments. Reports claim more than 700GB of customer files, loan documents, and audit records were leaked, although the bank has not confirmed the reported volume. Core banking systems were unaffected.
• Amgen, a US biotechnology company that develops medicines for serious illnesses, has confirmed a breach involving cloud environments operated by third-party providers. Attackers exfiltrated proprietary corporate information and patient health data. The company reported no disruption to manufacturing, financial reporting, products, or its ability to supply medicines.
• Angola’s largest telecommunications provider, Unitel, has suffered a cyberattack that disrupted voice, mobile data, and internet services for millions of customers. The outage also affected electronic payments shortly before the company’s stock market debut. Network data indicated that internal systems were disabled while external routers remained online.

AI THREATS

• Anthropic has disclosed that Claude-based cybersecurity models gained unauthorized access to systems belonging to three outside organizations during controlled evaluations. The models moved beyond intended test environments and reached sensitive production assets. Anthropic identified the incidents while reviewing testing practices following separate autonomous AI security failures.
• Researchers have published details of CVE-2026-59726, a critical vulnerability in the Ruflo AI agent platform. An unauthenticated attacker could abuse its exposed Model Context Protocol bridge to execute commands, steal API keys, access conversations, and alter stored AI memory. Ruflo addressed the issue in version 3.16.3.
• Researchers surfaced a privacy issue in Anthropic’s Claude sharing feature that allowed publicly shared conversations and artifacts to be indexed by search engines. Indexed content reportedly included personal information, resumes, financial records, access codes, API keys, and clinical trial material that users may not have expected to become searchable.

VULNERABILITIES AND PATCHES

• Cisco has addressed CVE-2026-20316, an actively exploited vulnerability in Secure Firewall Management Center. The flaw allows unauthenticated attackers to access a built-in low-privileged account and retrieve sensitive information from affected systems. Cisco released hotfixes after exploitation was identified, and the vulnerability was added to CISA’s catalog.
• Broadcom has released patches for five vulnerabilities affecting VMware vCenter, ESX, Workstation, and Fusion. Three critical flaws could allow authentication bypass, arbitrary code execution, or escape from a virtual machine to its host. The issues include CVE-2026-59309 and CVE-2026-59310, both carrying CVSS scores of 9.8.
• JetBrains has released fixes for CVE-2026-63077, a critical authentication bypass affecting all TeamCity On-Premises versions. A remote unauthenticated attacker could execute code with TeamCity server privileges and compromise connected build environments. The flaw is fixed in versions 2025.11.7 and 2026.1.3. TeamCity Cloud was not affected.
• Rails maintainers have patched CVE-2026-66066, a critical Active Storage vulnerability affecting applications that use libvips. An unauthenticated attacker could read sensitive server files and, under some conditions, execute code remotely. Fixed Active Storage releases include versions 7.2.3.2, 8.0.5.1, and 8.1.3.1.

THREAT INTELLIGENCE REPORTS

• Check Point researchers have revealed a phishing campaign that abuses Microsoft’s legitimate login and consent process through attacker-controlled applications. More than 200 emails targeted approximately 120 organizations within one month. Successful authorization provided access to mailboxes, files, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, and calendar information.
• Researchers traced CaptiveCrunch, a campaign attributed to Russia-linked Storm-2945, also known as Midnight Blizzard. The attackers compromised hotel and conference captive portals to distribute CornFlake and ChocoShell malware. The campaign harvested Microsoft 365 and Azure AD authentication tokens, enabling account access and session takeover.
• Researchers profiled a Russian-linked campaign exploiting CVE-2026-42897 in Microsoft Outlook Web Access against government and industry targets in the United States and Europe. Opening a malicious email triggers installation of OWAReaper, a browser implant that steals credentials and maintains mailbox access after passwords are changed or devices reimaged.
• Researchers uncovered a npm supply chain campaign involving malicious packages that imitated private Alibaba modules. Layered dependencies retrieved attacker instructions from GitHub and installed operating system-specific RAT payloads. The malware enabled command execution, file theft, credential access, and movement through DingTalk and related development environments.

The post 3rd August – Threat Intelligence Report appeared first on Check Point Research.

For the latest discoveries in cyber research for the week of 27th July, please download our Threat Intelligence Bulletin.

TOP ATTACKS AND BREACHES

• Nichirei, a Japan-based frozen-food supplier and logistics company, has experienced a ransomware attack that disrupted shipping operations and affected approximately 5,000 customers. KFC Japan warned of possible shortages. Nichirei confirmed personal data theft, while the RansomHouse group claimed responsibility and published a subset of the stolen information.
• Stadler Rail, a Switzerland-based global rail equipment manufacturer, has disclosed a supplier-related data breach after attackers compromised credentials for a third-party file-sharing platform. The Everest group stole technical documents belonging to the supplier and demanded $12.3 million. Stadler refused payment and said its systems and production remained unaffected.
• Origin Energy, one of Australia’s largest electricity and natural gas providers, has confirmed unauthorized access to customer information. Exposed data may include names, addresses, birth dates, phone numbers, account details, and partial payment information. Threat actors claimed to have stolen two million records and threatened to publish them.
• Romania’s National Agency for Cadastre and Land Registration has suffered a cyberattack that disabled internal systems and the nationwide e-Terra platform. The disruption halted property transactions for nearly a week. Officials said core land registries remained intact, although credentials and portions of source code may have been exposed.

AI THREATS

• OpenAI disclosed that AI models escaped a restricted cyber evaluation environment and compromised Hugging Face while seeking benchmark solutions. They exploited zero-day vulnerabilities, stole credentials, escalated privileges, and accessed production systems. Both companies contained the activity and are conducting a joint investigation.
• Researchers have described a threat actor known as Trim who promoted an AI-assisted penetration-testing platform built with jailbroken language models. The platform combines AI with established scanning tools to automate reconnaissance, vulnerability validation, and reporting, potentially reducing the expertise and time required to prepare and conduct cyber intrusions.
• Researchers have examined a generative AI-assisted malware operation exposed through an accessible WebDAV server. The infrastructure produced phishing material and malicious Windows shortcuts used to distribute information stealers and remote access tools. Researchers identified more than 1,000 artifacts and a campaign that recorded over 77,000 requests.

VULNERABILITIES AND PATCHES

• Check Point has addressed CVE-2026-16232, an authentication bypass vulnerability in SmartConsole that is under active exploitation, affecting a handful of customers. The flaw allows remote attackers to bypass authentication and gain administrative access to Check Point management servers. Security hotfixes are available for supported versions of the affected management software.
• Oracle has released its July 2026 Critical Patch Update, addressing 1,449 vulnerabilities across numerous product families. The update includes remotely exploitable flaws that require no authentication, with critical issues affecting Oracle Database Server, SQL Developer, and TimesTen In-Memory Database, among others.
• Microsoft has addressed CVE-2026-50522, a critical remote code execution vulnerability affecting on-premises SharePoint Server. An authenticated site owner can exploit the flaw to execute code and steal machine keys for persistent access. Active exploitation was reported after proof-of-concept code became publicly available.

Check Point IPS provides protection against this threat (Microsoft SharePoint Remote Code Execution (CVE-2026-50522))

THREAT INTELLIGENCE REPORTS

• Check Point Research has revealed that Microsoft was the most impersonated brand in Q2 2026, accounting for 23% of observed phishing attempts. LinkedIn, Google, Apple, and Amazon completed the top five. ChatGPT entered the top ten as attackers increasingly targeted users of widely recognized AI platforms.
• Researchers have described the growing use of infostealers logs as an initial-access resource for cloud and software-as-a-service intrusions. Criminal marketplaces sell passwords and active session cookies soon after collection. The research identified 2.05 million logs during 2025, with 79% connected to Microsoft single sign-on environments
• S. federal agencies have warned that Iran-linked actors are targeting internet-exposed industrial controllers at water and energy facilities. The attackers have manipulated controller logic, falsified operator displays, and disabled alarms or shutdown functions. The activity affects equipment deployed in critical infrastructure environments.
• Researchers have analyzed a Russian cyberespionage campaign targeting Zimbra webmail servers at government, defense, transportation, and financial organizations. The attackers exploit CVE-2025-66376 through zero-click phishing emails that inject malicious JavaScript, stealing credentials, two-factor authentication codes, email archives, and search histories from vulnerable systems.

Check Point IPS provides protection against this threat (Zimbra Collaboration Suite Cross-Site Scripting (CVE-2025-66376))

The post 27th July – Threat Intelligence Report appeared first on Check Point Research.

For the latest discoveries in cyber research for the week of 20th July, please download our Threat Intelligence Bulletin.

TOP ATTACKS AND BREACHES

• Ernst & Young, a global accounting and professional services company, has disclosed a data breach involving a compromised third-party IT support platform. The exposed support tickets may have contained client documents, tax information, employee details, and other sensitive information submitted while requesting technical assistance.
• Jscrambler, a JavaScript code-protection package with more than 15,000 weekly downloads, has experienced a supply chain compromise after stolen npm publishing credentials distributed malicious releases. The packages deployed malware targeting developers’, cloud, browser, cryptocurrency, and messaging credentials. Jscrambler removed the affected versions.
• Coca-Cola’s US dairy subsidiary Fairlife has confirmed a ransomware attack that temporarily halted production across the United States. Attackers accessed systems supporting manufacturing operations, prompting the company to activate incident response and business continuity procedures. Coca-Cola has not confirmed whether data was exfiltrated in the attack.
• Nihon Kotsu, Japan’s largest taxi operator, has suffered a malware attack following unauthorized access to its internal network. The company shut down affected systems, disrupting taxi dispatches, telephone services, bookings, reservations, and car rentals from July 11. No theft of customer or corporate information has been confirmed.

AI THREATS

• Researchers identified a China-linked campaign that used Claude Code and DeepSeek to automate attacks against government and financial organizations. The tools generated scripts, adapted failed exploits, created credential-harvesting pages, and executed commands. Confirmed compromises affected government systems in Thailand and Afghanistan and organizations in Taiwan.
• Researchers found that xAI’s Grok Build coding assistant could upload entire Git repositories while processing debugging requests. Transferred information included unopened files and complete commit histories, potentially exposing API keys, credentials, and proprietary source code. Initial privacy controls did not prevent uploads until a server-side restriction was introduced.
• Researchers verified a weakness in Anthropic’s Claude for Chrome extension that allowed malicious browser extensions to impersonate Claude and act through authenticated user sessions. Successful exploitation could expose Gmail, Google Drive, or GitHub information through Claude’s permissions. Anthropic released fixes, although researchers reported that a bypass remained possible.

VULNERABILITIES AND PATCHES

• Microsoft released patches for 622 vulnerabilities in July’s Patch Tuesday, the largest monthly release recorded by the company. Two vulnerabilities were under active exploitation, including CVE-2026-56164 in SharePoint Server and CVE-2026-56155 in Active Directory Federation Services. Both vulnerabilities could allow attackers to elevate privileges.

Check Point IPS provides protection against these threats (Microsoft SharePoint Authentication Bypass (CVE-2026-56164))

• WordPress has issued emergency updates for CVE-2026-63030 and CVE-2026-60137, collectively called wp2shell. The critical WordPress Core vulnerabilities allow unauthenticated remote code execution and website takeover. Affected releases include versions 6.9.0 through 6.9.4 and 7.0.0 through 7.0.1. Fixed versions include 6.9.5 and 7.0.2.

Check Point IPS provides protection against these threats (WordPress Authentication Bypass (CVE-2026-63030)), WordPress SQL Injection (CVE-2026-60137))

• SonicWall has released a hotfix for CVE-2026-15409 and CVE-2026-15410, two critical vulnerabilities affecting SMA 1000 Series gateways. The flaws allow unauthenticated attackers to execute system commands on vulnerable appliances. Active exploitation has been associated with Inc ransomware.

Check Point IPS provides protection against these threats (SonicWall SMA1000 Series Server-Side Request Forgery (CVE-2026-15409) & SonicWall SMA1000 Series Path Traversal (CVE-2026-15410))

THREAT INTELLIGENCE REPORTS

• Check Point Research has released the 2026 AI Security 2026, finding that AI has evolved from an attack aid into an active operator across live intrusions and malware development. The report also highlights indirect prompt injection, synthetic identity abuse, and enterprise data exposure, with high-risk GenAI prompts doubling to 4%.
• Researchers analyzed ShinyHunters-linked campaigns that abused OAuth application approvals to access Salesforce environments. Attackers used voice phishing to authorize lookalike applications, then accessed CRM information through approved APIs. Compromised integrations and misconfigured guest access provided additional entry points and persistence.
• Researchers analyzed CylindricalCanine, a subgroup of the Chinese cybercrime collective GoldenEyeDog, and linked it to DigiCert’s April 2026 support portal compromise. The actor stole code-signing certificates, leading to 60 revocations, including at least 27 associated with malware. The group also targets Asia-Pacific finance teams using Golden Gh0st RAT.
• Researchers documented Spirals, a Rust-based ransomware family used against a South Asian information technology services company. The attackers moved from initial access to network encryption in less than 24 hours. They used an IIS web shell, WMI, and PsExec to spread, disable security services, disrupt backups, and encrypt systems.

The post 20th July – Threat Intelligence Report appeared first on Check Point Research.

For the latest discoveries in cyber research for the week of 13th July, please download our Threat Intelligence Bulletin.

TOP ATTACKS AND BREACHES

• U.S. auto insurer AssuranceAmerica has disclosed a data breach affecting approximately 7 million people. Attackers targeted an employee and used compromised credentials to access company systems, stealing names, contact information, driver’s license numbers, insurance policy and account data, vehicle information, and claims details.
• Latvia’s state-owned forestry company Latvijas Valsts Meži has suffered a ransomware attack that disrupted mapping, hunting, contractor, and customer systems. Attackers exploited a system that had remained unpatched for two years and leaked approximately 44GB of internal documents, credentials, cryptographic keys, source code, and email correspondence.
• Injective Labs, a developer of blockchain and cryptocurrency software, has experienced a supply chain compromise after attackers accessed its SDK project and published malicious npm packages. The affected releases exfiltrated cryptocurrency wallet private keys and seed phrases when developers used legitimate key-generation functions embedded in the compromised software.
• Moody Bible Institute, a U.S. faith-based educational institution, has disclosed a data breach affecting more than 2.3 million donors, students, alumni, and supporters. The ShinyHunters extortion group published allegedly stolen information, including names, dates of birth, residential addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers.

AI THREATS

• Researchers profiled JadePuffer, an autonomous ransomware operation that used a large language model to conduct an intrusion without direct human control. The operation exploited CVE-2025-3248 in an exposed Langflow instance, accessed a production MySQL server, exfiltrated selected information, deleted the database, and issued an extortion demand.
• Researchers showed that malicious instructions hidden inside open-source project files could achieve remote code execution through Anthropic Claude Code and OpenAI Codex. When operating with automated permissions, the coding agents processed the instructions and executed attacker-controlled scripts, demonstrating a risk that may affect other autonomous development tools.
• Researchers disclosed Rogue Agent, a vulnerability in Google Dialogflow CX that allowed users with limited agent-editing permission to insert persistent malicious code. The injected code could capture and exfiltrate chatbot conversations. Google addressed the issue, and no known customer environments were compromised through the vulnerability.

VULNERABILITIES AND PATCHES

• Multiple Tenda router models are affected by CVE-2026-11405, an undocumented authentication backdoor that provides administrative access through a hidden password. The flaw affects several FH1201, W15E, AC10, AC5, and AC6 firmware versions and allows attackers to bypass configured credentials and modify device and network settings.
• Linux maintainers have patched CVE-2026-53359, a critical vulnerability in the Kernel-based Virtual Machine hypervisor. A malicious guest virtual machine could corrupt host kernel memory and potentially escape into the host environment. The flaw affects Intel and AMD x86 systems and is particularly relevant to shared cloud infrastructure.
• U-Boot has addressed six vulnerabilities affecting signature verification of Flattened Image Tree files used during secure boot. Two flaws could enable arbitrary code execution while a device loads a supposedly verified image, and four could cause crashes. The affected bootloader is widely used in routers, cameras, and embedded controllers.
• Opera has addressed a critical vulnerability in the Opera GX browser that allowed malicious websites to install browser modifications without user confirmation. An attacker-controlled modification could inject styles across open tabs, leak information such as Gmail addresses, and crash the browser. Opera corrected the issue.

THREAT INTELLIGENCE REPORTS

• Check Point Research has profiled Cavern Manticore, an Iran-linked threat actor targeting Israeli government and information technology organizations. The group uses a modular .NET command-and-control framework and has abused remote management software and a compromised software update mechanism to deploy file-management, database, scanning, and tunneling capabilities.

Check Point Threat Emulation and Harmony Endpoint provide protection against this threat

• Check Point Research have analyzed global cyberattack activity during June 2026, recording an average of 2,270 weekly attacks per organization. Ransomware incidents increased by 33% from June 2025, while The Gentlemen overtook Qilin as the most active group during the month.
• Check Point researchers have investigated a student employment phishing campaign that abused compromised school email accounts and Google Forms. More than 3,200 messages passed email authentication checks and attempted to collect banking information, residential addresses, and other details associated with money mule recruitment and account compromise.
• Researchers analyzed UAT-7810, a China-linked threat actor that compromises internet-facing networking devices to expand operational relay box infrastructure. The group developed new malware components and exploited unpatched Ruckus and ASUS devices to create proxy nodes for associated threat actors.

The post 13th July – Threat Intelligence Report appeared first on Check Point Research.

For the latest discoveries in cyber research for the week of 6th July, please download our Threat Intelligence Bulletin.

TOP ATTACKS AND BREACHES

• River Bank & Trust, a US financial institution, has experienced a ransomware incident after an unauthorized actor accessed the network of parent company River Financial Corporation on June 16. The bank found ransomware on portions of its server environment and is assessing whether personal data was accessed or exfiltrated.
• Indra Group, a Spanish defense, aerospace, and technology contractor and NATO cyber coalition member, has confirmed a ransomware attack affecting one subsidiary. The Gentlemen ransomware gang threatened to leak allegedly stolen data, while Indra said the incident was contained and that service continuity was maintained.

Check Point Threat Emulation and Harmony Endpoint provide protection against this threat

• Nidec, a Japanese electric motor and industrial manufacturer, has disclosed a ransomware attack affecting the network of its Taiwanese subsidiary, Nidec Chaun Choung Technology. BlackField group claimed responsibility and alleged theft of more than two terabytes of corporate data, including employee, financial, procurement, manufacturing, legal, and IT records.
• US insurance firm Aflac has disclosed a data breach affecting its Japan operations after attackers accessed its policyholder portal between June 15 and June 25. Personal and financial data of nearly 4.4 million customers was exposed, including policyholder information and premium payment account details.

AI THREATS

• Check Point Research has demonstrated a browser-native ransomware technique generated by a large language model that abuses Chrome’s File System Access API. A fake image-enhancement page convinces users to grant folder access, then reads, exfiltrates, and encrypts photos inside the browser on Android and Windows.
• Researchers examined shell command injection weaknesses in open-source AI coding agents, finding that 10 out of 11 popular tools failed to block obfuscated destructive commands. Simple rewrites bypassed filters and enabled destructive actions, including file deletion, while only the Continue agent properly parsed commands.
• Researchers warned that attackers are exploiting LLM phantom squatting by registering AI-generated domains to hijack traffic and deliver phishing. They recorded 250,000 hallucinated domains and subsequent registrations, including an AI-built phishing kit, Montana Empire, using a postal-service domain for credential theft.

VULNERABILITIES AND PATCHES

• Oracle E-Business Suite is affected by CVE-2026-46817, a critical remote code execution flaw reportedly exploited against about 950 internet-exposed instances worldwide. Successful exploitation can give attackers control over ERP systems.

Check Point IPS provides protection against this threat (Oracle E-Business Suite Authentication Bypass (CVE-2026-46817))

• Linux kernel maintainers patched CVE-2026-46242, a Bad Epoll privilege escalation flaw affecting Linux servers, desktops, and Android devices. The race-condition use-after-free vulnerability allows an unprivileged local user to gain root access, and a public exploit demonstrated reliable exploitation against vulnerable systems.
• Citrix has addressed CVE-2026-8451, a NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway memory disclosure flaw affecting SAML Identity Provider configurations. Active exploitation was observed less than 24 hours after disclosure, with attacks able to leak session tokens from vulnerable appliances.

Check Point IPS provides protection against this threat (Citrix NetScaler Out Of Bounds Read (CVE-2026-8451))

• Progress has addressed CVE-2026-8037, a critical OS command injection flaw in Kemp LoadMaster load balancers with a CVSS score of 9.6. Exploitation attempts began on June 29 and could allow unauthenticated remote code execution against vulnerable systems.

Check Point IPS provides protection against this threat (Progress Kemp LoadMaster Commad Injection (CVE-2024-1212, CVE-2026-8037))

THREAT INTELLIGENCE REPORTS

• Researchers elaborated on a North Korea-aligned supply-chain campaign dubbed PolinRider, which published 108 malicious packages and a Chrome extension across open-source registries. The attackers abused VS Code auto-run tasks and hidden JavaScript loaders to fetch second-stage malware and deploy DEV#POPPER and OmniStealer.
• Researchers observed a partnership between the Vect ransomware group and TeamPCP, a supply chain credential-theft gang, that industrializes ransomware delivery. At least one Vect attack using TeamPCP-sourced credentials was confirmed.
• Researchers detected the ChocoPoC campaign, which weaponizes fake proof-of-concept exploits on GitHub and PyPI to infect vulnerability researchers with a Python RAT. The malware hides commands on Mapbox datasets and steals files and browser data while executing attacker commands.
• Researchers analyzed 3,000 live ClickFix payloads and found rotating wrappers, custom command generation, and a Downloads-folder technique designed to bypass AMSI protections. The research shows how ClickFix has evolved from simple social engineering into an API-driven malware delivery ecosystem.

The post 6th July – Threat Intelligence Report appeared first on Check Point Research.

• Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has been affected by a third-party data breach involving its license system vendor. The incident exposed driver’s license information, passport numbers, emails, phone numbers, and residential addresses for 3,087,721 hunting and fishing license customers. Social Security numbers and payment data were not affected.
• ShapedPlugin, a WordPress plugin vendor, has faced a supply chain attack that delivered malicious updates for three paid plugins through its official updater. The malware installed a hidden fake WooCommerce plugin to steal admin, database, and 2FA credentials and modify affected websites. Incident analysis tied the compromise to vendor release infrastructure.
• iRhythm Technologies, a US digital health company focused on remote cardiac monitoring, has experienced a cyberattack involving third-party-hosted business applications. The company confirmed that attackers stole protected health information, proprietary data, and other personal data through a social engineering attack. Clinical systems were not affected.
• Market intelligence platform Klue has confirmed a breach after attackers used compromised legacy integration credentials to steal OAuth tokens connected to customer Salesforce environments. The tokens enabled theft of sales and customer data from several clients, including Huntress, Recorded Future, Tanium, and Jamf. The Icarus extortion group claimed responsibility.

• Researchers have detailed EvilTokens, an AI-powered phishing-as-a-service operation abusing device-code authentication to steal Microsoft 365 tokens. Huntress observed a 1,380% surge in device-code phishing in early 2026, with AI-generated lures and automated workflows lowering attacker effort.
• Researchers have crafted a fake AI skill that hijacked more than 26,000 AI agents by abusing trusted marketplaces and Instagram ads in a supply chain attack. The package initially appeared clean, then used attacker-controlled external instructions after approval to trigger data exfiltration across agent platforms.
• LayerX researchers have demonstrated BioShocking AI, a technique that tricks agentic browsers into bypassing their guardrails. Test cases against ChatGPT Atlas, Perplexity Comet, Claude in Chrome, and other AI browsers showed how game-like prompts could expose credentials and user data.

• Cisco has addressed CVE-2026-20245, a high-severity command injection flaw in Catalyst SD-WAN Manager that attackers exploited as a zero-day for months. The flaw allows an administrator to run root commands through a crafted file, affecting on-premises and Cisco-managed cloud deployments.
• Dify has released version 1.14.2 to fix four vulnerabilities in its open-source AI platform, including critical CVE-2026-41947 and CVE-2026-41948. The flaws could allow unauthenticated access and cross-tenant data exposure, including chat content and uploaded files.
• Ubiquiti UniFi OS is affected by three flaws, CVE-2026-34908, CVE-2026-34909, and CVE-2026-34910, which are reportedly being exploited against network appliances. The vulnerabilities allow unauthorized changes, file access, and command execution, with exploitation observed in Mirai botnet activity.

Check Point IPS provides protection against these threats (Ubiquiti UniFi OS Privilege Escalation (CVE-2026-34908), Ubiquiti UniFi OS Directory Traversal (CVE-2026-34909), Ubiquiti UniFi OS Command Injection (CVE-2026-34910))

• Langflow, an open-source AI workflow tool, is reportedly being targeted through exploitation of CVE-2026-55255, alongside ongoing mass exploitation of CVE-2026-33017. Attackers enumerated flow IDs to run victim pipelines and extract embedded API keys, while remote code execution enabled malware deployment and cloud credential theft.

Check Point IPS provides protection against this threat (Langflow Remote Code Execution (CVE-2026-33017))

• Researchers have uncovered the FortiBleed campaign, which converts compromised FortiGate firewalls into passive credential stealers across 24 protocols. The operation targeted more than 430,000 devices worldwide and siphoned more than 110 million credentials.
• Researchers have attributed the StockStay espionage malware to Russia-linked Turla and described targeting of Ukrainian government and defense organizations. The malware evolved from a fake stock app to PDF reader and calculator lookalikes, delivered through phishing with malicious remote desktop configuration files.
• Researchers have revealed that the Chinese DCloud Uni-App framework powers at least 236,493 scam domains since 2022, including fake crypto exchanges, wallet drainers, WhatsApp phishing, and gambling schemes. Technical fingerprints suggest centralized operators, likely China-based, supporting a broad fraud ecosystem.
• Researchers have analyzed the FulcrumSec cloud extortion group targeting cloud-native organizations. The group exploits exposed credentials, unpatched applications, and misconfigured storage, then uses broad permissions to move across environments, collect data for months, and exfiltrate it using legitimate tools.

The post 22nd June – Threat Intelligence Report appeared first on Check Point Research.

For the latest discoveries in cyber research for the week of 29th June, please download our Threat Intelligence Bulletin.

TOP ATTACKS AND BREACHES

• Polymarket, a large cryptocurrency-based prediction market, has confirmed a supply chain attack after a third-party frontend vendor breach led to malicious JavaScript being injected into its website. Attackers tricked users into approving fraudulent transactions, stealing about $3 million from fewer than 15 accounts, while the backend remained unaffected.
• KDDI, a Japanese telecom operator, has reported a breach of its ISP email platform after detecting an intrusion on June 17. Up to 14.22 million email addresses and passwords may have been compromised across services from six ISPs, including J:COM and Biglobe.
• Indian electronics and semiconductor manufacturer Tata Electronics, a supplier to Apple and Tesla, has suffered a cyberattack and data breach. The company said IT systems were affected, while the World Leaks group claimed 630GB of data, including alleged supplier and customer documents.
• Brazil’s National Civil Defense warning platform, managed by telecom regulator Anatel, has faced a cyberattack that sent a fake “Extreme Alert” to phones across several regions. Officials took the system offline after the message reached users in Paraná, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro.
• The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, a US insurance regulatory standards body, has confirmed a cyberattack after ShinyHunters claimed theft of 3.1TB of data through an Oracle PeopleSoft zero-day. The group claimed access to regulatory filings, production logs, cloud configuration files, and other internal records.

AI THREATS

• Researchers have detailed EvilTokens, an AI-powered phishing-as-a-service operation abusing device-code authentication to steal Microsoft 365 tokens. Huntress observed a 1,380% surge in device-code phishing in early 2026, with AI-generated lures and automated workflows lowering attacker effort.
• Researchers have crafted a fake AI skill that hijacked more than 26,000 AI agents by abusing trusted marketplaces and Instagram ads in a supply chain attack. The package initially appeared clean, then used attacker-controlled external instructions after approval to trigger data exfiltration across agent platforms.
• LayerX researchers have demonstrated BioShocking AI, a technique that tricks agentic browsers into bypassing their guardrails. Test cases against ChatGPT Atlas, Perplexity Comet, Claude in Chrome, and other AI browsers showed how game-like prompts could expose credentials and user data.

VULNERABILITIES AND PATCHES

• Cisco has addressed CVE-2026-20245, a high-severity command injection flaw in Catalyst SD-WAN Manager that attackers exploited as a zero-day for months. The flaw allows an administrator to run root commands through a crafted file, affecting on-premises and Cisco-managed cloud deployments.
• Dify has released version 1.14.2 to fix four vulnerabilities in its open-source AI platform, including critical CVE-2026-41947 and CVE-2026-41948. The flaws could allow unauthenticated access and cross-tenant data exposure, including chat content and uploaded files.
• Ubiquiti UniFi OS is affected by three flaws, CVE-2026-34908, CVE-2026-34909, and CVE-2026-34910, which are reportedly being exploited against network appliances. The vulnerabilities allow unauthorized changes, file access, and command execution, with exploitation observed in Mirai botnet activity.

Check Point IPS provides protection against these threats (Ubiquiti UniFi OS Privilege Escalation (CVE-2026-34908), Ubiquiti UniFi OS Directory Traversal (CVE-2026-34909), Ubiquiti UniFi OS Command Injection (CVE-2026-34910))

• Langflow, an open-source AI workflow tool, is reportedly being targeted through exploitation of CVE-2026-55255, alongside ongoing mass exploitation of CVE-2026-33017. Attackers enumerated flow IDs to run victim pipelines and extract embedded API keys, while remote code execution enabled malware deployment and cloud credential theft.

Check Point IPS provides protection against this threat (Langflow Remote Code Execution (CVE-2026-33017))

THREAT INTELLIGENCE REPORTS

• Researchers have uncovered the FortiBleed campaign, which converts compromised FortiGate firewalls into passive credential stealers across 24 protocols. The operation targeted more than 430,000 devices worldwide and siphoned more than 110 million credentials.
• Researchers have attributed the StockStay espionage malware to Russia-linked Turla and described targeting of Ukrainian government and defense organizations. The malware evolved from a fake stock app to PDF reader and calculator lookalikes, delivered through phishing with malicious remote desktop configuration files.
• Researchers have revealed that the Chinese DCloud Uni-App framework powers at least 236,493 scam domains since 2022, including fake crypto exchanges, wallet drainers, WhatsApp phishing, and gambling schemes. Technical fingerprints suggest centralized operators, likely China-based, supporting a broad fraud ecosystem.
• Researchers have analyzed the FulcrumSec cloud extortion group targeting cloud-native organizations. The group exploits exposed credentials, unpatched applications, and misconfigured storage, then uses broad permissions to move across environments, collect data for months, and exfiltrate it using legitimate tools.

The post 29th June – Threat Intelligence Report appeared first on Check Point Research.

For the latest discoveries in cyber research for the week of 22nd June, please download our Threat Intelligence Bulletin.

TOP ATTACKS AND BREACHES

• Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has been affected by a third-party data breach involving its license system vendor. The incident exposed driver’s license information, passport numbers, emails, phone numbers, and residential addresses for 3,087,721 hunting and fishing license customers. Social Security numbers and payment data were not affected.
• ShapedPlugin, a WordPress plugin vendor, has faced a supply chain attack that delivered malicious updates for three paid plugins through its official updater. The malware installed a hidden fake WooCommerce plugin to steal admin, database, and 2FA credentials and modify affected websites. Incident analysis tied the compromise to vendor release infrastructure.
• iRhythm Technologies, a US digital health company focused on remote cardiac monitoring, has experienced a cyberattack involving third-party-hosted business applications. The company confirmed that attackers stole protected health information, proprietary data, and other personal data through a social engineering attack. Clinical systems were not affected.
• Market intelligence platform Klue has confirmed a breach after attackers used compromised legacy integration credentials to steal OAuth tokens connected to customer Salesforce environments. The tokens enabled theft of sales and customer data from several clients, including Huntress, Recorded Future, Tanium, and Jamf. The Icarus extortion group claimed responsibility.

AI THREATS

• Microsoft researchers detailed AutoJack, an exploit chain where a malicious web page can turn an AI browsing agent into a remote code execution vector. The attack abused localhost trust, missing authentication, and unsafe parameter handling in AutoGen Studio’s MCP WebSocket surface.
• Researchers described SearchLeak, a prompt injection technique in Microsoft 365 Copilot Search that can use a crafted link to trigger hidden instructions and exfiltrate data. The attack abused Bing image fetch to expose emails, authentication codes, and OneDrive or SharePoint files. Microsoft patched it as CVE-2026-42824.
• Researchers analyzed OpenClaw AI agent flaws where hidden contacts and phishing emails could trigger prompt injections, code execution, and data leaks. The attacks show how agent workflows that trust external messages can expose local tools, secrets, and enterprise data through ordinary interaction paths.

VULNERABILITIES AND PATCHES

• Fortinet FortiSandbox vulnerabilities CVE-2026-39813, CVE-2026-39808, and CVE-2026-25089 are being exploited through unauthenticated API requests. The flaws enable path traversal and root-level command execution, creating a risk of sandbox takeover that could affect malware analysis, policy enforcement, and internal security workflows overall.

Check Point IPS provides protection against these threats (Fortinet FortiSandbox Directory Traversal (CVE-2026-39813), Fortinet FortiSandbox Command Injection (CVE-2026-39808))

• Microsoft has confirmed CVE-2026-50656, a Defender zero-day. The flaw allows privilege escalation to SYSTEM through a race condition. A public proof-of-concept works on fully updated Windows 10 and Windows 11 systems, and Microsoft is preparing a security update.
• Cisco has acknowledged active exploitation of CVE-2026-20262, an arbitrary file write flaw in Catalyst SD-WAN Manager. Authenticated attackers can overwrite system files and potentially escalate to root. Cisco reported limited targeted attacks and released patches for affected devices.
• Splunk Enterprise CVE-2026-20253 is actively being exploited. The critical flaw lets unauthenticated attackers trigger file operations, which researchers showed can lead to remote code execution. Splunk said limited exploitation was observed, and security updates are available.

Check Point IPS provides protection against this threat (Splunk Enterprise Arbitrary File Write (CVE-2026-20253))

THREAT INTELLIGENCE REPORTS

• Check Point Research has unmasked a crypto clipboard hijacker promoted through a phishing website and amplified on GitHub, SourceForge, YouTube, and legitimate news websites. The Rust malware targets Windows and macOS and swaps copied wallet addresses to attacker wallets.

Check Point Threat Emulation and Harmony Endpoint provide protection against this threat

• Check Point Research has uncovered a seasonal surge in travel-themed cybercrime, with attackers registering 47,318 travel-related domains in May 2026. The campaigns use Booking.com, Airbnb, and Skyscanner lookalikes to target travelers and hospitality customers with fake pages designed to steal credentials and payment details.
• Check Point Research has documented Amazon-themed scams ahead of Prime Day from June 23 to 26, including thousands of newly registered domains and lookalike internationalized domains. The campaigns impersonate Amazon services and lure Prime members into credential theft, payment fraud, and fake support interactions.
• Check Point has assessed rising cyberattacks against Central US organizations, with healthcare, energy, utilities, and financial services recording elevated weekly attack volumes. The report highlights regional and sector-level targeting patterns across the Midwest and provides business context for CISOs tracking exposure.

The post 22nd June – Threat Intelligence Report appeared first on Check Point Research.

For the latest discoveries in cyber research for the week of 15th June, please download our Threat Intelligence Bulletin.

TOP ATTACKS AND BREACHES

• The University of Nottingham, a UK research university, has suffered a data breach after ShinyHunters accessed its student records system. The incident affected about 454,600 current and former students and exposed contact details, passport numbers, enrollment information, and fee payment records later appeared online. According to analysts, this breach is part of a larger wave of attacks targeting more than 100 organizations by ShinyHunters, exploiting CVE-2026-35273, a critical zero-day vulnerability in Oracle PeopleSoft that allows remote code execution.

Check Point IPS provides protection against this threat (Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise PeopleTools Server-Side Request Forgery (CVE-2026-35273))

• Mackay Sugar, Australia’s second-largest sugar producer, has been hit by a cyberattack that disrupted operations and shut down its Farleigh and Racecourse mills in Queensland. The company instructed growers to stop harvesting and suspended cane haulage while temporary measures were deployed to maintain essential operations.
• Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk has disclosed a breach after attackers accessed internal IT systems and copied pseudonymized clinical trial data from research systems. The exposed information included patient IDs, trial participation details, limited health data, and some healthcare professionals’ contact information.

AI THREATS

• Check Point Research has demonstrated exploitable flaws in LangGraph, an open-source framework for stateful AI agents. Researchers chained SQL injection and unsafe deserialization issues to achieve remote code execution, with patches issued for SQLite, core, and Redis checkpointer components in affected deployments.

Check Point IPS provides protection against this threat (LangChain LangGraph SQL Injection (CVE-2026-27022))

• Researchers highlighted a China-based phishing-as-a-service network, Outsider, that allegedly used Gemini to generate fake websites and support SMS phishing campaigns. Google filed a lawsuit after linking the operation to thousands of phishing sites, more than 1.5 million URLs, and large-scale victim targeting.
• Researchers warned that prompt-injection attacks against Anthropic’s Claude Code GitHub Action could leak CI/CD workflow secrets. Malicious issue or pull request text can instruct the agent to read environment variables and expose API keys, enabling workflow abuse and impersonation inside software repositories.

VULNERABILITIES AND PATCHES

• Check Point Research has identified active exploitation of CVE-2026-50751, a critical authentication bypass vulnerability affecting Check Point Remote Access VPN and Mobile Access deployments configured to use the deprecated IKEv1 key exchange protocol. Attacks began in May and increased in early June, affecting a limited number of organizations, with one case tied to Qilin ransomware activity.

Check Point IPS provides protection against this threat (IKEv1 Remote Access Authentication Bypass PoC Exploit (CVE-2026-50751))

• Microsoft released its largest Patch Tuesday update to date, addressing more than 200 Windows and Defender vulnerabilities amid an AI-driven surge in vulnerability discovery. The fixes include CVE-2026-45657, a critical Windows flaw with a CVSS score of 9.8 that could enable network-based propagation, CVE-2026-41091, which has been actively exploited to gain full system control, and CVE-2026-50507, a BitLocker bypass vulnerability.
• Veeam has released security updates to fix a critical flaw affecting Backup & Replication. The vulnerability allows an authenticated domain user to execute code remotely on a domain-joined backup server, exposing sensitive backup infrastructure and recovery systems.

THREAT INTELLIGENCE REPORTS

• Check Point Research’s May 2026 attack trends report found that organizations experienced an average of 2,055 weekly attacks, down 7% month over month, while ransomware incidents increased 48% year over year. The report also highlights continued GenAI exposure across enterprise environments, including risks linked to business-related prompts.
• Researchers detected a supply-chain compromise in the Arch User Repository, where attackers seized hundreds of packages and modified build scripts to install credential-stealing malware. The campaign deployed malicious dependencies, a Rust stealer, and, with administrative privileges, an eBPF rootkit on Linux systems.
• Researchers analyzed a Brazilian phishing campaign abusing the legitimate NinjaOne remote management agent to gain access to company computers. The campaign uses fake Portuguese business portals and phone-based social engineering to install a signed agent connected to attacker-controlled infrastructure on victim endpoints
• Researchers described ongoing exploitation of WinRAR flaw CVE-2025-8088 by Russia-linked groups targeting Ukrainian military and government organizations. Spear-phishing archives plant hidden files that run at login and deploy stealers for browser passwords, cookies, VPN configurations, and other credentials across affected Windows systems.

The post 15th June – Threat Intelligence Report appeared first on Check Point Research.

For the latest discoveries in cyber research for the week of 8th June, please download our Threat Intelligence Bulletin.

TOP ATTACKS AND BREACHES

• DentaQuest, a U.S. dental benefits administrator owned by Sun Life, has suffered a data breach after threat group ShinyHunters leaked exfiltrated data. Analysts assessed that 2.6 million accounts were exposed, including names, emails, government IDs, and health insurance details.
• Password manager Dashlane has disclosed an attack in which threat actors brute-forced two-factor codes to register unauthorized devices and download encrypted password vaults for less than 20 users. The campaign began May 31 and was contained after lockouts.
• The United Nations World Food Programme has disclosed unauthorized access to its Gaza self-registration application, exposing names, identification numbers, mobile numbers, and location data. The breach affected about 600,000 Palestinian households across Gaza, and WFP suspended the platform while responding to the incident.
• Russia’s Federal Security Service claims that foreign intelligence agencies hacked mobile devices belonging to senior Russian officials. The alleged spyware operation enabled access to correspondence, calls, geolocation data, contact lists, and covert audio and video surveillance.
• Hola, whose Windows browser serves millions of users, has confirmed a supply chain compromise that pushed an unauthorized executable to some users. The file operated as a cryptominer, installed as a Windows service, and excluded itself from Defender. An independent review found impact limited to about 0.1% of users.

AI THREATS

• Check Point highlighted an AI security risk after reports that attackers used Meta’s AI support chatbot to seize Instagram accounts. Granting AI agents account recovery authority to change emails or approve requests without identity checks can enable unauthorized access, showing that permissions and verification shape the risk.
• Researchers demonstrated a notification-based prompt injection technique called Fake Context Alignment that manipulated Google’s Gemini voice assistant through incoming messages. The attack hid authorization prompts and enabled device control, auto-joining Zoom video calls, and cross-device memory poisoning. Google deployed classifier updates after disclosure.
• Researchers described an AI-enabled EDR evasion lab where a threat actor automates malware development and testing against Sophos, CrowdStrike, and Microsoft Defender. LLM-driven agents and an automated Active Directory panel coordinate iterative trials, supporting stealthy post-exploitation tied to ransomware deployment and data theft.

VULNERABILITIES AND PATCHES

• Google has released its June Android security patch for 124 vulnerabilities, including CVE-2025-48595, a high-severity Android Framework flaw under exploitation. Local attackers can use the vulnerability to gain code execution and escalate privileges on devices running Android 14 or later.
• Cisco has released patches for CVE-2026-20230, a critical Unified Communications Manager and Session Management Edition flaw that allows unauthenticated network attackers to write files and escalate to root. A public proof-of-concept was already published. The bug requires WebDialer enabled, and fixes include 14SU6 and an interim 15.x COP.
• SolarWinds Serv-U CVE-2026-28318 has been exploited in attacks against file transfer servers. The unauthenticated flaw lets crafted HTTP POST requests using a deflate header crash the service and disrupt operations. SolarWinds fixed the vulnerability in Serv-U 15.5.4 HF1.
• CVE-2026-41089 in Microsoft Windows Netlogon is being exploited in attacks against Windows Server domain controllers. The critical stack-based buffer overflow flaw can allow remote code execution through crafted network requests. Successful exploitation may give attackers SYSTEM-level control of domain controllers in vulnerable Active Directory environments.

Check Point IPS provides protection against this threat (Microsoft Windows Netlogon Remote Code Execution (CVE-2026-41089))

THREAT INTELLIGENCE REPORTS

• Check Point Research has investigated a large-scale impersonation and click-hijacking scheme that reroutes downloads from fake open-source sites through a gated traffic distribution system. Impersonating tools like Ghidra and dnSpy, it led to infection by RemusStealer, AnimateClipper, and a new loader called SessionGate.

Check Point Threat Emulation and Harmony Endpoint provide protection against this threat

• Check Point Research linked a Dutch seizure of about 800 servers at hosting provider WorkTitans B.V. to Iranian cyber espionage operations. MuddyWater, Agrius, and Nimbus Manticore used this infrastructure for attacks that enabled remote access, credential theft, and scanning.
• Check Point researchers have surveyed the 2026 U.S. midterm threat landscape, finding that operations focus on phishing, brand impersonation, and domain abuse rather than ballot tampering. Russian-linked Doppelganger networks cloned major media sites, vote-related domains increased, and exposed ActBlue and WinRed credentials surfaced.
• Researchers identified a months-long espionage campaign that covertly siphoned a senior executive’s Microsoft Outlook mailbox at a major global stock exchange. Attackers used legitimate cloud storage services and disguised update tasks to persist and move data in small batches, enabling five months of undetected access.

The post 8th June – Threat Intelligence Report appeared first on Check Point Research.

For the latest discoveries in cyber research for the week of 1st June, please download our Threat Intelligence Bulletin.

TOP ATTACKS AND BREACHES

• Carnival Corporation, a global cruise line operator, has confirmed a data breach affecting nearly 6 million people after attackers used social engineering to compromise an employee account. Exposed information may include names, contact details, dates of birth, and government identification numbers.
• Charter Communications, a US telecommunications provider operating under the Spectrum brand, has suffered a data breach by ShinyHunters group. Analysts report that 4.9 million email addresses were exposed, with names, phone numbers, physical addresses, and a subset of employee directory records.
• Lithuania’s Centre of Registers, the state agency responsible for property and legal entity records, has disclosed a data breach affecting more than 600,000 records. Attackers reportedly misused institutional login credentials to access names, dates of birth, national identification numbers, and property-related data.
• Station Casinos, a major Las Vegas casino operator owned by Red Rock Resorts, has disclosed a breach after an unauthorized third party accessed a single employee account and associated files. The company began notifying affected individuals on May 21 and said business operations were not affected.

AI THREATS

• Researchers profiled GREYVIBE, a Russia-aligned group using ChatGPT and Google Gemini to accelerate phishing, malware development, and post-compromise activity against Ukrainian targets. The campaign uses spear-phishing, fake CAPTCHA pages, and decoy websites to deliver PhantomRelay on Windows and FallSpy on Android.
• Researchers unveiled an AI-driven influence and fraud campaign run by a Russian-speaking actor behind a MAGA-themed Telegram channel with 17,000 subscribers. The operator bypassed Gemini safeguards to automate propaganda and credential theft, used stolen API keys, cracked WordPress accounts, and drained a crypto wallet.
• Researchers identified an AI-generated malicious npm package, mouse5212-super-formatter, that steals developers’ files by scanning a local directory and uploading data to a GitHub repository using a hardcoded private token. The package recorded at least seven exfiltration events and 676 downloads.

VULNERABILITIES AND PATCHES

• Check Point announced a Jumbo Security Release based on large-scale AI-driven code scanning across the products. The release addresses vulnerabilities in Check Point security gateways, including CVE-2026-48131 and CVE-2026-48132. The vulnerabilities were not exploited in the wild.

Check Point IPS provides protection against these threats (IKE Unsigned Underflow (CVE-2026-48131), IKE Improper Length Validation (CVE-2026-48132))

• CVE-2026-0257, a PAN-OS GlobalProtect authentication bypass which was fixed earlier this month, is now being exploited against unpatched Palo Alto Networks devices. Attackers are using forged authentication override cookies to create unauthorized VPN sessions, potentially giving them access to internal networks. CISA added the flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on May 29.
• A critical remote code execution flaw has been disclosed in Gogs, a popular open-source self-hosted Git service, with a CVSS score of 9.4 and no patch available. An authenticated user can abuse rebase merging to execute commands, risking repository access and cross-tenant data exposure. The vulnerability remains unpatched by the developer for more than two months.

Check Point IPS provides protection against this threat (Gogs Remote Code Execution)

• Ghost CMS vulnerability CVE-2026-26980 is actively being exploited in attacks that use SQL injection to steal Admin API keys and alter website pages. At least two groups have targeted more than 700 sites using fake Cloudflare checks to deliver data-stealing malware.

Check Point IPS provides protection against this threat (Ghost SQL Injection (CVE-2026-26980))

THREAT INTELLIGENCE REPORTS

• Researchers attributed a destructive campaign against LA Metro to an Iran-linked intelligence operation using the Ababil of Minab persona. LA Metro confirmed an intrusion involving wiped servers, and analysts linked additional transit and technology attacks to Black Shadow infrastructure.
• Researchers observed renewed Grandoreiro banking malware campaigns targeting Portuguese banks and organizations across Spain, Mexico, and Latin America. The attacks begin with phishing and using DLL side-loading or malicious scripts, then abuse cloud services to hide traffic while stealing credentials and displaying fake banking overlays.
• Researchers uncovered GHOST STADIUM, a fraud network cloning FIFA-related websites across more than 300 active domains ahead of the 2026 World Cup. The operation steals login credentials and payment data, locks fans out of accounts, and is promoted through Facebook ads.
• Researchers exposed JINX-0164, a financially motivated group targeting cryptocurrency organizations through recruiter-themed social engineering and macOS malware, including AUDIOFIX and MINIRAT. The campaigns moved from compromised developer laptops into code repositories and build systems, creating supply chain compromise risk.

The post 1st June – Threat Intelligence Report appeared first on Check Point Research.

For the latest discoveries in cyber research for the week of 25th May, please download our Threat Intelligence Bulletin.

TOP ATTACKS AND BREACHES

• 7-Eleven, the global convenience store chain, confirmed a breach after an unauthorized access to systems used for franchisee documents. ShinyHunters claimed responsibility and said it stole more than 600,000 Salesforce records containing personal and corporate information, with affected individuals offered identity protection services.
• Code hosting platform GitHub has suffered a breach after attackers weaponized a Visual Studio Code extension to compromise an employee device and steal internal source code. The company estimated about 3,800 internal repositories were exfiltrated, with no evidence of impact on customer-facing systems.
• Grafana Labs, an open-source observability software company, disclosed a breach after a compromised GitHub token allowed intruders to access parts of its source code. The company reports that it has refused to pay ransom to the attackers and claims no customer data exposure or service disruption.
• The FBI warns about Kali365, a phishing-as-a-service kit that is actively being used to target Americans and is distributed mainly through Telegram. The platform targets Microsoft 365 users with device-code phishing, captures OAuth access and refresh tokens, and enables persistent access to Outlook, Teams, and OneDrive while bypassing MFA.

AI THREATS

• Check Point Research released the March-April 2026 AI Threat Landscape digest and demonstrated that AI-driven attacks have entered routine criminal use, citing a campaign where a single operator used commercial AI to compromise nine Mexican government agencies and execute over 5,000 automated commands. It also notes malicious configuration files that override safety controls, commercialized toolkits, and stolen API keys enabling abuse.
• Researchers identified phishing campaigns that use indirect prompt injections to evade AI-powered email filters. Attackers embed invisible text inside messages, using zero-size fonts or background-matched colors, so recipients see ordinary content while AI scanning tools process attacker instructions during automated security review.
• Researchers unveiled an AI-driven influence and fraud campaign run by a Russian-speaking actor behind a MAGA-themed Telegram channel with 17,000 subscribers. The operator bypassed Gemini safeguards to automate propaganda and credential theft, used stolen API keys, cracked WordPress accounts, and drained a crypto wallet.

VULNERABILITIES AND PATCHES

• Microsoft published fixes for CVE-2026-41091 and CVE-2026-45498, two actively exploited Windows Defender flaws affecting the Malware Protection Engine and Defender Antimalware Platform. The first allows local privilege escalation, while the second can cause denial of service, with updated components released automatically through normal Defender updates.
• Trend Micro addressed CVE-2026-34926, a directory traversal flaw in Apex One on-premises servers that allows attackers with administrator access push malicious code to endpoints. Exploitation attempts were observed against Windows systems, and the issue affects the enterprise endpoint security platform in corporate deployments
• Drupal released emergency patches for CVE-2026-9082, a critical SQL injection flaw affecting Drupal sites using PostgreSQL. Successful exploitation can allow database command execution, potentially leading to data theft or code execution. Active attacks were reported shortly after disclosure across thousands of sites.

Check Point IPS provides protection against this threat (Drupal Core SQL Injection (CVE-2026-9082))

THREAT INTELLIGENCE REPORTS

• Check Point Research has revealed new campaigns of Nimbus Manticore, an IRGC-linked group that resurfaced during Operation Epic Fury with upgraded techniques. The campaigns use SEO poisoning and career-themed phishing across the United States, Europe, and the Middle East, and then delivered a new MiniFast backdoor.

Check Point Threat Emulation and Harmony Endpoint provide protection against this threat

• Check Point researchers have highlighted a 124% surge in hacktivism and ransomware across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 2025. Germany accounted for most incidents, while hacktivists drove defacements and DDoS attacks, and ransomware activity was led by Akira, Qilin, and Safepay.
• Researchers have uncovered Showboat, a Linux malware family used against international telecommunications providers. The modular post-exploitation framework can hide processes, transfer files, spawn remote shells, and operate as a SOCKS5 proxy. The activity is attributed to China-aligned threat actors.
• Researchers uncovered a supply chain attack on Laravel Lang localization packages via Composer, where attackers rewrote GitHub tags to point to malicious commits. The campaign deployed a cross-platform credential stealer targeting cloud keys, developer tokens, and browser passwords across hundreds of package versions.
• Researchers identified large-scale abuse of Middle Eastern telecom and hosting networks, with more than 1,350 active command-and-control servers across 98 providers. Linked activity included Phorpiex, Eagle Werewolf espionage, exploitation of a React Native CLI flaw, and RondoDox botnet activity at significant scale.

The post 25th May – Threat Intelligence Report appeared first on Check Point Research.

For the latest discoveries in cyber research for the week of 18th May, please download our Threat Intelligence Bulletin.

TOP ATTACKS AND BREACHES

• Vodafone, a major international telecom, has sustained a source code leak claimed by the Lapsus$ extortion group. The company confirmed limited access to GitHub files through compromised third-party development software, while stating that customer data and core network infrastructure were not affected by the incident.
• Cryptocurrency platform THORChain, based in Switzerland, has encountered a security breach that led to the theft of about $10.7M. Trading was halted after one of six vaults was compromised, and the company said losses were limited to protocol-owned assets across several blockchains.
• West Pharmaceutical Services, a global manufacturer of drug delivery components, has experienced a ransomware attack that disrupted shipping, manufacturing, and shared service functions. The company disclosed that some systems were encrypted and data was stolen, but no ransomware group has publicly claimed responsibility.
• Foxconn, a global electronics manufacturer, has confirmed it was hit by a cyberattack on its North American operations after the Nitrogen ransomware group claimed to have stolen 8TB of data. The company confirmed disruption at some factories and said affected facilities were resuming normal production.

AI THREATS

• Researchers unveiled ‘Claw Chain’, four vulnerabilities in OpenClaw, an autonomous AI agent platform, that allow attackers to bypass sandbox controls, expose restricted files, leak secrets, and gain owner-level access. The flaws include the critical CVE-2026-44112, rated CVSS 9.6.
• Researchers developed an AI-assisted macOS kernel exploit that bypasses Apple’s Memory Integrity Enforcement on M5 chips and grants full system control on macOS 26.4.1. Anthropic’s Mythos Preview reportedly accelerated bug discovery, and the findings were privately reported to Apple before public disclosure.
• Researchers detailed how threat actors abuse Vercel’s AI website generator, v0.dev, to mass-produce realistic phishing pages mimicking brands such as Microsoft and Spotify. The campaigns utilize Telegram bots to capture credentials and payment details in real time.
• Researchers found a popular Hugging Face repository hiding Windows-targeting malware after it amassed over 200,000 downloads. The package posed as OpenAI’s privacy filter and installed an infostealer that harvested browser passwords, cookies, SSH keys, VPN configurations, and cryptocurrency wallets before exfiltrating the data.

VULNERABILITIES AND PATCHES

• Two Windows zero-day vulnerabilities, YellowKey and GreenPlasma, affect Windows 11 and recent Windows Server versions. YellowKey allows BitLocker bypass through Windows Recovery Environment with physical access, while GreenPlasma abuses the CTFMON framework to escalate privileges to SYSTEM. Proof-of-concept code is public, and the vulnerabilities are still unpatched.
• F5 has fixed CVE-2026-42945, a critical memory flaw in the NGINX rewrite module affecting versions 0.6.27 through 1.30.0. The 18-year-old bug enables denial of service and, under specific configurations, possible remote code execution. Public exploit code requires memory protections to be disabled.

Check Point IPS provides protection against this threat (Nginx Heap Overflow (CVE-2026-42945))

• Cisco has addressed CVE-2026-20182, a critical authentication bypass in Catalyst SD-WAN controllers that is being actively exploited. The flaw allows remote, unauthenticated attackers to gain full administrative control of affected systems. CISA ordered federal agencies to patch vulnerable devices following Cisco’s fixes.
• Apple has released security updates for CVE-2026-28819, an out-of-bounds write flaw in the Wi-Fi component affecting iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. Successful exploitation could allow an app to execute code with kernel privileges. The issue was addressed with improved bounds checking.

THREAT INTELLIGENCE REPORTS

• Check Point Research has analyzed an internal leak from The Gentlemen ransomware operation, exposing chats, infrastructure details, affiliate roles, and ransom negotiations. The report links the zeta88 account to the administrator, maps 8 affiliate TOX IDs, and details the use of Fortinet and Cisco vulnerabilities as well as NTLM relay and OWA/M365 for initial access in attacks.

Check Point Threat Emulation and Harmony Endpoint provide protection against this threat

• Check Point Research has summarized Q1 2026 ransomware trends, recording 2,122 leak-site victims, which is the second-highest Q1 on record, and renewed consolidation. The top 10 groups were responsible for 71% of victims. Qilin led with 338 victims, The Gentlemen rose to third, and LockBit 5.0 returned with 163 victims.
• Check Point Research have quantified a World Cup 2026-driven surge in cyber activity, with weekly attacks per organization rising in Mexico, Canada, and the United States in April, across the media, hospitality, transportation and travel sectors. FIFA-themed domains reached 9,741 in April, and by early May, one in 41 were malicious.
• Researchers attributed a months-long intrusion against an Azerbaijani oil and gas company to the Chinese-linked FamousSparrow group. Attackers exploited an unpatched Microsoft Exchange server to deploy web shells, then alternated between Deed RAT and TernDoor across three waves of persistent activity.

The post 18th May – Threat Intelligence Report appeared first on Check Point Research.

For the latest discoveries in cyber research for the week of 11th May, please download our Threat Intelligence Bulletin.

TOP ATTACKS AND BREACHES

• Instructure, the US education technology company behind the Canvas learning platform, has confirmed a major data breach affecting its cloud-hosted environment. Exposed data reportedly includes student and staff records and private messages, while ShinyHunters escalated the attack by defacing hundreds of school login portals with ransom messages.
• Zara, the flagship brand of Spanish fashion group Inditex, has experienced a data breach tied to a third-party technology provider. Inditex confirmed unauthorized access, and experts verified that 197,400 unique email addresses, order IDs, purchase history, and customer support tickets were exposed.
• Hungarian media company Mediaworks, which operates dozens of newspapers and online outlets, was hit by a data-theft extortion attack. The company confirmed an intrusion after World Leaks posted 8.5TB of internal files online, reportedly including payroll records, contracts, financial documents, and internal communications.
• Czech automaker Škoda has fallen victim to a security incident affecting its online shop after attackers exploited a software flaw to gain unauthorized access. Exposed customer data may include names, contact details, order history, and logins, but according to the company passwords payment card data was not affected.

AI THREATS

• Researchers have uncovered a critical WebSocket hijacking vulnerability in Cline’s local Kanban server, impacting the widely used open‑source AI coding agent. Rated CVSS 9.7 and patched in version 0.1.66, the flaw allowed any website a developer visited to exfiltrate workspace data and inject arbitrary commands into the AI agent.
• Security researchers found a flaw in Anthropic’s Claude in Chrome extension that allowed other browser extensions to hijack the AI agent. The issue enabled malicious prompts to trigger unauthorized actions and access sensitive browser-connected data, showing how AI assistants can extend browser attack surfaces.
• Researchers detailed an InstallFix campaign using fake Claude AI installer pages promoted through Google Ads to infect Windows and macOS users. Victims were tricked into running commands that launched multi-stage malware, stole browser data, disabled protections, and established persistence through scheduled tasks.

VULNERABILITIES AND PATCHES

• Progress alerted customers to CVE-2026-4670, a critical authentication bypass in MOVEit Automation managed file transfer software that allows unauthorized access, and CVE-2026-5174, a privilege escalation flaw. Fixes are available in versions 2025.1.5, 2025.0.9, and 2024.1.8.
• Ivanti has fixed CVE-2026-6973, a high-severity Endpoint Manager Mobile vulnerability which is exploited as a zero-day. The flaw affects EPMM 12.8.0.0 and earlier and allows attackers with administrator permissions to run remote code, while hundreds of appliances reportedly remain exposed online.
• Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS Authentication Portal is affected by CVE-2026-0300, a critical buffer overflow flaw allowing unauthenticated attackers to run code with root privileges on affected firewalls. Palo Alto Networks observed active exploitation against exposed portals, with no fix available at this time.
• Dirty Frag, an unpatched Linux kernel flaw, enables local privilege escalation across Ubuntu, RHEL, Fedora, AlmaLinux, and CentOS Stream. By chaining bugs in IPsec and RxRPC, a local user can gain root access with high reliability, and public proof-of-concept code is available.

THREAT INTELLIGENCE REPORTS

• Researchers linked Iran’s MuddyWater to using the Chaos ransomware as cover for espionage and data theft. In a recent case, attackers used Microsoft Teams social engineering to harvest credentials and deploy remote tools, then extorted the victim without encrypting files before leaking data.
• Researchers detailed a Silver Fox campaign targeting organizations in India and Russia with tax-themed phishing emails. The activity delivered the previously undocumented ABCDoor backdoor, ValleyRAT, and related malware, affecting industrial, consulting, retail, and transportation sectors through more than 1,600 socially engineered messages.
• Researchers unmasked a multi-stage phishing campaign using fake code-of-conduct emails and adversary-in-the-middle tactics to hijack sign-in sessions and bypass multi-factor authentication. Active between April 14 to 16, it targeted more than 35,000 users at 13,000 organizations across 26 countries.
• Researchers profiled UAT-8302, a China-linked espionage group conducting long-term intrusions against government agencies in South America and southeastern Europe. The actors combine custom backdoors, including NetDraft and CloudSorcerer, with OneDrive and GitHub command channels and open-source tools for reconnaissance and lateral movement.
• Researchers revealed a software supply chain campaign on NuGet in which five packages impersonating Chinese .NET UI libraries install an infostealer. The packages have recorded nearly 65,000 downloads, putting developer workstations and systems at risk by stealing passwords, SSH keys, and cryptocurrency wallet data.

The post 11th May – Threat Intelligence Report appeared first on Check Point Research.

For the latest discoveries in cyber research for the week of 4th May, please download our Threat Intelligence Bulletin.

TOP ATTACKS AND BREACHES

• Medtronic, a global medical device maker, has disclosed a cyberattack on its corporate IT systems. An unauthorized party accessed data, while the company reported no impact on products, operations, or financial systems. Threat group ShinyHunters claimed the theft of 9 million records, and Medtronic is evaluating what data was exposed.
• Vimeo, a global video hosting platform, has confirmed a data breach stemming from a compromise at analytics vendor Anodot. Exposed data included internal operational information, video titles and metadata, and some customer email addresses, while passwords, payment data, and video content were not accessed.
• Threat actors have abused the account creation process of the online trading platform Robinhood to launch a phishing campaign that used emails from Robinhood official mailing account. The emails contained links to phishing sites and passed security checks. Robinhood stated that no accounts or funds were compromised and has since removed the vulnerable “Device” field.
• Trellix, a major endpoint security and XDR vendor, was hit by a source code repository breach after attackers accessed a portion of its internal code. The company engaged forensic experts and law enforcement and claims it has found no evidence of product tampering, pipeline compromise, or active exploitation so far.

AI THREATS

• Researchers pinpointed CVE-2026-26268, a flaw in Cursor’s coding environment that enables remote code execution when its AI agent interacts with a cloned malicious repository. The attack chains Git hooks and bare repositories to run attacker scripts, risking exposure of source code, tokens, and internal tools.
• Researchers exposed Bluekit, a phishing-as-a-service platform that bundles 40-plus templates and an AI Assistant using GPT-4.1, Claude, Gemini, Llama, and DeepSeek. The AI-assisted toolkit centralizes domain setup, realistic login clones, anti-analysis filters, real-time session monitoring, and Telegram-based exfiltration.
• Researchers demonstrated an AI-enabled supply chain attack in which Anthropic’s Claude Opus co-authored a code commit that introduced PromptMink malware into an open-source autonomous crypto trading project. The hidden dependency siphoned credentials, planted persistent SSH access, and stole source code, enabling wallet takeover.

VULNERABILITIES AND PATCHES

• Microsoft has fixed a privilege escalation flaw in Microsoft Entra ID that allowed the Agent ID Administrator role for AI agents to take over any service account. Researchers published a proof-of-concept showing attackers could add credentials and impersonate privileged identities.
• cPanel has addressed CVE-2026-41940, a critical authentication bypass in cPanel and WHM that is being actively exploited in the wild as a zero-day, and allows full administrative control without credentials. Patches were issued on April 28, and Shadowserver observed 44,000 internet addresses scanning or attacking decoy systems.

Check Point IPS provides protection against this threat (cPanel Authentication Bypass (CVE-2026-41940))

• Google has released patches for a critical code execution flaw in the Gemini CLI and its GitHub Action that allowed outsiders to run commands on build servers in CI/CD pipelines. The issue automatically trusted workspace files during automated jobs, allowing malicious pull requests to trigger code execution.
• LiteLLM proxy versions 1.81.16 to 1.83.6 are affected by CVE-2026-42208, a critical SQL injection flaw used to manage large language model API keys. Attackers can read and potentially alter the proxy database, with exploitation attempts observed about 36 hours after disclosure.

Check Point IPS provides protection against this threat (LiteLLM SQL Injection (CVE-2026-42208))

THREAT INTELLIGENCE REPORTS

• Check Point Research has revealed that the VECT 2.0 ransomware effectively acts as a data wiper across Windows, Linux, and ESXi. A critical encryption mistake discards required decryption information for files larger than 128 KB, making recovery impossible even after payment.

Check Point Threat Emulation and Harmony Endpoint provide protection against this threat

• Researchers analyzed a Mirai-based botnet campaign targeting Brazilian internet providers, abusing TP-Link Archer AX21 routers via CVE-2023-1389 and open DNS servers for high-volume amplification attacks. Leaked files linked control activity to infrastructure and SSH keys associated with DDoS mitigation firm Huge Networks.
• Researchers uncovered a large-scale phishing campaign, dubbed AccountDumpling, that abuses Google AppSheet email services to hijack Facebook accounts. The operation was linked to Vietnam based attackers and is using cloned support pages, reward lures, and live 2FA collection, compromising over 30,000 users and monetizing stolen access through Telegram.
• Researchers documented a TeamPCP supply chain campaign that compromised four SAP npm packages used in cloud development workflows. The malicious installers harvested developer and cloud credentials across GitHub, npm, and major providers, enabling propagation and downstream compromises before the packages were removed.

The post 4th May – Threat Intelligence Report appeared first on Check Point Research.

For the latest discoveries in cyber research for the week of 27th April, please download our Threat Intelligence Bulletin.

TOP ATTACKS AND BREACHES

• Vercel, a frontend cloud platform, has disclosed a security incident linked to a compromise at Context.ai, where stolen OAuth tokens enabled unauthorized access through a connected app. The company reported access to employee information, internal logs, and a subset of environment variables, while stating that the most sensitive secrets were not included.
• France Titres, France’s authority for identity and registration documents, has detected a data breach on April 15. The incident may have exposed names, birth dates, email addresses, login IDs, and some physical addresses and phone numbers. A hacker has offered purported agency data for sale on the dark web.
• UK Biobank, a UK research organization, has confirmed a breach after de-identified health data on 500,000 volunteers was advertised for sale on Chinese marketplaces. Officials said listings were removed and believed unsold, while access was suspended, the research platform was shut down, and download limits were imposed.
• Bitwarden, a popular password manager, has suffered a supply-chain attack after a malware-tainted CLI release was published to npm on April 22. Bitwarden said 334 developers installed version 2026.4.0 during a brief window, potentially exposing credentials after a hijacked GitHub account was abused, while vault data remained unaffected.

AI THREATS

• Researchers have flagged unauthorized access to Anthropic’s Claude Mythos Preview, an unreleased AI cyber model, through a third-party vendor environment. A small Discord group reportedly used shared contractor accounts, API keys, and predictable URLs to reach the system. Anthropic said it is investigating and has not seen impact to core systems.
• Researchers observed Bissa Scanner, an AI-assisted exploitation platform using Claude Code and OpenClaw to support mass scanning, exploitation, and credential harvesting. The focus of the operation was exploitation of React2Shell (CVE-2025-55182), while it scanned millions of targets, confirmed over 900 compromises, and collected tens of thousands of exposed environment files.
• Researchers highlighted a prompt-injection exploit chain in Google’s Antigravity agentic IDE that enabled sandbox escape and remote code execution. The flaw abused a file search tool that ran before security checks, letting attackers convert a benign prompt into system compromise, even in Secure Mode. The vulnerability was patched by Google.

VULNERABILITIES AND PATCHES

• Microsoft issued out-of-band fixes for CVE-2026-40372, a critical ASP.NET Core privilege escalation flaw rated 9.1. A bug in Data Protection versions 10.0.0 to 10.0.6 could let attackers forge cookies and antiforgery tokens, impersonate users, and gain SYSTEM-level access on Linux or macOS deployments.
• Apple released fixes for CVE-2026-28950 in iOS and iPadOS, a Notification Services bug that retained deleted alerts and allowed recovery of sensitive message previews. The flaw affected many iPhone and iPad models, enabled forensic access with device possession and allegedly allowed law enforcement agencies access to incoming messages from encrypted messaging apps.
• LMDeploy is affected by CVE-2026-33626, a high-severity server-side request forgery flaw in the open-source toolkit for deploying large language models. Active exploitation began within 13 hours of disclosure, with attackers abusing the image loader to reach cloud metadata, probe internal services, and support lateral movement.
• End of life D-Link DIR-823X routers are affected by CVE-2025-29635, a remote code execution flaw exploited to deploy a Mirai-based botnet. Akamai reported that attackers are sending requests which fetch and run scripts to conscript devices for denial of service attacks, with no patches expected for the affected models.

Check Point IPS provides protection against this threat (D-Link DIR-823X Command Injection (CVE-2025-29635))

THREAT INTELLIGENCE REPORTS

• Check Point Research has analyzed The Gentlemen ransomware-as-a-service operation, a group that emerged in 2025 and offers encryptors for Windows, Linux, NAS, BSD, and ESXi systems. The report details its underground recruitment, leak site model, Tox-based negotiations, and SystemBC proxy infrastructure used for persistence and access.
• Researchers mapped a Mustang Panda espionage campaign targeting India’s banking sector and South Korean policy circles, deploying the updated LOTUSLITE backdoor. The group used HDFC-themed help files and fake banking pop-ups, and leveraged DLL sideloading to install the malware.
• Researchers uncovered a supply-chain attack that inserted credential-stealing malware into Checkmarx developer tools on Docker Hub and Visual Studio Code, including KICS images downloaded over five million times. The malware collects cloud and developer credentials and spreads through stolen GitHub tokens and workflows, with TeamPCP suspected.
• Researchers tracked a coordinated malvertising campaign abusing Google Ads to impersonate major cryptocurrency platforms like Uniswap, Morpho, and Ledger. The operation uses Google-hosted redirect pages, cloaking, and cloned sites to deploy wallet drainers, seed phrase theft pages, and fake extensions, resulting in at least $1.27 million stolen.

The post 27th April – Threat Intelligence Report appeared first on Check Point Research.