While organizations were still responding to last month’s security alerts, threat actors were already exploiting new weaknesses. They transformed administrative dashboards into destructive tools, turned operating system cores into entry points, and weaponized software supply chains as silent malware delivery systems.
Attacks have evolved from temporary break-ins to prolonged intrusions. Criminals now operate inside cloud-based services, inject malicious code using forged developer credentials, and scale their operations like legitimate enterprises — but their end goal is pure disruption. Cybercriminal networks are becoming disturbingly sophisticated.
Complete weekly summary of cybersecurity events follows:
⚡ Primary Threat Alert
Attackers Target cPanel Vulnerability—A severe security flaw in cPanel and WebHost Manager (WHM) is currently being exploited by cybercriminals. Officially tagged as CVE-2026-41940, this weakness permits unauthorized access and grants hackers administrative control over the hosting panel. Specific attacks have resulted in entire websites and their backups being permanently erased. Other campaigns have distributed Mirai-based botnet variants and ransomware identified as Sorry.
🔔 Key Developments
- Social Engineering Campaigns Target SaaS Platforms—Two criminal organizations known as Cordial Spider and Snarky Spider are executing fast, devastating attacks within cloud-based environments while covering their tracks meticulously. These attackers use phone calls, text messages, and emails to trick staff members into visiting fraudulent pages that mimic their company’s login portals. Once credentials are obtained, criminals penetrate deeper into organizations’ cloud setups. They also disable existing multi-factor authentication and activate their own devices, while removing warning emails to avoid detection. CrowdStrike noted that “these actors use voice phishing to bypass security controls and traverse entire cloud ecosystems using a single login, hiding their activity through proxy networks to appear as ordinary home traffic. This reflects a broader pattern among English-speaking ransomware operators who share common methodologies but function as separate entities.”
- Linux Kernel Vulnerability Actively Used by Hackers—The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has listed CVE-2026-31431, a flaw affecting multiple Linux systems, in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities database after confirming it is being weaponized. This issue is a logical error in the Linux kernel’s encryption authentication module, letting hackers easily gain elevated system privileges using a simple 732-byte Python script. Research firms Theori and Xint explained that the flaw originated from incremental updates to the Linux kernel, especially a 2017 optimization for faster data processing. Consequently, all major Linux distributions released since 2017 are vulnerable. The attack is particularly dangerous because it succeeds every time, unlike most privilege-based exploits that only work occasionally. Furthermore, it operates entirely in memory, leaving no evidence on storage devices, and can break free from isolated containers within Kubernetes clusters.
- Persistent Software Supply Chain Attacks by TeamPCP—The TeamPCP cybercrime group continued its widespread campaign last week by corrupting multiple packages in the npm, PyPI, and Packagist repositories, termed a “Mini Shai-Hulud” incident. In recent months, TeamPCP has compromised several open-source tools including Aqua Security’s Trivy vulnerability scanner and Checkmarx’s KICS static analysis platform. Upwind threat researcher Amit Genkin commented that recent attacks represent an escalation, occurring more frequently and using authorized software distribution channels to release harmful code under genuine developer identities, making detection exceptionally difficult. “Operations like Shai-Hulud amplify this threat by exploiting each compromised channel to reach others, converting stolen credentials into a widespread infection problem,” Genkin explained. “Organizations must urgently review affected software versions and replace any exposed credentials linked to development workflows, particularly GitHub and cloud tokens. Moving forward, companies should limit credential access permissions and enhance monitoring of installation and build processes — since traditional security tools often fail to identify these activities.”
- Sophisticated Python-Backed Theft Tool Discovered—A newly discovered Python-based malware framework called DEEP#DOOR has been found enabling stealthy, persistent command execution and espionage on Windows systems. This malware supports shell commands, file operations, network and system scanning, and surveillance features including keystroke logging, clipboard monitoring, screenshot captures, audio and video recording, and extraction of login details and SSH keys. Beyond espionage, the tool can sabotage systems by overwriting boot records, crashing machines, overloading resources with endless processes, and disabling Microsoft Defender protection.
- GitHub Vulnerability Allows Hackers to Run Malicious Code—Security experts from Wiz have revealed a critical flaw in GitHub.com and GitHub Enterprise Server (CVE-2026-3854, rated 8.7) enabling authenticated users to execute remote code simply by pushing changes via “git push.” Microsoft patched the issue within six days due to its severity. On the public platform, the flaw allowed code execution on file storage systems, while on private enterprise servers, it provided complete access to all hosted repositories and confidential data. “This breach could potentially expose the source code of nearly every major global company, ranking it among the most critical cloud service vulnerabilities ever documented,” a Wiz representative told The Hacker News.
- VECT 2.0 Ransomware Destroys Data Permanently Due to Faulty Encryption—VECT 2.0 ransomware has been found to permanently delete large files rather than simply encrypting them, rendering data recovery impossible — even by the attackers themselves. Launched in December 2025, this ransomware-as-a-service platform gained attention after announcing affiliations with TeamPCP on BreachForums, known for breaching tools like Trivy, Checkmarx KICS, LiteLLM, and Telnyx in March and April 2026. VECT also revealed collaborations with BreachForums administrators.
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- itself, promising that every registered forum user will become an affiliate and be granted use of the ransomware, negotiation platform, and leak site for operations. Beazley Security, in an analysis of the ransomware, said the VECT 2.0 RaaS panel supports the “complete operational lifecycle an affiliate needs, from generating payloads through receiving payouts.”
🔥 Trending CVEs
Vulnerabilities surface every week, and the window between a security patch and a weaponized exploit is narrowing at an alarming pace. Here are this week’s most critical ones: high-severity flaws, issues in widely deployed software, or vulnerabilities already under active exploitation.
Review the list below, patch the systems you manage, and prioritize the urgent entries first — CVE-2026-41940 (cPanel and WebHost Manager), CVE-2026-31431 aka Copy Fail (Linux Kernel), CVE-2026-42208 (LiteLLM), CVE-2026-3854 (GitHub.com and GitHub Enterprise Server), CVE-2026-32202 (Microsoft Windows Shell), CVE-2026-26268 (Cursor), CVE-2026-35414 (OpenSSH), CVE-2026-6770 (Mozilla Firefox and Tor Browser), CVE-2026-42167 (ProFTPD), CVE-2026-24908, CVE-2026-23627, CVE-2026-24487 (OpenEMR), CVE-2026-6807 (GRASSMARLIN), CVE-2026-7363, CVE-2026-7361, CVE-2026-7344, CVE-2026-7343 (Google Chrome), CVE-2026-7322, CVE-2026-7323, CVE-2026-7324 (Mozilla Firefox), CVE-2026-6100 (CPython), CVE-2026-0204 (SonicWall), CVE-2026-35414 (OpenSSH), CVE-2026-42511 (FreeBSD), CVE-2026-40684, CVE-2026-40685, CVE-2026-40686, CVE-2026-40687 (Exim), CVE-2026-5402, CVE-2026-5403, CVE-2026-5405, CVE-2026-5656 (Wireshark), CVE-2026-42520, CVE-2026-42523, CVE-2026-42524 (Jenkins), CVE-2026-3008 (Notepad++), and CVE-2025-41658, CVE-2025-41659, CVE-2025-41660 (CODESYS).
🎥 Cybersecurity Webinars
- Learn to Identify Attack Paths That Your AppSec Tools Completely Overlook → Modern attackers string together minor weaknesses across code, pipelines, and cloud environments into major breaches — and your AppSec tools may never see them coming. Register for this free webinar hosted by Wiz and The Hacker News to discover the most common real-world attack paths and find out precisely how to identify, map, and shut them down quickly. Actionable takeaways to help you focus on genuine risks and harden your entire software development lifecycle.
- How to Keep Up with AI Attack Speed Through Autonomous Exposure Validation → Feeling overwhelmed because AI-driven attacks are outpacing your team’s response time? Sign up for this free webinar from Picus Security & The Hacker News to explore Autonomous Exposure Validation — a method for automatically uncovering real threats, testing attack pathways, and remediating them in minutes rather than weeks. Straightforward, no-nonsense guidance to help you stay ahead without burning out. Register today.
- Explore the Latest AI-Powered Threats and Hands-On Ways to Eliminate Initial Access → Today’s threat actors are bypassing conventional defenses using AI-enhanced phishing, encrypted malware, and covert “Patient Zero” techniques. Want to get ahead of them? Attend this free webinar with Zscaler and The Hacker News to learn about the newest threat trends and actionable Zero Trust strategies that effectively prevent the initial compromise before it escalates into a full-scale breach. No filler — just practical insights to help safeguard your organization.
📰 Around the Cyber World
- OpenAI Rolls Out Advanced Account Security Features — OpenAI has unveiled Advanced Account Security, a collection of optional protections tailored for ChatGPT users “aimed at individuals facing an elevated risk of digital attacks, as well as those seeking the highest level of account safeguards currently available.” Under this new program, enhanced controls reinforce login security, strengthen account recovery processes, minimize risks from hijacked sessions, and provide users with greater transparency into their account activity. OpenAI has also teamed up with Yubico to pair two physical security keys — the YubiKey C Nano and YubiKey C NFC — with ChatGPT accounts. That said, users can opt for any other FIDO-compliant security key, or choose software-based passkeys for phishing-resistant authentication.
- More Than 8,800 Ransomware Attacks Recorded in 2025 — Fortinet reported having identified 7,831 confirmed ransomware victims globally in 2025, a dramatic jump from roughly 1,600 documented victims in 2024. “The proliferation of criminal service toolkits such as WormGPT, FraudGPT, and BruteForceAI fueled this 389% year-over-year (YoY) surge,” Fortinet noted. “The three most heavily targeted industries were manufacturing (1,284), business services (824), and retail (682). Geographically, the hardest-hit countries included the U.S. (3,381), Canada (374), and Germany (291).”
- KidsProtect Android Monitoring Tool Publicly Sold Online — A newly discovered Android surveillance tool named KidsProtect is being openly marketed on the clear web, giving an operator nearly complete covert control over a victim’s phone. “It cannot be removed without the attacker’s authorization,” Certo reported. “Through a web-based dashboard, an operator can secretly record phone calls, stream live audio from the device’s microphone, monitor GPS location in real time, read SMS messages and notifications from apps like WhatsApp and Viber, capture keystrokes, browse contacts and photos, and remotely activate both the front and rear cameras.” Believed to have been developed by a Greek-speaking individual, it’s offered on a subscription basis starting at $60, enabling anyone to purchase it, rebrand it, and resell it under their own name.
- New KYCShadow Android Malware Identified — A piece of Android malware disguised as a banking KYC verification app is being spread primarily through WhatsApp, with users in India being the main targets. “The app functions as a multi-stage dropper that installs a secondary payload and establishes persistent command-and-control (C2) communication,” CYFIRMA explained. “It employs a combination of native code obfuscation, Firebase-driven remote execution, VPN-based traffic manipulation, and WebView-based phishing to systematically collect sensitive user information.”
- Spear-Person Campaign Targets Organizations in Pakistan — A highly focused spear-phishing campaign aimed at the Punjab Safe Cities Authority and PPIC3 in Pakistan has been found to use convincing government infrastructure project themes as lures for delivering malware. “The email contained two malicious attachments: a Word document housing a VBA macro dropper and a PDF with a fake Adobe Reader prompt, both delivering payloads from a malicious infrastructure hosted on BunnyCDN,” Joe Security reported. “The attack chain sets up persistent remote access by exploiting Microsoft’s legitimate VS Code tunnel service, with data exfiltration alerts sent via a Discord webhook — an advanced technique designed to bypass network-level detection.”
- Calendly-Themed Phishing Attacks on the Rise — Several threat groups are weaponizing Calendly-themed phishing schemes to profile website visitors and harvest credentials along with other data. “Beneath the shared Calendly facade lies a diverse collection of phishing kits, including API-powered frameworks, real-time Socket.IO applications, fake CAPTCHA sequences, and Telegram-based data exfiltration channels,” urlscan reported.
- Fraud Campaigns GovTrap and FEMITBOT Uncovered — Threat actors have been seen employing sophisticated methods, such as counterfeit government portals, SMS phishing campaigns, and typosquatting domains, to drive financial fraud and credential harvesting as part of an operation called GovTrap. The government impersonation scam replicates official portals with striking precision, and links to the fraudulent sites are distributed via SMS or email. The ultimate objective is to trick users into submitting their personal and financial details or making phantom payments that are routed through money mule accounts. The stolen payment card information is then exploited for illicit transactions. Another threat group has leveraged FEMITBOT, a malicious infrastructure that weaponizes Telegram Mini Apps to scale global fraud campaigns and deliver Android malware worldwide. “By harnessing Telegram’s built-in features, threat actors craft highly convincing counterfeit platforms across
📢 Cybersecurity News & Updates
- Pig Butchering with a Twist — The FBI has expanded its definition of “pig butchering” scams beyond romance fraud, warning that victims of impersonation, investment, and cryptocurrency schemes are also being recruited to launder money under the guise of “recovery services.” Victims unknowingly open bank accounts and move funds on behalf of criminals. The FBI also found cases where fraudsters contacted victims a second time, promising to help recover their stolen money — only to demand a €500 upfront fee and scam them again.
- Security Flaws Found in EnOcean’s SmartServer — Researchers at Claroty revealed two vulnerabilities in EnOcean’s SmartServer IoT platform affecting version 4.60.009 and earlier. CVE-2026-20761 lets remote attackers send specially crafted LON IP-852 messages to execute arbitrary commands on devices. CVE-2026-22885 allows attackers to send crafted IP-852 messages that bypass ASLR memory protections and leak memory contents. Exploiting these flaws gives attackers control over building management and automation systems running affected platform versions and legacy i.LON devices. Fixes for both vulnerabilities have been released.
- Google Rolls Out Android Credential Manager Update — Google introduced a new feature for Android’s Credential Manager that lets apps automatically confirm a user’s personal Gmail address — no one-time passwords (OTPs) or email verification links needed. “Google now sends a cryptographically verified email credential straight to Android devices,” the company explained. “Users no longer need to manually verify their email through outside channels. For developers, the API reliably delivers verified user claims for account creation, recovery processes, or high-risk authentication steps.”
- 8,800 Secrets Exposed Online — Truffle Security reports that 8,792 verified, unique secrets have been leaked through web-based development environments. These tokens were discovered across 22 million public projects hosted on Cloud Development Environments (CDEs) including CodePen, CodeSandbox, JSFiddle, and StackBlitz.
- More Clues Emerge in Xygeni Breach — Investigators have uncovered several links between the compromise of the Xygeni vulnerability scanner on GitHub and a proxy botnet made up of hacked ASUS and TP-Link routers. Some of the TP-Link routers were implanted with Microsocks to turn them into residential proxy nodes. Ctrl-Alt-Intel noted the routers were also running a custom command-and-control beacon called ShadowLink. “When we analyzed the ShadowLink protocol, we found it was identical — including a shared authentication secret — to the backdoor planted in the Xygeni GitHub Action used in that supply chain attack.”
- Brazilian Anti-DDoS Provider Accused of DDoS Attacks — According to KrebsOnSecurity, Huge Networks — a Brazilian firm specializing in DDoS protection — has been behind a botnet responsible for large-scale DDoS attacks targeting other ISPs in Brazil. The company attributed the malicious activity to an intrusion first detected in January 2026 and suggested it was likely carried out by a competitor.
- Canonical Hit by Prolonged DDoS Attack — Canonical’s web infrastructure was struck by a “sustained, cross-border attack” that took Ubuntu servers offline for several hours. A pro-Iranian hacktivist group called the Islamic Cyber Resistance in Iraq (also known as 313 Team) claimed credit for the attack on Telegram. The sites have since been restored. Last month, the same group also disrupted access to the decentralized social media platform Bluesky.
- New AI-Powered Phishing Kit Called Bluekit — Security researchers have detailed Bluekit, a new phishing kit featuring over 40 templates targeting widely used services and offering basic AI-powered tools for generating campaign drafts. Templates cover email providers (Outlook, Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, ProtonMail), cloud and enterprise platforms (iCloud, Zoho), developer tools (GitHub), and crypto services (Ledger). What sets Bluekit apart is its AI Assistant panel, supporting multiple models — including Llama, GPT-4.1, Claude, Gemini, and DeepSeek — to help criminals compose phishing emails. It also supports two-factor authentication, geolocation emulation, antibot cloaking, notifications, spoofing, voice cloning, and an integrated mail sender. Bluekit is the second phishing kit to incorporate AI features in consecutive months. In April 2026, Abnormal Security exposed a cybercrime platform named ATHR that leverages AI vishing agents, credential harvesting panels, and built-in phishing mailers to carry out telephone-oriented attack delivery (TOAD) attacks.
- North Korea Dismisses U.S. Cyber Threat Allegations — North Korea’s foreign ministry pushed back against U.S. claims of the country posing a cyber threat, calling the accusations politically motivated disinformation about a nonexistent cyber threat, according to Reuters. The ministry stated it “would actively take all necessary measures to defend the interests of the state and protect the rights and interests of its citizens in cyberspace.”
🔧 Cybersecurity Tools
- Model Provenance Kit — A free open-source Python tool from Cisco AI Defense that checks whether a machine learning model is derived from a known base model (such as Llama, Mistral, GPT, and others). It examines architecture, tokenizer, and weights to quickly compare two models or scan against a database of roughly 150 popular base models.
- AutoFyn — An open-source tool from SignalPilot Labs that uses Claude AI in self-improving loops to optimize specific, measurable goals. Provide it with a GitHub repo, a well-defined task (such as security hardening, bug fixing, or performance tuning), and a time budget — it iterates through sandboxed rounds, tracks progress using real evaluations, learns from failures, and submits improved code through PRs.
Disclaimer: This content is strictly for research and educational purposes. None of these tools have undergone a formal security audit, so don’t deploy them directly into production without careful review. Read the code, test it in a sandbox environment first, and make sure your activities comply with applicable laws and regulations.
Conclusion
Stay vigilant out there.
The speed of attacks is increasing, and the window for inaction is closing. Patch what you can as soon as possible, verify your supply chains, tighten SaaS access controls, and treat every routine login or pipeline execution as potentially hostile. Small, consistent security habits today will prevent major problems down the road.
Until next Monday. Keep your defenses strong and stay alert. The threats aren’t slowing down — and neither should we. See you in the next recap.



