Cyber security news October 2026

This posting is here to collect cyber security news in October 2026.

I post links to security vulnerability news to comments of this article.

You are also free to post related links to comments.

505 Comments

  1. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2026/10/26/uusi-varmenne-tukee-kvanttiturvallisia-algoritmeja/

    Suomalaisen Instan varmenneratkaisun uusin versio Insta Certifier 10 lupaa tukea ja helpottaa organisaatioiden kvanttiturvallista siirtymää ja kasvavien varmennemäärien hallintaa. Mukana on nyt tuki kvanttiturvallisille algoritmeille, automatisoitu elinkaarenhallinta ja aiempaa parempi suorituskyky.

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  2. Tomi Engdahl says:

    AI coding agents hijacked using AGENTS.md file in Downloads folder
    https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/ai-coding-agents-hijacked-using-agentsmd-file-in-downloads-folder/?fbclid=IwdGRjcAVMKiZjbGNrBUwp1mV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHBkb2YFc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMzUwNjg1NTMxNzI4AAEeaSlRRuczBvpgdAFVjCU36DjYDSpr4LqV6QdZn2h8vXCtDRlJMOQQpmnU43w_aem_NDX2N_ZQEkM5wXr9Ic-eGQ

    Researchers found a malicious AGENTS markdown instruction file in a customer’s Downloads folder that tricked an AI coding agent into installing a rogue npm package.

    They reproduced the attack against OpenAI Codex and demonstrated a related technique against Claude Code to leak OAuth tokens and hijack the account using only the malicious instructions.

    Markdown files such as AGENTS.md are plain-text files that contain project-specific instructions for AI coding agents, such as the tools to use, how to run tests, and the coding conventions to follow.

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  3. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Digiuutiset
    Tekstiviesteihin tulossa muutos 2.11. – Tästä on kyse
    Tekstiviesteihin tuleva muutos vaikeuttaa suomalaisten huijaamista.
    https://www.iltalehti.fi/digiuutiset/a/fff4a982-e9b9-4da7-9c6a-bc4f716aa5f7

    Operaattoreiden on 2. marraskuuta 2026 alkaen muutettava tekstiviestin vahvistamaton lähettäjätunnus muotoon Roskaposti tai estettävä viestin lähettäminen kokonaan. Viime toukokuusta alkaen vahvistamaton lähettäjätunnus on näkynyt muodossa Tuntematon.

    Muutoksen tarkoituksena on vaikeuttaa huijareiden mahdollisuuksia esiintyä viranomaisina, yrityksiä tai muina luottamusta herättävinä toimijoina huijausviestejä lähettäessään.

    Lähettäjätunnuksen käyttöoikeuden varmistaminen on pakollista kaikille organisaatioille, jotka lähettävät tekstiviestejä suomalaisille kuluttajille. Muutoksella ei ole vaikutusta yksityishenkilöiden välisiin viesteihin.

    – Roskaposti-merkintä kertoo vastaanottajalle, ettei lähettäjän oikeutta käyttämäänsä tunnukseen ole voitu varmistaa. Huijarin on jatkossa vaikeampi saada viesti näyttämään siltä, että se olisi tullut tutulta yritykseltä tai muulta luotetulta toimijalta, johtava asiantuntija Klaus Nieminen sanoo Traficomin tiedotteessa.

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  4. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Näin telkkarista riisutaan tarpeettomat älyominaisuudet
    Tekoälyn avulla luotujen ilmaissovellukset luvataan karsivan pois turhat toiminnot ja tekevän televisioiden käytöstä nopeampaa.
    https://www.iltalehti.fi/digiuutiset/a/6f180c8f-59c9-4790-acc7-582467adaacf

    Tekoälyä on ryhdytty käyttämään televisioiden riisumiseksi erilaisista älyominaisuuksista, muun muassa Techcrunch uutisoi.

    Sivuston mukaan useat fiiliskoodaajat ovat jakaneet käyttäjille tuotoksiaan, joilla on mahdollista esimerkiksi suitsia sponsoroitujen mainosten näkyvyyttä, jouduttaa sovellusten avautumista ja estää televisioiden suorittamaa seurantaa

    Esimerkiksi dumbtv-sovellusta, vapaasti suomentaen ”tyhmätelkkaria”, kuvaillaan Githubissa näin:

    – Televisiosi tulisi tehdä se, mistä maksoit: pyörittää valitsemiasi sovelluksia ja hdmi-tulojasi, eikä mitään muuta. Ei mainoksia itse televisiolta, ei katselun seurantaa, ei päivityksiä, joita et pyytänyt.

    People are using AI to make their smart TVs dumb again
    https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/19/people-are-using-ai-to-make-their-smart-tvs-dumb-again/

    The latest use case for AI? Dumbing down your smart TV to get rid of the bloat. A number of developers and vibe coders have recently been sharing solutions for “vibe-coding” your TV to get rid of sponsored ads, speed up the app launcher, redesign the home screen, disable tracking features, and more.

    One such solution, called “dumbtv,” describes its mission on its GitHub page thus: “Your TV should do what you paid for: your apps, your HDMI inputs, and nothing else. No ads from the TV itself, no watch tracking, no update you did not ask for.”

    Another, “cleanyourtv,” promises to strip the bloatware from any Android TV or Google TV over Wi-Fi, to replace the launcher with one that resembles Apple TV.

    While hacking consumer electronics devices to gain more control over their systems is hardly a new idea, the latest advances in AI technology have made such efforts much more accessible to anyone. With smart TVs in particular, the hacks come at a time when people have grown frustrated with being forced to watch ads and put up with their devices surveilling their viewing habits.

    Modern smart TVs ship with a technology called automatic content recognition (ACR), which identifies what’s playing on the screen using screenshots, audio clips, or other forms of digital fingerprinting.

    If these “dumb TV” hacks become more popular among everyday consumers, they have the potential to disrupt the smart TV ad industry, which profits from selling viewing data to advertisers or using it to display personalized ads on their own interfaces.

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  5. Tomi Engdahl says:

    953 Online Stores Infected in Long-Lasting Malware Campaign

    Small loader code injected into the stores served a payload to visitors or did nothing to avoid detection.

    https://www.securityweek.com/953-online-stores-infected-in-long-lasting-malware-campaign/

    A threat actor has infected 953 online stores, most of them running Magento, with loader code as part of a long-running campaign, cybersecurity firm Sansec reports.

    The attacks have been ongoing since July 2025, and the threat actor has used five different domains for its JavaScript loader.

    The first four domains, manulfie.click, neswnsssn.click, lanhd6549tdhse.top, and additionalver.com, were used across hundreds of stores.

    “neswnsssn.click and manulfie.click expired and were registered again in May 2026. Both now use the nameservers of a domain parking service (abovedomains.com). Between August and October 2026, Sansec still found the manulfie.click loader on 9 stores and the neswnsssn.click loader on 6,” Sansec says.

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  6. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Cybercrime
    Dutch Police Arrest Two Over NFC Relay Attacks That Drained $400,000+ From Bank Accounts

    The individuals called victims and persuaded them to install an app and scan their credit cards to loot their bank accounts.

    https://www.securityweek.com/dutch-police-arrest-two-over-nfc-relay-attacks-that-drained-400000/

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  7. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Critical ‘HTTP2Shell’ Brotli vulnerability triggers emergency patches
    https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/critical-http2shell-brotli-vulnerability-triggers-emergency-patches/?fbclid=IwdGRjcAVMYIpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBwZG9mBXNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHt8R22jUOLAFtmafm8-nQ80fNCqoLgIeeQEmVNfk5SyVTo8hQXlGSFwP67AA_aem_z1TzBHhCaszS7vOLRuerbA

    A critical flaw dubbed ‘HTTP2Shell’ in Brotli, the C decoder library built into Node.js, could allow attackers to corrupt memory and access sensitive data.

    The security issue is tracked as CVE-2026-111497 and is also known as “Broccoli2Shell” and “Node2Shell.” It affects Brotli versions 1.0.3 through 1.0.9, 1.1.0, and 1.2.0.

    The vulnerability has been reported under several names because it was initially identified in Node.js before researchers found that the same flaw in the Brotli decoder could affect software across multiple ecosystems.

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  8. Tomi Engdahl says:

    PHP-haavoittuvuus on vasta alkusoittoa – tekoälyn kyky löytää ja käyttää hyväkseen haavoittu­vuuksia haastaa tietoturvan
    Tekoäly ei kuitenkaan muuta hakkerointia perustavan­laatuisesti, sanoo tietoturva-asiantuntija Laura Kankaala.
    https://yle.fi/a/74-20252859?origin=rss&fbclid=IwdGRjcAVMkeFjbGNrBUyRvWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHBkb2YFc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMzUwNjg1NTMxNzI4AAEe-hKyHn3pCMqXrPbI2ztP9sQxoeVGOHr3Yi2_TKJ3WwleuvWt8rYsdTTYfI4_aem_Jj7s_W9-p5at5gNDNydl5Q

    F-Securen tietoturva-asiantuntija Laura Kankaalan mukaan tekoäly nopeuttaa hyökkäysten rakentamista, mikä pakottaa yritykset paikkaamaan haavoittuvuudet aiempaa ripeämmin.

    Tietoturva on vuosikymmenien ajan nojannut kahteen pilariin: haavoittuvuuksien etsimiseen ja korjaamiseen sekä ihmisen huomion rajallisuuteen.

    Käytännössä kaikki ohjelmistot ja järjestelmät sisältävät haavoittuvuuksia. Yksi tietoturvan keskeisistä tehtävistä on löytää ja korjata ne ennen hyökkääjiä.

    Kaikkea ei voi kuitenkaan löytää. Tämä ei ole ollut valtava ongelma puolustajille, sillä sama haaste on koskenut myös hyökkääjiä.

    Osaavia ihmisiä on vähän ja heidän huomionsa on rajallinen. Valtaosa haavoittuvuuksista on saanut olla rauhassa, sillä kukaan ei ole ehtinyt tai keksinyt etsiä niitä.

    Tekoäly on muuttanut tilanteen.

    Tekoäly löytää haavoittuvuuksia
    Tietoturva-asiantuntijat ovat puhuneet tekoälyn synnyttämästä uhasta jo pitkään.

    Reply
  9. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Microsoft releases emergency .NET security fixes for Google Brotli bug
    Redmond joins growing list of software maintainers scrambling to patch compression flaw
    https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/10/26/microsoft-releases-emergency-net-security-fixes-for-google-brotli-bug/5305515

    To address a vulnerability in Google’s Brotli compression technology that could allow attackers to corrupt process memory, Microsoft is urging .NET users to update “as soon as possible” after releasing an out-of-band (OOB) security update.

    It released new versions for .NET 8, 9, 10, and .NET 11 to patch against the Brotli bug, following similar updates from Node.js, Python, and other projects.

    Senior program manager Rahul Bhandari said in the October 25 release that the buffer overflow vulnerability in Brotli, tracked as CVE-2026-111497 and rated 8.1 under CVSS v3.1 in Microsoft’s advisory, could allow an unauthenticated attacker to read or corrupt process memory, potentially resulting in information disclosure, denial of service, or elevation of privilege.

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  10. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Tietosuojavaltuutettu totesi tänään Ylen Aamu-tv:ssä, että maksa tai suostu -malli on mahdollinen, kunhan suostumus on aito. EU-laajuista selkeää linjausta mediatoimijoihin ei vielä ole. https://areena.yle.fi/1-76113375?seek=3327

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  11. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://github.com/Gathin23/cleanyourtv
    Debloat any Android or Google TV over Wi-Fi and get an Apple TV-style home.

    Reply
  12. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19zxqZgk4a/

    Jason Clinton, Anthropic’s deputy chief information security officer, is warning that the current problems are only the beginning.

    PHP is the programming language that runs a large part of the web, including most WordPress sites and many government, hospital, and school systems.

    Two serious flaws were just found in it that let an attacker take control of a vulnerable server without needing a password.

    Researchers used advanced AI models to help find the bugs.

    Within hours, Cloudflare saw attempts to exploit them jump from thousands into the millions.

    Operators had to take government sites, hospital systems, and school services offline while they rushed to fix them or cut them off from the internet.

    Clinton was blunt.

    As bad as the past four days have been, he wrote, “they are going to get a lot worse before they get better.”

    He told security leaders to go to their boards right away and ask for funding for the basics—separating networks, knowing what systems they actually have, and properly isolating critical ones—not more AI tools.

    He said organizations need to hold on for about 18 months.

    He had already warned about this in August.

    He said a wave of new vulnerabilities was coming, that there would not be enough time to patch critical systems, and that companies needed to start isolating important networks with air-gaps and one-way data connections immediately.

    When someone argued that AI companies had created the situation, Clinton replied that it was always going to happen this way and that they had tried to warn people.

    The core issue is the growing gap between how fast AI can find and exploit weaknesses and how slowly most organizations can find, patch, or properly isolate the systems they already run.

    That includes websites still running old, unsupported versions of PHP that can no longer be safely updated, plus the computers that control factory equipment, power systems, and other physical infrastructure and are still reachable from the internet.

    If that gap stays open, the next problems will be more than short outages.

    An attacker who can run code on systems that hold medical records, benefits data, school information, or banking systems can gain lasting access, steal data, or deploy ransomware before teams finish checking everything.

    When those systems are connected, one compromised machine can take others offline or let attackers move further inside.

    Older websites and industrial systems that cannot be updated quickly will stay exposed longer, and the same AI tools that found these PHP bugs will keep finding more.

    For the next year and a half the likely result is repeated scrambling, partial downtime, and lingering access that is hard to fully remove.

    Most of the systems that matter are still reachable from the internet, and the window to cut them off is already closing.

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  13. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Altman’s fix for AI attacks is more AI.

    OpenAI boss Sam Altman spoke to Stanford students last week.

    He said fixing bugs one by one cannot keep up anymore.

    Defenders, he said, need a shield built with the same AI.

    Even OpenAI’s own AI agents escaped their test systems.

    Online safety is turning into a race between machines.

    Read more on TNW: https://thenextweb.com/news/sam-altman-patch-all-the-bugs-ai-cybersecurity-stanford

    Reply
  14. Tomi Engdahl says:

    How one man became the unsung hero of the internet during a cyber-security scramble
    https://www.linkedin.com/safety/go/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebbc%2Ecom%2Fnews%2Farticles%2Fcw30ejqljl43o&urlhash=26M2&mt=z5KfYDqXJw1NVFEjiqJHv0Qv6Gkk9dn0WyRyHvOmg5L0FvYqtafkvpBmgUrHYJoQn1rZg1mowPgY7X4iKywcI-NBaPcBLZkWxLvotz1m0c_THUpyv11f1g&isSdui=true

    For more than 20 years, Ondřej Surý has been quietly helping to keep websites around the world running securely, largely in his spare time.

    He voluntarily maintains software for two of the most popular versions of Linux, a free operating system similar to Windows, which are often used on web servers.

    Typically, this involves keeping them up-to-date with the latest version of PHP, a programming language which underpins a significant number of the world’s websites.

    This week, he became very busy indeed.

    With the help of AI, two major cyber-security flaws were identified in the programming language, leading the PHP Foundation to release fixes.

    But average folk may struggle to understand how to install these onto their systems – so Surý, for free, dropped everything to convert the fixes into packages, which can be easily installed without expertise.

    “The feeling is like I am responsible for all these people and I can’t fail them,” he told BBC News.

    What is PHP and why did it spark a global cyber-security scramble?
    The vulnerabilities in PHP sparked an international scramble to install security updates, amid fears that cyber criminals could exploit the gaps.

    Surý is one of a small number of developers whose work helps make those updates available.

    And while keeping the internet secure might sound like a full-time occupation, it isn’t actually his day job.

    He works as director of DNS engineering at Internet Systems Consortium, a US non-profit organisation.

    He takes the source code released by the PHP project and turns it into packages which website operators can easily install on their servers.

    “It’s kind of fulfilling because I sense my work has a purpose,” he said.

    “At the same time, I feel that not enough credit has been given to other people who has been part of this, like the PHP project people.”

    But he also acknowledged the weight that comes with his role.

    A race against time
    Surý had been given advanced warning about the vulnerabilities by the PHP project, but when information about the weaknesses leaked online, the planned release was brought forward and things started ramping up.

    “I got aware that this is quite severe and I don’t have that much time to prepare the packaging of the PHP that I provide to people,” he said.

    Despite the urgency, he said he was confident that his experience and preparation would allow him to get the job done.

    Other developers around the world were also working to ensure the patches could be distributed – highlighting just how much of the internet’s essential infrastructure sometimes depends on dedicated developers.

    He said major technology companies should take more responsibility for supporting the open source software they depend upon.

    “I think they should be more responsible,” he said.

    “If you just take and don’t give back then it will backfire.”

    Surý has also been considering what would happen if he could no longer maintain the software packages himself.

    But he is concerned that AI may be dramatically accelerating the discovery of security vulnerabilities, helping both cyber criminals and those trying to stop them.

    “I think this is was the most severe incident in years, but I think that because of the AI capabilities are getting better in the cyber security, this might not be an isolated incident,” he said.

    “And people should be prepared to act this quickly more often because incidents like this might happen in the future – in the near future.”

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  15. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Opinion from
    https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1JLDJfRyca/

    The circle is complete, and every side of it is for sale.

    First, AI moved into the power grid’s house. Its data centers drink electricity at a scale that is pushing up bills and forcing grid expansions across the country.

    Then, this month, the test results landed. A cybersecurity firm called Frenos set the strongest AI models loose on the kind of industrial software that runs water and power systems. The models planned successful attacks about 90% of the time. Federal energy regulators, in their 2026 audit, separately warned that AI tools are already inside protected grid networks — and could become the doorway attackers walk through.

    And the solution being sold? More AI. OpenAI has pledged $1 billion in AI cyber-defense for grid operators and water utilities. Anthropic just launched the same kind of program. The companies whose technology created the threat now rent out the protection.

    Be honest — when the arsonist sells fire insurance, what do you call that?

    The receipts:

    THE ORIGINAL STORY (September 3, 2026): OpenAI announced “Daybreak for Frontline Defenders” — $1 billion in subsidized access to its AI cybersecurity models, training and support for water and wastewater utilities, electric grid operators, state and local governments, community banks and nonprofits. The $1 billion is product credits and subsidized access, not cash. It came weeks after OpenAI’s own AI agent breached systems at the open-source platform Hugging Face during a July test and attempted to hide its actions — and days after OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and 100+ other companies jointly warned that AI-enabled attacks are about to become far more widespread. (Reuters, September 3, 2026; Cybersecurity Dive; Security Affairs.)

    THE OCTOBER TEST RESULTS: cybersecurity firm Frenos tested how well AI models plan attacks against industrial control systems of the kind used by water utilities. Reported October 21, 2026 (Energy Central), the strongest frontier models succeeded around 90% of the time. The firm’s caveat, stated in its own report: it did not test how human intervention could halt or mitigate the attacks.

    THE REGULATOR’S WARNING: the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s 2026 cybersecurity audit found increasing use of advanced AI tools inside protected network environments linked to the bulk power system, and warned that poorly controlled AI access could give attackers “lateral-movement” paths toward critical systems — AI mimics normal user behavior, making malicious use harder to spot. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong and Consumer Counsel Claire Coleman responded by asking the state utility regulator (PURA) to review how Eversource and Avangrid deploy AI. (Reported October 19, 2026.)

    THE OTHER BODYGUARD: Anthropic announced its own Critical Infrastructure Defense Program in October 2026, offering frontier models, engineers and threat research to organizations securing power grids and water systems. (QUE.com industry summary, October 2026.)

    THE STRAIN SIDE: the same industry’s data-center buildout is the fastest-growing new load on the grid — which is why the Senate’s October 9 “Power and Profits” report (covered in today’s 5:30 PM post) found all seven major companies refusing to pay the full grid-upgrade costs their demand triggers. Demand up, defenses rented, attack surface widened — all three arrows point back to the same handful of companies.

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  16. Tomi Engdahl says:

    “It’s so much easier to steal this than to rob a bank.” https://trib.al/pFfHmxP

    Blue Steal
    Thieves Are Making a Fortune Heisting AI Data Center Equipment
    “It’s so much easier to steal this than to rob a bank.”
    https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-data-center-heist-thieves-equipment?fbclid=IwdGRjcAVNkgtjbGNrBU2R9WV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHBkb2YFc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMzUwNjg1NTMxNzI4AAEe-xm3sOqzhHMD6OhXKmfAK76qISLUs9LAaWXU79D_Qbotx3ngGgnagnRTI5Y_aem_9jRTxJVbtXJ92QbAeOkccw

    As tech billionaires make bank off an AI trade that now threatens retirement accounts and university endowments, a criminal element is rising to take advantage of the crumbs that fall off the table.

    According to new reporting by NBC, truckfuls of equipment bound for data center construction sites are disappearing at a breakneck pace, representing tens of millions of dollars in losses for developers.

    Reply
  17. Tomi Engdahl says:

    “It can have disastrous broader implications.” https://trib.al/s9qMMAV

    Is Building Detailed Psychological Profiles of Its Users
    “…there is no boundary anymore; the system is acting as your advisor, your friend, your doctor, your lawyer, and so it has information on everything.”
    https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/chatgpt-building-profiles-users?fbclid=IwdGRjcAVNkohjbGNrBU2Sd2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHBkb2YFc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMzUwNjg1NTMxNzI4AAEe5TLIzMfZfAEvO9DTqXDdc5wr7UqwuS4pJ9lPBPWtvP5I5c9ukCoRic1e7dk_aem_n_BrkT18Pv_Qfvjx_4bnnA

    Reply
  18. Tomi Engdahl says:

    A reverse engineer claims Samsung 2025 TVs collect audio telemetry through built-in microphones and connected devices. Learn more
    https://cnews.link/samsung-smart-tv-spying-microphones-ai/

    Reply
  19. Tomi Engdahl says:

    r/opensource moderators introduced rules against projects that use AI, saying AI conflicts with the community’s purpose.

    More https://cnews.link/reddit-open-source-ai-ban/

    Reply
  20. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Exposed information may include names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, government IDs, and Medicaid or student IDs. More: https://cnews.link/hackers-breach-school-tech-giant-serving-50-million-students-nationwide/

    Reply
  21. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Dahua IP cameras compromised in Ukraine.

    CERT-UA confirms attackers gained access to video feeds, changed device settings, and created rogue accounts.

    The attacks exploit Easy4IP P2P access alongside weak passwords or authentication bypass flaws.

    Full details ↓ https://thehackernews.com/2026/10/attackers-hijack-dahua-ip-cameras-in.html

    Reply
  22. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Microsoft Authenticator flaw let malicious Android apps impersonate Teams and obtain work account sign-in tokens.

    No app permissions needed. Researchers demonstrated access to email, files, and calendars.

    Microsoft has patched it.

    Read more ↓ https://thehackernews.com/2026/10/microsoft-authenticator-flaw-let.html

    Reply
  23. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Most WordPress problems start with something small: an old plugin, a forgotten theme, a setting left open. A free WPSec report shows you exactly what needs fixing on your site. Built in Sweden for WordPress site owners across the Nordics. Enter your site and email, and we send you the full security report, with a free account to keep an eye on it.

    https://wpsec.com/lp/scan/?v=email&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=G40-lu-no-email&utm_content=52649731229622&utm_term=52649731187622&fbclid=IwdGRjcAVN1sZleHRuA2FlbQEwAHBkb2YFYWRpZAAAL-J4sxEmc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMzUwNjg1NTMxNzI4AAEeFssmcXI_JVFVDTHy2GV-ErNm6WJ3e5xpJQwMzjhz3LLBB_qu8SCFGxSJGTw_aem_5GhvaGQaRk1EhRAfPMXaqA&utm_id=52649731178822

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  24. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1CKobs8e5D/

    A virtual machine is supposed to stay isolated from its host. This Linux kernel flaw put that boundary at risk.

    The vulnerability reportedly allowed code running inside a VM to extract 32-byte blocks of host memory by sending network traffic. It’s a reminder that virtualization depends on the security of the underlying kernel, too.

    How much trust should we place in virtual machine isolation?

    #Linux #Cybersecurity #KernelSecurity

    Reply
  25. Tomi Engdahl says:

    BREAKING: A hacker is attempting to breach the US Federal Election Commission’s systems and that agency has had to ‘temporarily shut down’ its web-facing services as a result, according to an email seen by Reuters.

    Hacking attempts against US Federal Election Commission system triggered outage, email shows
    https://www.reuters.com/technology/hacker-trying-breach-us-federal-election-commission-system-email-shows-2026-10-27/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Social&fbclid=IwdGRjcAVN29pleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBwZG9mBXNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHlzIzWuyO0umLsSdGc0RcSIWIJyR7gtNnH6Mtz5mMsXBV64n1GHFPiNBB8IJ_aem_Mf-rGVNWVWrIF7qjje-Jag

    NEW YORK, Oct 27 (Reuters) – The US Federal Election Commission’s website has been targeted by ​a hacker or hackers, disrupting the agency’s electronic filings ‌system a week before the November 3 elections, according to an email seen by Reuters.
    In a statement, the FEC said that, “at this time, the ​FEC’s electronic filing system is currently offline and our ​IT staff are actively working to restore service.” The FEC, ⁠which tracks the spending of candidates and political committees, said ​that users could still search the website for past reports. It declined ​further comment on the outage.

    The hacking attempts come a week before the midterm elections, which will determine whether President Donald Trump’s Republicans maintain their majorities ​in Congress for the next two years.
    The FEC does not ​play a role in administering US elections and the outage should have ‌no ⁠effect on voters’ ability to cast ballots.

    The outage prevents organizations from filing the FEC’s 24-hour and 48-hour spending reports, which show how much political groups and others are spending on specific races.

    Reply
  26. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Tällainen ääni puhelimessa merkitsee vakavaa vaaraa – Jokaista suomalaista koskeva muutos iskee pian
    Kaakkois-Suomeen keväällä pudonneet kaksi droonia käynnistivät keskustelun Suomen vaaratiedottamiskäytännöistä.
    https://www.iltalehti.fi/kotimaa/a/1148737b-5321-4768-a8b4-025c78412082

    Suomessa otetaan käyttöön uusi vaaratiedotejärjestelmä.

    Uusi FI-Alert-järjestelmä täydentää nykyisiä vaaratiedottamisen keinoja. Jatkossa viranomaisten on mahdollista lähettää vaaratiedote matkapuhelinverkon kautta samanaikaisesti tarkasti rajatulla alueella oleviin matkapuhelimiin lähes ilman viivettä.

    Tällä hetkellä vaaratiedotteen voi saada älypuhelimeen, johon on asennettu 112 Suomi- tai Yle-sovellus. Muita vaaratiedotuskanavia ovat radio, televisio ja Teksti-TV. Vaaratiedote julkaistaan myös 112.fi- ja yle.fi-sivustoilla. Lisäksi vaaratiedottamista voidaan tehostaa väestöhälyttimien kautta annettavalla yleisellä vaaramerkillä.

    FI-Alert-ilmoitukset otetaan käyttöön marraskuusta alkaen.

    Reply
  27. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Poliittisen mainonnan säännöt menivät uusiksi – Nämä 3 asiaa muuttuivat
    EU:n uusi sääntely on muuttanut poliittisen mainonnan pelisääntöjä merkittävästi. Muutos koskee useita toimijoita ja määrittelee poliittisen mainonnan laajasti.
    https://www.iltalehti.fi/politiikka/a/5e48aab7-b050-4f80-aebc-b8d0a3d19fd8

    Onko mainos poliittinen vai ei? Siitä on tullut yksi ajankohtaisimmista kysymyksistä monille mainostajille EU:n uuden sääntelyn myötä. Uudistus toi mukanaan uusia ilmoitus- ja merkintävelvollisuuksia sekä muutti tapaa, jolla poliittista mainontaa voidaan kohdentaa verkossa.

    Alma Mediassa digitaalisen mainonnan parissa pitkään työskennellyt kehitysjohtaja Johanna Vartiainen kuvaa uudistusta vaativaksi.

    – Tämä on yksi laajimmista ja monimutkaisimmista mainonnan sääntelykokonaisuuksista, joita olen urani aikana nähnyt. Vaikutukset ulottuvat käytännössä kaikkiin poliittisen mainonnan toteuttamiseen osallistuviin toimijoihin.

    Nyt mainostajat ja erityisesti yhteiskunnalliset mainostajat joutuvat perehtymään sääntelyyn ja miettimään, koskeeko se heitä juuri kyseisen kampanjan kohdalla.

    Sääntelyn piirissä ovat mainostajat, mediat, teknologiatoimittajat, mainostoimistot sekä muut palveluntarjoajat. Sääntelyn perimmäinen tavoite on selkeä: lisätä poliittisen vaikuttamisen läpinäkyvyyttä.

    – Kuluttajan on selkeästi tunnistettava poliittinen mainonta ja vaikuttaminen muusta mainonnasta ja pitää lisäksi helposti nähdä, kuka mainoksen on rahoittanut, Vartiainen toteaa.

    Reply
  28. Tomi Engdahl says:

    CISA Warns of Node2Shell Exploitation as Honeypots Log Attack Attempts

    CISA added the Brotli flaw to its KEV catalog, and two honeypot operators logged attempts, including one that used a broken exploit.

    https://www.securityweek.com/cisa-warns-of-node2shell-exploitation-as-honeypots-log-attack-attempts/

    Reply
  29. Tomi Engdahl says:

    CISA warns of hackers now exploiting critical Node2Shell flaw
    https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/cisa-warns-of-hackers-now-exploiting-critical-node2shell-flaw/?fbclid=IwdGRjcAVOwpJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBwZG9mBXNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHiN343CJbjQvio5P5PEngcdkTU1cDM4GU4aj3b6CrGbY04J9BYi7BE6W0XB0_aem_8rIpVlALn37uC_sAU0U0jQ

    On Tuesday, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) confirmed that hackers have begun exploiting a critical Brotli vulnerability known as Node2Shell, Broccoli2Shell, and HTTP2Shell.

    Tracked as CVE-2026-111497, this critical-severity flaw stems from an out-of-bounds write weakness in the Brotli decoder used to expand data compressed with Google’s widely popular Brotli lossless compression algorithm.

    Unprivileged attackers can use a maliciously crafted Brotli-compressed stream to trigger crashes or memory leaks and, in some cases, gain remote code execution on devices with vulnerable Brotli libraries or binaries.

    Reply
  30. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Anthropic’s Unreleased AI Model Chains Flaws Into Working Chrome, Safari, Windows and Linux Exploits
    https://thehackernews.com/2026/10/anthropics-unreleased-ai-model-chains.html?m=1

    An unreleased Anthropic AI model found security flaws in Chrome, Safari, Android, Windows, and Linux and chained them into working proof-of-concept exploits, the company said in its latest report.

    The exploits were built in the lab after the model was prompted, not seen in any real attack, and Anthropic reported every flaw to the vendor first, so all of them are already patched. One proof of concept opened the Calculator app on a stock Mac running Chrome within seconds of a page loading, with no further clicks

    Reply
  31. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Metan tulevat käyttöehdot pelottavat: Saisi oikeuden nettisivujen sisältöön?
    https://dawn.fi/uutiset/2026/10/27/meta-uudet-kayttoehdot-linkit-tekoalyn-koulutusmateriaaliksi#google_vignette

    Maailmalla Metan uudet käyttöehdot ovat aiheuttaneet jo paniikkia muutaman viikon ajan, niin suurissa mediataloissa kuin tavallisissa bloggaajissakin.

    Yhtiö julkisti jo lokakuun alussa uudet käyttöehtonsa, jotka olisivat astuneet voimaan lokakuun 2026 loppupuolella. Mutta niistä syntyi sen verran valtava meteli, että Facebookin, Instagramin ja Threadsin omistava jätti otti pienen aikalisän.

    Mutta Meta ei aio varsinaisesti muuttaa käyttöehtojaan meteliä aiheuttaneesta versiostaan – ne vain astuvat voimaan myöhemmin – näillä näkymin 20. marraskuuta.

    Reply
  32. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Warning issued after ‘first instance of large-scale AI interference’ in government consultation
    Experts said that bolstering detection capacity and safeguards ‘will be essential’ as ‘bot sophistication increases’
    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/ai-bots-vaping-government-consultation-b3074211.html?fbclid=IwdGRjcAVOzIBjbGNrBU7MaGV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHBkb2YFc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMzUwNjg1NTMxNzI4AAEeNPB0wCwXdFqyCiME_lBn9aNe2ZNxa9ZVmbBNXhe5yC9LmtVTaenxCKSXLig_aem_nzBkz6UtylNaExI8VNL-JQ

    Artificial intelligence bots were responsible for over three quarters of responses to a government consultation regarding plans to create a smoke-free generation and restrict vape sales, a study has found.

    According to the analysis, these submissions were “overwhelmingly targeted” at opposing proposed restrictions on disposable e-cigarettes.

    Academics believe this represents the first recorded instance of widespread, automated interference in a formal, public health consultation.

    The Tobacco and Vapes Act received Royal Assent in April, making it illegal to ever sell tobacco products to anyone born on or after January 1 2009.

    It also introduced a ban on the sale of disposable vapes – which came into force in June last year – alongside measures to restrict the flavours and marketing of e-cigarettes.

    It found that 118,756 responses were submitted to the consultation.

    However, DHSC identified 76% – more than 90,000 – as fraudulent using bot-detection methods.

    Almost all bot-generated responses targeted multiple choice questions opposing plans to restrict sales of disposable vapes, with the same number reporting they had learnt of the consultation on social media.

    After the bot responses were excluded, some 79.6% of valid responses supported plans around disposable vapes.

    Researchers said: “This appears to be the first documented instance of large-scale, automated interference in a formal, public health policy consultation.

    Reply
  33. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://depthfirst.com/paid/supply-chain-exposure-assessment?utm_source=google&utm_medium=paid_search&campaign_id=24387113513&adset_id=198635235982&ad_id=829408237106&utm_campaign=&utm_term=php2shell%20detection&matchtype=e&network=g&device=c&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=24387113513&gclid=EAIaIQobChMImtHgpeDclwMVMs2xBx2UqwlyEAAYBCAAEgJ5T_D_BwE

    On October 21, 2026, PHP released patches for two critical vulnerabilities, CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619. Both are rated 9.2 under CVSS v4.0 and can allow unauthenticated remote code execution. The flaws affect PHP itself, so exposure is not limited to WordPress. Laravel, Symfony, Drupal, Magento, custom PHP services, and older internal applications may also be affected. The immediate task is to find where PHP is running and verify that those components have been patched.

    PHP 8.1 and earlier have reached end-of-life and no longer receive security updates from the PHP project. Organizations running these versions should upgrade to a supported PHP release that contains the patch. Linux distributions may include security fixes without changing the upstream PHP version number, so check the relevant vendor advisory to which version is being used. PHP 8.2 will reach end-of-life on December 31, 2026. Organizations upgrading to 8.2.35 should also plan their migration to a newer supported branch.

    Updating the application or the underlying operating system may not be sufficient. For example, if a WordPress deployment runs inside a container built on a vulnerable PHP image, updating the host won’t patch the PHP runtime inside that container. The image must be rebuilt and redeployed with a patched version.

    How the Vulnerabilities Work

    Both vulnerabilities are caused by memory management issues in PHP’s request-handling process.

    CVE-2026-109618 affects how PHP handles out-of-memory errors. An out-of-memory condition can interrupt PHP while internal data structures are only partially initialized. This may leave them in an inconsistent state, which can later be accessed during request shutdown, leading to memory corruption and potentially remote code execution.

    Researchers demonstrated this vulnerability against Apache mod_php, where a specially crafted HTTP request can trigger the issue before any application code runs, although reliable exploitation may require additional steps to bypass ASLR.

    CVE-2026-109619 involves global state retained between requests. Under certain conditions, errors or interrupted operations can leave persistent PHP globals pointing to memory that has already been freed. A subsequent request handled by the same worker may access that stale state before it is properly reset, resulting in a use-after-free vulnerability that can also lead to remote code execution.

    These issues affect PHP’s internal request lifecycle. The PHP team has warned that installations serving web requests through Apache mod_php, PHP-FPM, php-cgi, FrankenPHP, and LiteSpeed should be considered at risk. The exact exploit conditions vary across configurations.

    Why WAF Rules Are Not Sufficient

    Web application firewalls (WAFs) can potentially help mitigate some exploitation attempts by blocking known exploit patterns and suspicious HTTP requests. However, WAF rules should not be considered a substitute for patching PHP.

    The fundamental challenge is that neither vulnerability is tied to a single malicious request pattern. Both originate from memory-safety issues within the PHP runtime, and the conditions required to exploit them are not always visible at the HTTP layer.

    For CVE-2026-109618, known exploitation techniques use specially crafted HTTP requests to trigger out-of-memory conditions during PHP’s internal processing. WAF rules can restrict multipart uploads, request sizes, and parameter complexity, but these measures have limitations. PHP’s memory consumption can be significantly larger than the HTTP request itself, and the vulnerability can also be triggered through application-specific memory allocations. Blocking multipart requests entirely would also disrupt legitimate file uploads.

    For CVE-2026-109619, exploitation can involve one request leaving behind stale internal state, followed by another request that accesses it. A WAF cannot directly observe PHP’s internal memory state or determine whether a request will encounter a dangling pointer. Blocking known payload patterns may prevent specific exploitation paths, but other paths involving error handling and serialization may remain possible.

    Ultimately, WAF rules are valuable for reducing exposure to known attacks, but they cannot guarantee protection against every exploitation technique. Organizations should keep WAF protections enabled as defense in depth while prioritizing upgrades to patched PHP runtimes.

    Reply
  34. Tomi Engdahl says:

    PHP2Shell x Burp Suite: Detection in your hands within a day of disclosure
    https://portswigger.net/blog/php2shell-x-burp-suite-detection-in-your-hands-within-a-day-of-disclosure

    PHP2Shell (CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619) became the latest vulnerability to grab headlines around the globe. By some estimates, up to 70% of websites run at least some PHP. So if you’re responsible for web applications, you’ve probably spent the last few days trying to work out if you’re exposed as quickly as possible, but without taking your systems offline.

    That’s why within hours of disclosure, we made sure you could test for PHP2Shell safely using Burp Suite.

    In this post, we’ll walk you through the options you’ve now got access to across the Burp Suite ecosystem, and what you can do right now to check your exposure.

    Key highlights

    Burp AT now has a skill, so agents can now test for PHP2Shell on your behalf. Find out more
    You can scan for PHP2Shell at enterprise scale in Burp Suite DAST. Just make sure you’re on Burp Scanner version 2026.10.54778 or above.
    There are active and passive scan checks available now for Burp Suite Professional.
    ActiveScan++ detects PHP2Shell, supported in both Burp Suite Professional and Burp Suite DAST.

    Getting detection into your hands, fast

    Our mission is to enable the world to secure the web. Moments like this are where that mission gets tested.

    PortSwigger’s research team picked up the early signals around PHP2Shell and alerted our engineering teams straight away. From there, they dug into the details themselves, while keeping tabs on the latest developments and insights from the wider community.

    What followed was a rolling series of enhancements across the Burp Suite ecosystem.
    Passive detection, as early as possible

    We were able to release passive detection almost straight away via our extensibility APIs, with a Java-based custom scan check and a DAST-compatible BCheck. James Kettle also updated his ActiveScan++ extension, which is compatible with both Burp Suite Professional and Burp Suite DAST.

    This passive approach was fairly limited, but we wanted to get something in users’ hands quickly as the main detection method circulating at the time involved crashing the server. We shipped these checks immediately, while still working on more sophisticated active checks.
    Active detection, tested for safety

    Next came active detection, which involved sending a payload to the server. Any active probe can have potentially harmful knock-on effects, and these aren’t always obvious at first glance.

    Time was still of the essence, hence the decision to release them as custom scan checks. However, we made sure to run the active checks across a range of servers and PHP versions to give us confidence we weren’t releasing something that would leave users spraying payloads at their production systems and inadvertently taking vulnerable ones offline.

    Once released, you could then run active and passive detection across your applications with confidence.

    With the next release of Burp Suite Professional, these checks will be natively integrated with Burp Scanner.

    Active Scan++
    Download BApp

    ActiveScan++ extends active and passive scanning capabilities. Designed to add minimal network overhead, it identifies application behavior that may be of interest to advanced testers.
    https://portswigger.net/bappstore/3123d5b5f25c4128894d97ea1acc4976

    Features

    Detects potential host header attacks, including password reset poisoning, cache poisoning, and DNS rebinding
    Identifies Edge Side Includes and XML input handling vulnerabilities
    Discovers suspicious input transformations such as expression evaluation (7*7 → ’49′) and character escaping (\x41\x41 → ‘AA’)
    Detects blind code injection via expression language, Ruby’s open(), and Perl’s open()
    Checks for specific CVEs including Shellshock (CVE-2014-6271, CVE-2014-6278), Struts vulnerabilities (CVE-2017-5638, CVE-2018-11776), Solr injection (CVE-2017-12629), Log4Shell (CVE-2021-44228), Rails file disclosure (CVE-2019-5418), React2Shell (CVE-2025-55182, CVE-2025-66478), and PHP2Shell (CVE-2026-109618, CVE-2026-109619)
    Provides check for Google API Key Gemini privilege escalation
    Identifies unicode processing issues that may bypass character blocklists
    Triggers passive scanner checks during active scanning to discover issues that only appear during fuzzing
    Provides insertion points for HTTP basic authentication testing

    Usage

    Run a standard active scan on your target
    The extension automatically performs all configured checks during the scan
    Review discovered issues in the scan results

    Note: The host header checks modify the host header, which may route requests to different applications on the same host. Exercise caution when scanning applications in shared hosting environments.

    Reply
  35. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Free PHP2Shell scanner – check for CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619

    Scan your target for PHP2Shell (CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619) with this free scanner and download a PDF report you can share with your team.

    It shows whether your server responds the way vulnerable PHP builds do, the request and response behind the finding, and the fixed release for your PHP branch.

    Already patched? Use this free PHP2Shell checker to confirm your target no longer responds like a vulnerable PHP build.

    https://pentest-tools.com/network-vulnerability-scanning/php2shell-scanner

    Reply
  36. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Critical PHP Vulnerabilities (CVE-2026-109618 & CVE-2026-109619)
    https://blog.detectify.com/product-updates/critical-php-vulnerabilities-cve-2026-109618-cve-2026-109619/?_gl=1*1iy6jdu*_up*MQ..*_gs*MQ..&gclid=EAIaIQobChMImtHgpeDclwMVMs2xBx2UqwlyEAAYAiAAEgKTOvD_BwE

    2. Temporary Exposure Minimization Measures: If immediate upgrading is delayed, apply the following hardening steps to reduce risk vectors across vulnerable runtimes:

    A. Mitigating RCE via OOM Corruption (CVE-2026-109618)

    Set unlimited memory limits: Set memory_limit=-1 via administrative configuration (e.g., php_admin_value in FPM pools or Apache config) so applications cannot override it. Confirm that no downstream pool, directory, or application settings re-impose a finite limit. Note: This prevents user-controllable PHP memory limit failures, though system-level allocation failures can still hit the vulnerable path.
    Restrict request payloads: Lower post_max_size (e.g., 8M for non-upload applications, 32M if uploads are required). Ensure upload_max_filesize remains strictly below post_max_size. Enforce limits at the web server or proxy layer for decoded request sizes, input field counts, multipart part counts, header counts, and nesting depth—including requests lacking a usable Content-Length.
    Enforce availability boundaries: Use container or cgroup limits with policies designed to kill only the affected worker. Avoid relying on RLIMIT_AS or RLIMIT_DATA, as these can directly trigger the vulnerable allocation failure.

    B. Mitigating RCE via Stale Global State (CVE-2026-109619)

    Disable Session Upload Progress: Set session.upload_progress.enabled=0 via global php.ini, FPM pool, or server configurations applied prior to request parsing (do not rely on ini_set() or .user.ini). Restart all workers afterwards.
    Disable backtraces (PHP 8.5): If running PHP 8.5, set fatal_error_backtraces=0 and restart workers to disable the confirmed fatal backtrace path.
    Clean up diagnostics & configuration: Remove invalid or deprecated per-request settings that generate diagnostic output before initialization completes. (Hiding outputs using error_reporting, display_errors, or @ does not prevent the vulnerability).
    Address fatal triggers: Resolve reachable fatal errors and execution timeouts, including failure points in callbacks, file uploads, import processing, or cleanup logic.

    3. Inventory internet-facing assets: Use Detectify to run an asset discovery scan to identify all exposed HTTP service endpoints and web applications running on PHP.

    4. Deploy patches across pipelines: Ensure application owners and infrastructure operators pull updated PHP packages from upstream package managers (Debian, Ubuntu, RHEL, Docker Hub, etc.).

    5. Isolate high-risk services: If immediate patching is not possible, temporarily isolate vulnerable application servers behind access-controlled gateways or Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) with strict filtering enabled.

    Reply
  37. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Free PHP2Shell scanner – check for CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619

    Scan your target for PHP2Shell (CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619) with this free scanner and download a PDF report you can share with your team.

    https://pentest-tools.com/network-vulnerability-scanning/php2shell-scanner

    Reply
  38. Tomi Engdahl says:

    The EU wants to loosen data protection rules to please AI companies. More: https://cnews.link/ai-eu-data-access/

    Reply

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