Our weekly round-up of significant threats and actively exploited vulnerabilities. It is awareness content, not a monitored threat intelligence service: always check vendor advisories against your own environment.
This week at a glance
Remote access and developer tools were the theme of the week. Ivanti disclosed two more flaws in the Connect Secure zero-day chain first reported in mid-October, Cisco patched a firewall VPN zero-day, and CISA confirmed attacks on a maximum-severity GitLab flaw and on unpatched Adobe Commerce stores. A trojanised Claude Code extension briefly reached Cursor users, and two research teams reported state-linked groups using stolen keys and AI agents in their intrusions.
Actively exploited vulnerabilities
Ivanti Connect Secure (CVE-2026-111357, CVE-2026-118527)
Ivanti has named two more flaws in the exploit chain behind the Connect Secure attacks first reported in mid-October: a privilege escalation flaw (CVE-2026-111357, CVSS 8.8) and a predictable file name flaw (CVE-2026-118527, CVSS 4.3), used together with CVE-2026-104935. Volexity, which tracks the attacker as UTA0576, says exploitation began on 3 October against an appliance that was fully patched at the time, and that the attacker removed traces from logs. CISA added both flaws to its catalogue on 30 October. Fix: upgrade to Connect Secure 25.1.1.3, or 22.8R2.6 where migration is not yet possible, run Ivanti’s integrity checker, and reset credentials that passed through the appliance if you find signs of compromise.
Source: CISA alert, 30 October 2026
GitLab CE/EE (CVE-2026-97229)
An integer overflow in the regular expression compiler used by GitLab CI/CD (CVSS 10.0) can let an unauthenticated attacker run code on a self-managed GitLab server. GitLab fixed it on 12 October and CISA confirmed active exploitation on 29 October. Fix: upgrade to GitLab 19.4.2, 19.3.4, 19.2.8, or later, update any separately installed Ruby, and review recent CI/CD changes, accounts, and tokens.
Source: GitLab patch release 19.4.2
Cisco Secure Firewall ASA and FTD (CVE-2026-76418)
Cisco disclosed on 28 October that attackers were already exploiting a flaw in the remote access SSL VPN service (CVSS 8.6) to force firewalls to reload, cutting off VPN access. Devices are affected when secondary authentication is configured on a tunnel group, and no login is needed. Fix: upgrade ASA and FTD to the fixed releases in Cisco’s advisory (for ASA, for example 9.18.4.96, 9.20.4.50, or 9.22.3.200); there is no full workaround.
Source: BleepingComputer
Adobe Commerce and Magento Open Source (CVE-2026-48356)
This unrestricted file upload flaw (CVSS 9.3), known as PolyShell, was fixed in July, but CISA reported on 27 October that unpatched stores are being breached and webshells planted. Fix: apply Adobe security bulletin APSB26-73 to every store and check upload folders and content blocks for unexpected files and scripts.
Source: Adobe APSB26-73
Brotli in Node.js (CVE-2026-111497)
An out-of-bounds write in the Brotli decoder bundled with Node.js (CVSS 9.2), nicknamed Node2Shell, can crash an application, leak memory, or possibly run code when it decompresses attacker-supplied data. Node.js fixed it on 21 October and CISA added it to its catalogue six days later. Fix: update to Node.js 22.23.4, 24.22.1, 26.12.1, or later, move end-of-life versions to a supported release, and update other software that bundles Brotli.
Source: Node.js October 2026 security releases
Linux kernel (CVE-2026-46300)
Fragnesia, a local privilege escalation flaw in the kernel’s ESP-in-TCP code (CVSS 7.8) disclosed in May, was added to CISA’s catalogue on 28 October. Reports say attackers are using it to gain root after breaking into web servers through PHP2Shell. Fix: install your distribution’s patched kernel and reboot, starting with internet-facing servers.
Source: SC Media
VMware ESX (CVE-2026-41709)
A low-severity logging flaw (CVSS 2.7) lets an administrator carry out some actions on ESX hosts without them being logged. CISA added it to its catalogue on 28 October, so it has been exploited; an attacker needs administrator access first. Fix: apply VMSA-2026-0006, limit and monitor ESX administrator accounts, and send host logs to a separate system.
Source: SC Media
Notable threats and campaigns
Trojanised Claude Code extension in the Cursor marketplace
A tampered build of Anthropic’s Claude Code extension (version 2.1.313) was available in Cursor’s extension marketplace for about 11 hours on 29 October. It added an attacker’s SSH key to the user’s account, and Cursor says up to 5,000 developers were affected. Anthropic released a clean 2.1.314 on 30 October, but uninstalling or updating does not remove the persistence scripts. Check developer machines that ran Cursor that day for unknown SSH keys.
Source: Help Net Security
UAT-11473 uses Cisco SD-WAN flaw to steal encryption keys
Cisco Talos reported on 28 October that a group it tracks as UAT-11473 is exploiting CVE-2026-20127, a Catalyst SD-WAN authentication bypass patched in February, to install KeyDrift malware that copies the keys protecting traffic between sites. Talos says the group has targeted space and satellite services, defence and aerospace technology, and public policy research organisations. Confirm SD-WAN controllers are patched and check for rogue peers.
Source: BleepingComputer
VAPOR PANDA runs AI agents against more than 200 organisations
CrowdStrike reported on 29 October that a China-linked group it calls VAPOR PANDA used the open-source ARTEX framework, with AI agents directed by human operators, to target more than 200 organisations in at least 14 countries from 17 October. CrowdStrike confirmed intrusions at nine of them and saw password spraying at others. Phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication and alerts on password spraying are the main defences.
Source: IT Brief UK
Also reported this week
- Yoba: Check Point found fake GitHub projects advertising desktop ChatGPT and Claude apps that place malware next to genuine signed executables, ending in cryptominers. (The Hacker News)
- Polymarket: the prediction market halted trading after a compromised third-party script injected crypto-draining code, with about $2.5 million stolen. (BleepingComputer)
- Spanish BEC network: police in Spain, working with Europol, arrested nine people over a network that laundered more than EUR 3 million taken from businesses in Spain through intercepted emails and fake payment instructions. (The Leader)
Other patches worth knowing
- Veeam Backup & Replication (CVE-2026-108142, CVSS 9.1): an unauthenticated authorisation bypass in version 13, with no exploitation reported; update to 13.1.2 or 13.0.3.
- MLflow (CVE-2026-116690, CVE-2026-116692): a file read flaw and a code execution flaw fixed in 3.17.0; one honeypot operator reports probing of the first, not yet confirmed elsewhere.
- PHP: CISA added the PHP2Shell flaws to its catalogue on 26 October; if your sites are not yet on PHP 8.5.12, 8.4.27, 8.3.36, or 8.2.35, treat it as urgent.
Practical steps to consider
- Patch internet-facing VPNs, firewalls, and code repositories first, then check them for signs of compromise (ISO/IEC 27001 control A.8.8, and the Cyber Essentials security update management requirement).
- Control which IDE extensions and AI tools developers can install, and treat developer machines as high-value systems (control A.8.19 on installing software on operational systems).
- Use phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication for remote access and cloud accounts, and alert on password spraying and unusually fast activity that may be automated.
This round-up is for general awareness only and is not a monitored threat intelligence service. If you would like help reviewing your vulnerability management or incident readiness, contact us.
