Latest cybersecurity reporting from selected sources.

LegacyHive Is a Local Privilege Escalation BugThe vulnerability hunter in a feud with Microsoft released yet another Windows zero-day Tuesday as promised, though the touted "bone-shattering" disclosure was stripped down to prevent public exploitation. LegacyHive, exploits a profile-loading race condition to access another user's registry hive.

Security Researchers Fear Broader Legal Pressure on Bug DisclosuresMicrosoft is pursuing legal action after a researcher publicly released six Windows zero-days and exploit code following a breakdown in coordinated disclosure talks, escalating tensions over vulnerability disclosure, platform moderation and protections for independent security researchers.

Mythos Moves the Needle on AI Innovation, DefenseAnthropic’s “Mythos moment” is accelerating vulnerability discovery, but speed without validation is a growing risk. As exploit windows shrink and remediation lags, more findings only mean more noise. The real advantage lies in validating what actually matters—and fixing it first.

Outsiders Could Exploit Misconfig to Stream Commands, CredentialsA misconfiguration in Microsoft's Azure SRE Agent may have allowed any Azure account holder from any company to tap into another organization's agent conversations in real time, watching commands, outputs and credentials, leaving no trace.

Ex-Microsoft CIO: Mythos Could Surface Known Flaws Faster Than Vendors Can Fix ThemFormer Microsoft CIO Jim DuBois and IDC's Frank Dickson say Claude Mythos Preview could rapidly surface long-known but unfixed software flaws at scale, forcing vendors and enterprises to strengthen patch validation, orchestration and deployment before attackers exploit the backlog.

Also, Telus Breach, Microsoft Hotpatching, Interpol Malicious IP TakedownThis week, Russian hacker OpSec failure, Interpol helped disrupt 45,000 malicious IPs, the FBI is looking for an ATM jackpotting suspect and Telus disclosed a breach. Windows hotpatching, an FTP exploit, a foiled attack on a nuclear research center and China-linked espionage.

Commands Push Lasting Preferences Into AI AssistantsMicrosoft researchers found companies embedding hidden commands in "summarize with AI" buttons to plant lasting brand preferences in assistants' memory. The tactic, dubbed AI recommendation poisoning, exploits persistent memory features to bias future responses.

Also, Active Exploits Hit SolarWinds, Ivanti as APT28 Targets EU, UkraineThis week, Italy blocked Russian cyberattacks targeting the Olympics. Flaws in SolarWinds, Ivanti and Microsoft Office. Russia's APT28 ramped up attacks in Ukraine, supply chain attacks, regulators probed major breaches and a U.S. judge sentenced the operator of a darkweb drug marketplace.

Also, Active Exploits Hit SolarWinds, Ivanti as APT28 Targets EU, UkraineThis week, Italy blocked Russian cyberattacks targeting the Olympics. Flaws in SolarWinds, Ivanti and Microsoft Office. Russia's APT28 ramped up attacks in Ukraine, supply chain attacks, regulators probed major breaches and a U.S. judge sentenced the operator of a darkweb drug marketplace.

Seeking to Add Urgency, Mandiant Publishes Rainbow Tables for NTLM Key HashesFor nearly 30 years, security experts have warned organizations to ditch the weak NTLM authentication protocol in Windows. But its use persists, even amidst easy and active exploits. Now Google has published rainbow tables for NTLMv1. Will this finally drive holdout organizations to change?

US Cyber Defense Agency Releases Best Practices to Harden Exchange EnvironmentsU.S. cyber defense officials and their international partners issued a new blueprint for mitigating Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities on Thursday as governments worldwide continue to grapple with persistent intrusion campaigns targeting on-premises Microsoft Exchange servers in hybrid environments.

MuddyWater Also Embraces Bulletproof Hosts and Custom MalwareThe Iranian nation-state cyberespionage group MuddyWater is going back to the future with attacks featuring Microsoft Office documents with malicious macros. It is also shifting to homegrown malware in place of commercial remote monitoring and management tools, said researchers.

Microsoft Urges Immediate Mitigation as State Actors Target SharePoint FlawHackers breached a sensitive database containing office locations and personal details of elected officials and staff in Canada's House of Commons. Hackers were able to "exploit a recent Microsoft vulnerability," according to an internal email sent to members and staff.

Philippe Laulheret of Cisco Talos on Vulnerabilities in ControlVault FirmwareSecurity flaws in Dell's ControlVault firmware allowed attackers to run code on the chip, extract stored secrets and alter its behavior. By chaining these exploits, they could send malicious data to Windows components, said Philippe Laulheret, senior vulnerability researcher at Cisco Talos.

Brazil-Targeting Malware Exploits Windows UIA to Evade DetectionA banking Trojan long confined to Brazil has become the first known malware to exploit Microsoft's UI Automation framework to extract credentials, signaling a new tactic that may evade conventional detection. Akamai's findings point to a growing trend of attackers using legitimate system features.

But Hacking Groups of All Stripes Now Have Access to Exploit Code, Researchers WarnMicrosoft said an attack campaign targeting zero-day vulnerabilities in on-premises SharePoint servers appears to have begun by July 7, tied to three Chinese hack groups. With proof-of-concept exploit code now in the wild, security experts said hackers of all stripes have joined the fray.

Microsoft Issuing Emergency Patches to Combat Authentication-Bypassing AttacksHackers have been exploiting a zero-day vulnerability dubbed "ToolShell" in on-premises installations of Microsoft SharePoint to gain remote access, and steal cryptographic keys and data. As Microsoft rolls out patches, experts warn administrators to also rotate keys, to help eject attackers.

Akamai Researchers Flag 'BadSucessor' in Windows Server 2025An unpatched flaw in Windows Server 2025 that is "trivial" to exploit and present in the default configuration is full domain compromised, warns new research from Akamai. The flaw is present in a new account type known as delegated managed service accounts, or dMSA.

Also: France Temporarily Lifts Pavel Durov's Travel Ban Amid Telegram ProbeThis week, Paragon Solutions spread through WhatsApp, France suspended Pavel Durov's travel ban, Vapor malware hit 60M Android users, state-backed hackers exploit a Windows flaw, Western Alliance Bank exposed customers data, Apple fixed a passwords bug, and a sperm bank exposed customer information.

Mustang Panda Uses MAVInject to Evade Antivirus DetectionA Chinese state-sponsored hacking group is abusing a legitimate Microsoft tool to evade security and install backdoors on government systems in the Asia-Pacific region. The threat actor uses MAVInject.exe to inject malware into waitfor.exe.