Cisco warned that attackers are exploiting a critical zero-day in its Identity Services Engine, the platform that decides which devices are allowed onto a network. Tracked as CVE-2026-76460 and scored 10.0, the flaw is an authentication bypass caused by insufficient authentication controls on an API endpoint, so an unauthenticated attacker can send a crafted request, bypass the management interface, and ultimately gain root. It affects ISE and its Passive Identity Connector regardless of configuration, with no workaround beyond restricting network access. Because a rooted appliance sitting at the network's front door can be used to erase evidence, Cisco urges checking external logs. CISA set a three-day federal patch deadline.
Researchers at VulnCheck found a flaw in the DeepSeek Harness, a tool that runs an AI agent's commands inside an operating-system sandbox so an agent handling untrusted files cannot write outside its workspace. Through an authentication bypass using a spoofed host header, an attacker needing no credentials or API key can call the tool's own web interface to invoke privileged commands with full-access permissions, raise the session's approval policy to unrestricted execution, and read every stored conversation. In effect, the sandbox meant to contain the agent can be switched off from outside. It is a reminder that an AI agent's isolation is only as strong as the authentication protecting its control interface.
Days after disclosure, attackers are exploiting a critical authentication-bypass flaw in JFrog Artifactory, the widely used repository manager for binaries, packages, containers, and build artifacts. Tracked as CVE-2026-82329 and scored 9.8, the flaw lets an unauthenticated attacker with network access gain administrative privileges under Artifactory's default configuration. Researchers at watchTowr observed exploitation beginning September 1, with attackers minting admin tokens for themselves and enumerating users, groups, and credentials. Because Artifactory sits at the center of software supply chains and CI/CD pipelines, admin access lets attackers tamper with build pipelines, poison trusted dependencies, and push malicious code downstream to customers. JFrog patched it in version 7.161.20 on August 28.
Researchers at Wordfence and Patchstack disclosed a cluster of critical WordPress vulnerabilities, most scored 9.8, that let unauthenticated attackers take over sites or run code. In the WPMU DEV Dashboard plugin, CVE-2026-76581 is a single-sign-on authentication bypass that can hand an attacker an administrator session. The Avada theme's CVE-2026-18431 allows arbitrary file writes that lead to remote code execution. In the Pods plugin, CVE-2026-19598 lets an attacker escalate to administrator or overwrite any user's password, while TranslatePress's CVE-2026-19632 exposes the raw administrator password-reset link. Each independently enables full site compromise, and a separate GiveWP flaw in the same batch was covered earlier.
CISA added a critical ownCloud flaw to its exploited-vulnerabilities catalog after attackers used it to steal data from a research organization. Tracked as CVE-2023-49105 and scored 9.8, the WebDAV authentication-bypass bug lets an unauthenticated attacker who knows a victim's username read, modify, or delete that user's files when no signing key is configured, which is the platform's default. Disclosed back in November 2023, it affects ownCloud Server core versions 10.6.0 through 10.13.0 and was fixed in 10.13.1, yet unpatched instances remain exposed nearly two years later. Public exploit code exists, and CISA set a short deadline for federal agencies, underscoring that long-standing self-hosted flaws keep getting weaponized.
Attackers are exploiting two critical authentication-bypass flaws in the miniOrange SAML 2.0 Single Sign On plugin for WordPress, chaining them to forge login responses and sign in as an administrator. The first flaw, CVE-2026-61979, lets the plugin accept an attacker-chosen signature algorithm, so the identity provider's public key can be abused as a shared secret to forge a valid signature; the second, CVE-2026-15981, makes the plugin treat a signature-verification error as success. Both were fixed in July, but the vendor only alerted free-edition users, leaving paid editions unpatched. Security firm Patchstack traced an attack in mid-August where the two were chained to steal an administrator session cookie.
Citrix patched a critical flaw in NetScaler ADC and Gateway that lets a remote, unauthenticated attacker bypass authentication on appliances used for remote access. Tracked as CVE-2026-19490 and scored 9.3, it is an authentication-bypass issue affecting devices configured as a gateway for SSL VPN, ICA proxy, clientless VPN, or RDP proxy, or as an AAA authentication server. On newer builds it requires a SAML configuration, but on older builds any gateway or AAA configuration is exposed. There is no confirmed exploitation yet, but NetScaler appliances sit at the network edge and have repeatedly been attacked soon after disclosure, so patching is urgent.
The Netherlands cyber agency warned that attackers are exploiting a recently patched macOS flaw to gain root on internet-exposed Macs and install cryptocurrency miners. Tracked as CVE-2026-65400 and scored 9.8, the authentication flaw in the Screen Sharing component lets a network attacker authenticate to the built-in remote desktop service, which uses VNC on port 5900, without valid credentials due to flawed state management. Apple fixed it in emergency updates on August 6 for macOS Tahoe, Sequoia, and Sonoma. Screen Sharing is off by default, but any Mac with it enabled and reachable from the internet is at high risk, and several have already been compromised to run Monero miners.
N-able is warning that attackers exploited an authentication bypass in N-central, the remote monitoring and management platform used by managed service providers and IT teams to administer customer endpoints. The flaw, CVE-2026-18556, allows unauthenticated administrative account takeover, and N-able's initial fix in one release proved incomplete: it found another way to exploit the same weakness, tracked as CVE-2026-18577, that widened the affected range. After taking over a server, attackers used its remote-control feature to reach managed endpoints and installed Cloudflare tunnels as services, which kept access alive even after the route through the N-central server was cut. Build 2026.3.1.7 is the first unaffected version.
Check Point has fixed an actively exploited flaw in SmartConsole, the graphical admin panel used to manage its security products. CVE-2026-16232, rated 9.3, is an authentication bypass letting an unauthenticated remote attacker obtain a login token and authenticate with administrator privileges, after which they can alter security configuration and policy on a Security Management or Multi-Domain Management server. Exploitation requires the management server to be reachable from the internet with no restrictions on trusted GUI clients. The same update fixes a second critical authentication bypass and a Gaia Portal issue letting read-only users run commands as root.
TrustStrike Labs