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Last updated: May 13, 2026 at 5:42 AM UTC
All 208 Vulnerability 72 Breach 41 Threat 88 Defense 7
Tag: unit-42 (2 articles)Clear
vulnerability
CVE-2026-0300
2026-05-06

Palo Alto Networks firewalls have a critical hole that lets attackers run code as root - hackers are already using it, no patch until May 13 (CVE-2026-0300)

Palo Alto Networks confirmed Wednesday that attackers are exploiting a zero-day in its firewall login portal to run code as root on PA-Series and VM-Series firewalls. CVE-2026-0300 (CVSS 9.3) is a buffer overflow in the User-ID Authentication Portal (Captive Portal) that lets unauthenticated attackers send crafted packets and execute code without any login. Palo Alto Unit 42 attributed the activity to CL-STA-1132, a likely state-sponsored cluster that started probing on April 9 and achieved RCE a week later. Attackers deploy tunneling tools and enumerate Active Directory using the firewall's service account. First patches arrive May 13. Shadowserver counts 5,800+ exposed VM-Series firewalls.

palo-altopan-oscaptive-portaluser-id-authentication-portalzero-dayactively-exploitedcl-sta-1132unit-42earthwormreversesocks5state-sponsoredroot-rceunpatched
Check
Inventory Palo Alto PA-Series and VM-Series firewalls. Check whether the User-ID Authentication Portal is enabled and reachable from untrusted IPs. Hunt nginx crash logs for evidence of clearing since April 9.
Affected
PA-Series and VM-Series firewalls running PAN-OS with the User-ID Authentication Portal exposed to public internet or untrusted IPs. CVE-2026-0300, CVSS 9.3 (8.7 if portal restricted to internal IPs). Prisma Access, Cloud NGFW, and Panorama are NOT affected. Shadowserver tracks 5,800+ exposed VM-Series instances; thousands more likely sit behind load balancers.
Fix
Restrict the User-ID Authentication Portal to trusted internal networks - this is the primary mitigation until patches arrive. Disable the portal entirely if not strictly required. Block ports 6081 and 6082 from untrusted IPs. Stage May 13 patches: 12.1.4-h5, 11.2.7-h13, 11.1.4-h33, 10.2.10-h36. Treat any compromised firewall as a domain-wide breach starting point - rotate firewall service account credentials.
threat
2026-04-24

New extortion group 'BlackFile' running seven-figure ransom campaigns against retail and hospitality via vishing-driven SSO compromise and Salesforce/SharePoint scraping

Palo Alto's Unit 42 and the Retail & Hospitality ISAC outed a new financially-motivated group tracked as BlackFile (CL-CRI-1116, UNC6671, Cordial Spider) running data-theft extortion against retail and hospitality since February 2026 with seven-figure ransoms. The playbook: spoofed-VoIP vishing, attackers posing as IT helpdesk, victims routed to phishing pages capturing Microsoft Entra/Okta/Google SSO credentials, attackers then register their own devices to bypass MFA and pivot into Salesforce and SharePoint. Unit 42 links the group to 'The Com' and notes it has used swatting against non-paying victims. TTPs overlap heavily with ShinyHunters and Scattered Spider.

blackfilecordial-spiderunc6671vishingthe-comsalesforcesharepointextortionswattingunit-42
Check
Brief IT helpdesk staff this week on the BlackFile vishing pattern and run a tabletop on a help-desk-driven SSO compromise of one named individual.
Affected
Retail and hospitality are named target sectors but the playbook is industry-agnostic. Acute risk: any organization where helpdesk staff can re-enroll MFA devices over the phone without out-of-band caller verification. SaaS environments where users can perform bulk Salesforce report exports, SharePoint downloads, or Microsoft Graph queries without secondary controls.
Fix
Require manager confirmation on a separate channel for any MFA or password reset on high-privilege accounts. Disable phone-based helpdesk MFA reset for accounts with bulk-data access. In Okta and Entra, alert on new device registrations from unseen locations. In Salesforce, scope bulk export rights via Permission Set Groups and alert on Bulk API usage outside business hours.