IntroductionOn October 21, 2026, the Node.js project disclosed CVE-2026-111497, an out-of-bounds write vulnerability in Google’s Brotli decoder used by Node.js and other software. The vulnerability is also known as Node2Shell and more recently as HTTP2Shell. The CVE score, filed by Google as the numbering authority,…
IntroductionIn September 2026, Zscaler Threat Hunting identified an SEO poisoning campaign that used fake websites impersonating the Chocolatey package manager and the Microsoft Activation Scripts (MAS) tool to distribute a Python-based malware family we track as Armorsteal. The fake websites targeted users searching…
*October 26, 2026: This advisory has been updated to clarify language describing exploitability and potential impact.*October 23, 2026: This advisory has been updated with new ThreatLabz analysis and Zscaler Deception telemetry on exploitation activity observed during the first 48 hours following…
IntroductionIn October 2026, Zscaler ThreatLabz investigated AI-assisted cyberattacks that combined the ARTEX penetration testing framework with AI coding assistants and custom automation scripts. Initial reporting of the incident identified the targeting of South Korean financial institutions. However, ThreatLabz…
IntroductionOn September 27, 2026, Citrix disclosed CVE-2026-88771, a critical remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability affecting NetScaler Application Delivery Controller (ADC) and NetScaler Gateway. The vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 score of 9.8 according to NVD and a CVSS v4.0 score of 9.5 according to the…
IntroductionZscaler ThreatLabz analyzed a recently active exploitation campaign in which a threat actor abused ARTEX to target South Korean financial institutions. ARTEX is an open source agentic penetration testing framework developed in China that uses large language models (LLMs) to automate reconnaissance and…
IntroductionIn July 2026, Zscaler ThreatLabz uncovered a campaign linked to TraderTraitor (also tracked as Jade Sleet, UNC4899, Pressure Chollima, and Slow Pisces), an advanced persistent threat actor backed by the North Korean government that has targeted the cryptocurrency industry for years. This campaign also…
IntroductionIn August 2026, Zscaler ThreatLabz identified a new loader, which we track as 2CLoader. ThreatLabz has observed the loader being used to distribute information stealers including Vidar and Remus in addition to XWorm RAT. 2CLoader has the ability to perform a wide range of anti-analysis and evasion…
Ransomware is no longer defined only by how many organizations get hit. The most important shifts are happening beneath the headline victim counts; in how attackers gain access, who they target first, and how much data they steal once they’re in.The newly released Zscaler ThreatLabz 2026 Ransomware Report examines…
IntroductionIn August 2026, Zscaler ThreatLabz analyzed a phishing campaign that used fraudulent Google ads to target Ledger hardware wallet users. The ads redirected users through Google Cloud Storage and Vercel to a Google Sites page containing a phishing page impersonating Ledger in an iframe. During our analysis,…
IntroductionVidar is an information stealer that was first observed in 2018. Across its iterations, Vidar has continued to improve its string obfuscation to make detection and analysis more difficult by changing deobfuscation algorithms, constants, and primitives. From May through early September 2026, Zscaler…
IntroductionIn August 2026, Zscaler ThreatLabz observed new activity by the Pakistan-nexus threat actor APT36 in a campaign we’re tracking as Operation RapidRust. Since our last publication about the group’s activity in January 2026, APT36 has maintained a high operational tempo and updated their tactics, techniques,…
IntroductionIn June 2026, Zscaler ThreatLabz identified a new malware family, tracked as SloppyRAT, that is likely leveraged by a ransomware-related threat actor. ThreatLabz observed SloppyRAT being delivered through a multi-stage ClickFix infection chain. The malware supports a variety of features including a large…
IntroductionIn July 2026, Zscaler ThreatLabz identified a new Rust-based malware family that we track as C2Looper, which is likely leveraged by a ransomware-related threat actor. Furthermore, ThreatLabz assesses with low to medium confidence that C2Looper has been delivered to victims through a multi-stage ClickFix…
IntroductionOn July 31, Microsoft Threat Intelligence reported an ongoing credential theft campaign tracked as CaptiveCrunch. Microsoft attributes this activity to Storm-2945, a sub-cluster of Midnight Blizzard (also known as APT29, Cozy Bear, NOBELIUM, and BlueBravo), a threat group linked to Russia. The campaign…
IntroductionOn August 4, 2026, a self-propagating worm called ChainDrop entered the npm ecosystem through a compromised maintainer account. ChainDrop is a variant of Mini Shai-Hulud linked to TeamPCP. ChainDrop anchored its C2 infrastructure in an Ethereum smart contract, allowing the attacker to rotate domains with a…
Introduction In late June 2026, Zscaler ThreatLabz identified a new malware family that we track as Abyssos. Abyssos is a new modular remote administration tool (RAT) written in C++ that supports a variety of features including credential theft, file exfiltration, and remote access via VNC. Abyssos is in active…
The BreachIt was 9:14 AM when the CISO's VPN connection momentarily dropped, something that normally wouldn’t cause any concern. What he couldn't see was that attackers had already exploited a pre-authentication flaw in the VPN appliance itself, gaining access before any login ever occurred. From there, they extracted…
When a ransomware attack makes headlines, attention usually turns to the organization that was breached, the systems encrypted, data stolen, and disruption or ransom demand that followed. Less, if anything, is revealed about the employees compromised at the start of the attack, and what makes those individuals…
IntroductionThis is Part 2 of our two-part technical analysis on new tools used by an East Asia-linked threat actor targeting government entities in the Middle East. After ThreatLabz published Part 1 on the TELESHIM backdoor and MIXEDKEY loader, Kaspersky highlighted a related campaign in recent reporting. Building…