Cybersecurity Brief – 2025-05-29

Thu, 29 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Major Incidents or Breaches

Over 100,000 WordPress sites are at risk due to a critical, unpatched vulnerability (CVSS 10.0) in the TI WooCommerce Wishlist plugin, allowing unauthenticated attackers to upload arbitrary files.
Over 9,000 ASUS routers have been compromised by the “AyySSHush” botnet, which adds a persistent SSH backdoor. The botnet also targets SOHO routers from Cisco, D-Link, and Linksys.
Cellcom experienced a cyberattack impacting regional mobile services in Wisconsin and Michigan, with outages lasting nearly a week and continued intermittent service.
A financially motivated threat actor known as “Mimo” has exploited CVE-2025-32432 (RCE) in Craft CMS to deploy cryptominers and proxyware payloads.
The Interlock ransomware gang has deployed a new remote access trojan (NodeSnake RAT) against universities, enabling persistent access to networks.
The “Dark Partner” cybercrime group is conducting large-scale cryptocurrency theft through a network of fake AI, VPN, and crypto software download sites.
Researchers observed 251 Amazon-hosted IPs used in coordinated exploit scans targeting ColdFusion, Apache Struts, and Elasticsearch exposure points.

A critical unpatched vulnerability in the TI WooCommerce Wishlist WordPress plugin (CVSS 10.0) allows unauthenticated file uploads, exposing over 100,000 sites.
A security flaw in Microsoft OneDrive File Picker allows web applications to access a user’s entire cloud storage content, not just the files selected for upload.
CVE-2025-32432, a recently disclosed remote code execution vulnerability in Craft CMS, is being actively exploited.

The Chinese APT31 group was formally attributed by the Czech Republic for cyberattacks against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and critical infrastructure in 2022.
APT41 (China-linked) is using new malware (“ToughProgress”) that leverages Google Calendar for stealthy command-and-control communications.
The Iranian national Sina Gholinejad pleaded guilty in the US for involvement in the Robbinhood ransomware attack on Baltimore, part of a $19 million international extortion scheme.
Pakistan authorities arrested 21 individuals associated with the “Heartsender” malware and spam dissemination service, which operated for over a decade.
The newly identified PumaBot botnet, written in Go, is targeting Linux-based IoT devices by brute-forcing SSH credentials to deploy cryptominers and facilitate further attacks.
The Interlock ransomware group is using the NodeSnake RAT to maintain persistent access to university networks.

Stealer malware campaigns are increasingly focused on capturing live sessions and moving rapidly to account takeover, rather than just stealing static credentials.
“Browser-in-the-Middle” attacks are being used to hijack user sessions in seconds, bypassing traditional credential theft methods.
Alternate Data Streams are highlighted as a defense evasion technique for adversaries, with detection guidance provided.
The “Dark Partner” group utilises fake software download sites to distribute malware and facilitate cryptocurrency theft.
The evolution of the Zanubis Android banking trojan includes the adoption of RC4 and AES encryption, expanded credential theft capabilities, and new targeting in Peru.
PumaBot and AyySSHush botnets demonstrate ongoing targeting of IoT and SOHO network devices, focusing on SSH brute-forcing and persistent backdoor installation.

The Czech Republic publicly attributed the 2022 Ministry of Foreign Affairs cyberattack to China-linked APT31, marking a formal diplomatic accusation.
Microsoft introduced a new update orchestration platform for Windows, aiming to unify software, driver, and system component updates.
Microsoft launched Windows Backup for Organizations, designed to streamline enterprise backup and migration processes.
Apple reported blocking over $9 billion in fraudulent App Store transactions since 2020, with $2 billion prevented in 2024.
Zscaler announced an agreement to acquire Red Canary, aiming to integrate threat detection and AI-powered security operations capabilities.