A DLL hijacking vulnerability has been identified involving narrator.exe, a Windows accessibility helper. This issue allows an attacker to load a malicious DLL by exploiting the way Windows resolves DLL dependencies for narrator.exe. Although no known exploits are currently active in the wild, the vulnerability could be leveraged to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the affected process. The threat is rated medium severity due to the potential for privilege escalation and code execution without requiring user interaction, but it lacks widespread exploitation and detailed technical disclosure. European organizations using Windows systems with narrator.exe enabled could be impacted, especially those with high reliance on accessibility features or legacy configurations. Mitigation involves monitoring DLL loading paths, applying strict DLL search order policies, and employing application whitelisting. Countries with significant Windows enterprise usage and critical infrastructure are more likely to be targeted.
A vulnerability was detected in ermig1979 AntiDupl up to 2.3.12. Impacted is an unknown function of the file AntiDupl.NET.WinForms.exe of the component Delete Duplicate Image Handler. The manipulation results in link following. The attack is only possible with local access. The vendor was contacted early about this disclosure but did not respond in any way.
A weakness has been identified in VeePN up to 1.6.2. This affects an unknown function of the file C:\Program Files (x86)\VeePN\avservice\avservice.exe of the component AVService. This manipulation causes unquoted search path. The attack requires local access. A high degree of complexity is needed for the attack. The exploitability is reported as difficult. The vendor was contacted early about this disclosure but did not respond in any way.
Docker Desktop Installer.exe is vulnerable to DLL hijacking due to insecure DLL search order. The installer searches for required DLLs in the user's Downloads folder before checking system directories, allowing local privilege escalation through malicious DLL placement.This issue affects Docker Desktop: through 4.48.0.
The ransomware group Qilin has been highly active in 2025, publishing over 40 victim cases per month on its leak site. Manufacturing, professional services, and wholesale trade are the most affected sectors. Attackers likely originate from Eastern Europe or Russian-speaking regions. They use tools like Cyberduck for data exfiltration and leverage notepad.exe and mspaint.exe to view sensitive information. The attack flow includes initial VPN access, reconnaissance, credential theft, lateral movement, and ransomware deployment. Two encryptors are often used: one spread via PsExec and another targeting network shares. The ransomware encrypts files, deletes backups, and leaves ransom notes. Persistence is achieved through scheduled tasks and registry modifications.
Clevo’s UEFI firmware update packages, including B10717.exe, inadvertently contained private signing keys used for Boot Guard and Boot Policy Manifest verification. The exposure of these keys could allow attackers to sign malicious firmware that appears trusted by affected systems, undermining the integrity of the early boot process.
A security issue exists within the Rockwell Automation Driver Package x64 Microsoft Installer File (MSI) repair functionality, installed with FTLinx. Authenticated attackers with valid Windows Users credentials can initiate a repair and hijack the resulting console window for vbpinstall.exe. This allows the launching of a command prompt running with SYSTEM-level privileges, allowing full access to all files, processes, and system resources.
A sophisticated phishing campaign targets Colombian users by impersonating the Attorney General's Office with judicial notification lures. The attack uses a multi-stage infection chain starting with a malicious . SVG file attachment that triggers HTA, VBS, and PowerShell scripts, ultimately injecting the AsyncRAT malware into MSBuild.exe. AsyncRAT establishes command and control (C2) communications, steals data, and can dynamically load plugins. The campaign employs anti-virtual machine (VM) techniques, persistence mechanisms, and heavy obfuscation to evade detection. Although primarily focused on Colombia, the advanced tactics and malware capabilities pose risks to any organization exposed to similar phishing vectors. The threat demonstrates extensive use of MITRE ATT&CK techniques, including execution, persistence, defense evasion, credential access, and command and control. No known exploits or CVEs are associated, and the severity is assessed as medium based on current information.
Lavasoft Web Companion (also known as Ad-Aware WebCompanion) versions 8.9.0.1091 through 12.1.3.1037 installs the DCIService.exe service with an unquoted service path vulnerability. An attacker with write access to the file system could potentially execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges by placing a malicious executable in the unquoted path.
Deno is a JavaScript, TypeScript, and WebAssembly runtime. Versions prior to 2.5.3 and 2.2.15 are vulnerable to Command Line Injection attacks on Windows when batch files are executed. In Windows, ``CreateProcess()`` always implicitly spawns ``cmd.exe`` if a batch file (.bat, .cmd, etc.) is being executed even if the application does not specify it via the command line. This makes Deno vulnerable to a command injection attack on Windows. Versions 2.5.3 and 2.2.15 fix the issue.
In Ankitects Anki before 25.02.5, a crafted shared deck can place a YouTube downloader executable in the media folder, and this is executed for a YouTube link in the deck. The executable name could be youtube-dl.exe or yt-dlp.exe or yt-dlp_x86.exe.
APT SideWinder has launched a new targeted operation dubbed Operation SouthNet, focusing on the maritime sector in South Asia, particularly Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The group leverages free hosting platforms to deploy credential-harvesting portals and weaponized lure documents, while staging malware in open directories. Over 50 malicious domains were uncovered across various platforms, with Pakistan accounting for 40% of the identified domains. The campaign utilizes maritime and port-themed lures to target government and military entities. SideWinder's infrastructure overlaps with legacy C2 assets, indicating recycling across multiple years. The group maintains a high operational tempo, with new phishing domains emerging every 3-5 days.
A new campaign is distributing the Oyster (Broomstick) backdoor through trojanized Microsoft Teams installers. Threat actors are using SEO poisoning and malvertising to trick users into downloading fake installers from spoofed websites. The malicious installers deploy a persistent backdoor that enables remote access, gathers system information, and supports additional payload delivery while evading detection. This tactic mirrors earlier fake PuTTY campaigns, showing a trend of abusing trusted software for initial access. The backdoor communicates with attacker-controlled C2 domains and uses DLL sideloading via rundll32.exe for stealthy execution. Organizations are advised to download software only from verified sources and avoid relying on search engine advertisements.
A malware campaign distributing potentially unwanted applications (PUAs) named ImageLooker.exe and Calendaromatic.exe uses digitally signed binaries and deceptive packaging to evade detection. Delivered via self-extracting 7-Zip archives, these trojanized productivity tools leverage the NeutralinoJS framework and Unicode homoglyphs. The campaign employs SEO poisoning and malvertising to trick users into installing the malware, which includes browser hijackers and facilitates initial access and data exfiltration. This reflects advanced threat actor tactics abusing digital code signing and user behavior manipulation.
iMonitor EAM 9.6394 installs a system service (eamusbsrv64.exe) that runs with NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM privileges. This service includes an insecure update mechanism that automatically loads files placed in the C:\sysupdate\ directory during startup. Because any local user can create and write to this directory, an attacker can place malicious DLLs or executables in it. Upon service restart, the files are moved to the application’s installation path and executed with SYSTEM privileges, leading to privilege escalation.
A seemingly harmless desktop application named calendaromatic.exe was discovered to be a sophisticated malware utilizing NeutralinoJS, Unicode homoglyphs, and hidden payloads. The malware, distributed through an aggressive ad campaign, exploited NeutralinoJS's native APIs to interact directly with the host operating system. The key to its operation was a function named clean() that scanned for Unicode homoglyphs in holiday JSON data, using them to encode hidden instructions. This technique allowed the malware to receive and execute arbitrary code smuggled into holiday names using lookalike characters. The investigation was accelerated by AI, which helped parse and annotate the minified JavaScript code.
The CleverControl employee monitoring software (v11.5.1041.6) fails to validate TLS server certificates during the installation process. The installer downloads and executes external components using curl.exe --insecure, enabling a man-in-the-middle attacker to deliver malicious files that are executed with SYSTEM privileges. This can lead to full remote code execution with administrative rights. No patch is available as the vendor has been unresponsive. It is assumed that previous versions are also affected, but this is not confirmed.
Vasion Print (formerly PrinterLogic) Virtual Appliance Host versions prior to 25.1.102 and Application versions prior to 25.1.1413 include Windows client components (PrinterInstallerClientInterface.exe, PrinterInstallerClient.exe, PrinterInstallerClientLauncher.exe) that lack modern compile-time and runtime exploit mitigations and rely on outdated runtimes. These binaries are built as 32-bit, without Data Execution Prevention (DEP), Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR), Control Flow Guard (CFG), or stack-protection, and they incorporate legacy technologies (Pascal/Delphi and Python 2) which are no longer commonly maintained. Several of these processes run with elevated privileges (NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM for PrinterInstallerClient.exe and PrinterInstallerClientLauncher.exe), and the client automatically downloads and installs printer drivers. The absence of modern memory safety mitigations and the use of unmaintained runtimes substantially increase the risk that memory-corruption or other exploit primitives — for example from crafted driver content or maliciously crafted inputs — can be turned into remote or local code execution and privilege escalation to SYSTEM. This vulnerability has been confirmed to be remediated, but it is unclear as to when the patch was introduced.