Cyber Threat Intelligence 08 December 2025

NCSA_THAICERT

Telecom Sector

The Largest Telecommunications Attack In U.S. History: What Really Happened—And How We Fight Back
"When Senator Ben Ray Luján warned that the United States was facing “the largest telecommunications hack in our nation’s history,” it marked a turning point in how we understand national cyber risk. On December 4, 2024, the White House confirmed a sprawling cyber-espionage campaign targeting 80 global telecom providers across dozens of countries¹. A joint task force—the Operation Enduring Security Framework—was launched by the NSA, Pentagon, and CISA to contain the damage. The adversary behind it: a sophisticated nation-state threat actor Microsoft calls Salt Typhoon, also tracked as Ghost Emperor, FamousSparrow, Earth Estrie, UNC2286, and earlier as LightBasin / UNC1945 / LIMINAL PANDA²⁻⁴."
https://blog.checkpoint.com/security/the-largest-telecommunications-attack-in-u-s-history-what-really-happened-and-how-we-fight-back/

Vulnerabilities

Critical XXE Bug CVE-2025-66516 (CVSS 10.0) Hits Apache Tika, Requires Urgent Patch
"A critical security flaw has been disclosed in Apache Tika that could result in an XML external entity (XXE) injection attack. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-66516, is rated 10.0 on the CVSS scoring scale, indicating maximum severity. "Critical XXE in Apache Tika tika-core (1.13-3.2.1), tika-pdf-module (2.0.0-3.2.1) and tika-parsers (1.13-1.28.5) modules on all platforms allows an attacker to carry out XML External Entity injection via a crafted XFA file inside of a PDF," according to an advisory for the vulnerability."
https://thehackernews.com/2025/12/critical-xxe-bug-cve-2025-66516-cvss.html
https://securityaffairs.com/185363/security/maximum-severity-xxe-vulnerability-discovered-in-apache-tika.html
React2Shell Flaw Exploited To Breach 30 Orgs, 77k IP Addresses Vulnerable
"Over 77,000 Internet-exposed IP addresses are vulnerable to the critical React2Shell remote code execution flaw (CVE-2025-55182), with researchers now confirming that attackers have already compromised over 30 organizations across multiple sectors. React2Shell is an unauthenticated remote code execution vulnerability that can be exploited via a single HTTP request and affects all frameworks that implement React Server Components, including Next.js, which uses the same deserialization logic."
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/react2shell-flaw-exploited-to-breach-30-orgs-77k-ip-addresses-vulnerable/
CISA Adds One Known Exploited Vulnerability To Catalog
"CISA has added one new vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog, based on evidence of active exploitation.
CVE-2025-55182 Meta React Server Components Remote Code Execution Vulnerability"
https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/alerts/2025/12/05/cisa-adds-one-known-exploited-vulnerability-catalog
https://thehackernews.com/2025/12/critical-react2shell-flaw-added-to-cisa.html
PromptPwnd: Prompt Injection Vulnerabilities In GitHub Actions Using AI Agents
"Aikido Security discovered a new class of vulnerabilities, which we have named PromptPwnd, in GitHub Actions or GitLab CI/CD pipelines when combined with AI agents like Gemini CLI, Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, and GitHub AI Inference in CI/CD pipelines. At least 5 Fortune 500 companies are impacted, with early indicators suggesting the same flaw is likely present in many others."
https://www.aikido.dev/blog/promptpwnd-github-actions-ai-agents
https://cyberscoop.com/ai-coding-tools-can-be-turned-against-you-aikido-github-prompt-injection/
https://hackread.com/promptpwnd-vulnerabilit-ai-systems-data-theft/
From Inbox To Wipeout: Perplexity Comet’s AI Browser Quietly Erasing Google Drive
"Polite emails are supposed to keep work civil, not wipe your Google Drive. In this blog, we’re going to unpack a new zero click agentic browser attack on Perplexity Comet that turns a friendly “please organize our shared Drive” email into a quiet Google Drive wiper, driven entirely by a single trusted prompt to an AI browser assistant. We’ll walk through how the attack works, why tone and task sequencing matter for LLM-driven agents, and what security teams should change now to protect Gmail and Google Drive workflows. This research continues Straiker’s STAR Labs work on agentic AI security and opens our agentic browser series with a focus on browser harm. It builds on prior findings showing how a single email could trigger zero click Drive exfiltration. In this attack we’ll cover, Perplexity Comet followed the polite, step by step instructions as valid workflow, allowing the deletion sequence to run unchecked."
https://www.straiker.ai/blog/from-inbox-to-wipeout-perplexity-comets-ai-browser-quietly-erasing-google-drive
https://thehackernews.com/2025/12/zero-click-agentic-browser-attack-can.html
Novel Clickjacking Attack Relies On CSS And SVG
"Security researcher Lyra Rebane has devised a novel clickjacking attack that relies on Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Rebane demonstrated the technique at BSides Tallinn in October and has now published a summary of her approach. The attack, which has yet to be fully mitigated, relies on the fact that SVG filters can leak information across origins, in violation of the web's same-origin policy."
https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/05/css_svg_clickjacking/
Attacking LINE Cryptography For Fun And .. Forensics
"The pursuit of obscure knowledge offers some of the greatest enjoyment, to understand something deeply. That understanding itself is the reward all researchers seek. Sometimes understanding comes with new insights! While looking at End-To-End-Encryption (e2ee) in the LINE messaging application I identified a few key issues in the Key Derivation Function (KDF) used by LINE and found that it had some cascading effects beyond e2ee."
https://think.501.team/research/Attacking+LINE+Cryptography+for+Fun+and+..+Forensics
IDEsaster: A Novel Vulnerability Class In AI IDEs
"We all know AI reshaped how we build software. Autocomplete evolved into AI agents that can autonomously act on behalf of the user. As vendors compete on “productivity” they add additional capabilities that significantly affect the security posture of their products. Around 6 months ago, I decided to dig into the world of AI IDEs and coding assistants because they were gaining popularity and it was clear they are here to stay. The first vulnerabilities I found were focused on narrow components - a vulnerable tool, writeable agent configuration or writeable MCP configuration that leads to anything from data exfiltration to remote code execution. Those issues are serious, but they only affect a single application at a time (and were publicly disclosed multiple times)."
https://maccarita.com/posts/idesaster/
https://thehackernews.com/2025/12/researchers-uncover-30-flaws-in-ai.html

Malware

FBI Warns Of Virtual Kidnapping Scams Using Altered Social Media Photos
"The FBI warns of criminals altering images shared on social media and using them as fake proof of life photos in virtual kidnapping ransom scams. This is part of a public service announcement published today about criminals contacting victims via text message, claiming to have kidnapped a family member and demanding ransom payments. However, as the FBI explained, virtual kidnapping scams involve no actual abduction. Instead, criminals use manipulated images found on social networks and publicly available information to create convincing scenarios designed to pressure victims into paying ransoms before verifying that their loved ones are safe."
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/fbi-warns-of-virtual-kidnapping-ransom-scams-using-altered-social-media-photos/
http://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2025/PSA251205
https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/05/virtual_kidnapping_scam/
China-Nexus Cyber Threat Groups Rapidly Exploit React2Shell Vulnerability (CVE-2025-55182)
"Within hours of the public disclosure of CVE-2025-55182 (React2Shell) on December 3, 2025, Amazon threat intelligence teams observed active exploitation attempts by multiple China state-nexus threat groups, including Earth Lamia and Jackpot Panda. This critical vulnerability in React Server Components has a maximum Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) score of 10.0 and affects React versions 19.x and Next.js versions 15.x and 16.x when using App Router. While this vulnerability doesn’t affect AWS services, we are sharing this threat intelligence to help customers running React or Next.js applications in their own environments take immediate action."
https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/security/china-nexus-cyber-threat-groups-rapidly-exploit-react2shell-vulnerability-cve-2025-55182/
https://thehackernews.com/2025/12/chinese-hackers-have-started-exploiting.html
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/react2shell-critical-flaw-actively-exploited-in-china-linked-attacks/
https://therecord.media/chinese-hackers-exploiting-react2shell-vulnerability-amazon
https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/react2shell-under-attack-china-nexus-groups
https://www.bankinfosecurity.com/chinese-nation-state-groups-tied-to-react2shell-targeting-a-30201
https://cyberscoop.com/attackers-exploit-react-server-vulnerability/
https://www.securityweek.com/chinese-hackers-exploiting-react2shell-vulnerability/
https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/05/aws_beijing_react_bug/
Return Of ClayRat: Expanded Features And Techniques
"In October, the zLabs team first identified the ClayRat Android spyware, a malware capable of stealing SMS messages, call logs, capturing victim photos, initiating calls, and sending mass SMS messages to the victim's contact list. Our continuous monitoring of this malware family has since uncovered a new variant with significantly upgraded capabilities. This updated ClayRat strain now leverages Accessibility Services in addition to exploiting Default SMS privileges. Misusing Accessibility services enables a range of actions, including:"
https://zimperium.com/blog/return-of-clayrat-expanded-features-and-techniques
https://hackread.com/clayrat-android-spyware-variant-device-control/
Unveiling WARP PANDA: A New Sophisticated China-Nexus Adversary
"Throughout 2025, CrowdStrike has identified multiple intrusions targeting VMware vCenter environments at U.S.-based entities, in which newly identified China-nexus adversary WARP PANDA deployed BRICKSTORM malware. WARP PANDA exhibits a high level of technical sophistication, advanced operations security (OPSEC) skills, and extensive knowledge of cloud and virtual machine (VM) environments. In addition to BRICKSTORM, WARP PANDA has also deployed JSP web shells and two new implants for ESXi environments — now named Junction and GuestConduit — during their operations."
https://www.crowdstrike.com/en-us/blog/warp-panda-cloud-threats/
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/chinalinked-warp-panda/
https://www.securityweek.com/us-organizations-warned-of-chinese-malware-used-for-long-term-persistence/
Sanctioned But Still Spying: Intellexa’s Prolific Zero-Day Exploits Continue
"Despite extensive scrutiny and public reporting, commercial surveillance vendors continue to operate unimpeded. A prominent name continues to surface in the world of mercenary spyware, Intellexa. Known for its “Predator” spyware, the company was sanctioned by the US Government. New Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) analysis shows that Intellexa is evading restrictions and thriving. Intellexa has adapted, evaded restrictions, and continues selling digital weapons to the highest bidders. Alongside research published by our colleagues from Recorded Future and Amnesty, this blog post will shed light on Intellexa’s recent activities, unveil the real-world impact of their surveillance tools, and detail the actions we are taking against this industry."
https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/threat-intelligence/intellexa-zero-day-exploits-continue
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/predator-spyware-intellexa-evades/
https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2025/12/leaks-show-intellexa-burning-zero-days-to-keep-predator-spyware-running
New Prompt Injection Attack Vectors Through MCP Sampling
"This article examines the security implications of the Model Context Protocol (MCP) sampling feature in the context of a widely used coding copilot application. MCP is a standard for connecting large language model (LLM) applications to external data sources and tools. We show that, without proper safeguards, malicious MCP servers can exploit the sampling feature for a range of attacks. We demonstrate these risks in practice through three proof-of-concept (PoC) examples conducted within the coding copilot, and discuss strategies for effective prevention."
https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/model-context-protocol-attack-vectors/
Sharpening The Knife: GOLD BLADE’s Strategic Evolution
"Between February 2024 and August 2025, Sophos analysts investigated nearly 40 intrusions related to STAC6565, a campaign the analysts assess with high confidence is associated with the GOLD BLADE threat group (also known as RedCurl, RedWolf, and Earth Kapre). This campaign reflects an unusually narrow geographic focus for the group, with almost 80% of the attacks targeting Canadian organizations. Once focused primarily on cyberespionage, GOLD BLADE has evolved its activity into a hybrid operation that blends data theft with selective ransomware deployment via a custom locker named QWCrypt."
https://news.sophos.com/en-us/2025/12/05/sharpening-the-knife-gold-blades-strategic-evolution/
A Hidden Pattern Within Months Of Credential-Based Attacks Against Palo Alto GlobalProtect
"On 2 December 2025, GreyNoise observed a concentrated spike of 7,000+ IPs attempting to log into Palo Alto Networks GlobalProtect portals. All activity originated from infrastructure operated by 3xK GmbH and targeted two Palo Alto profiles in GreyNoise’s Global Observation Grid (GOG)."
https://www.greynoise.io/blog/hidden-pattern-credential-based-attacks-palo-alto-sonicwall
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/new-wave-of-vpn-login-attempts-targets-palo-alto-globalprotect-portals/
https://securityaffairs.com/185382/hacking/attackers-launch-dual-campaign-on-globalprotect-portals-and-sonicwall-apis.html

Breaches/Hacks/Leaks

Barts Health NHS Discloses Data Breach After Oracle Zero-Day Hack
"Barts Health NHS Trust, a major healthcare provider in England, announced that Clop ransomware actors have stolen files from one of its databases after exploiting a vulnerability in its Oracle E-business Suite software. The stolen data are invoices spanning several years that expose the full names and addresses of individuals who paid for treatment or other services at Barts Health hospital. Information of former employees who owed money to the trust, and suppliers whose data is already public, has also been exposed, the organization says."
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/barts-health-nhs-discloses-data-breach-after-oracle-zero-day-hack/
https://hackread.com/barts-health-nhs-cl0p-ransomware-data-breach/
Data Brokers Are Exposing Medical Professionals, And Turning Their Personal Lives Into Open Files
"Large amounts of personal information about medical professionals are available on people search sites. A new analysis by Incogni’s researchers shows how much data about doctors appears online and how easily it can be found. The findings should concern healthcare leaders who support staff safety, workforce protection, and clinical operations."
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2025/12/05/incogni-healthcare-staff-data-exposure-report/

General News

React Flaw Mitigation Leads To Cloudflare Outage
"Content delivery network giant Cloudflare is investigating a brief outage early Friday that took down multiple websites. The incident marks the second outage in the span of a month, although the company said the causes are unrelated. The incident affected social media platforms LinkedIn and X as well as Zoom and online design platform Canva. Multiple users took to X on Friday morning to report that they were prompted with an internal server error when they visited these websites. Impacted services have since been restored."
https://www.bankinfosecurity.com/react-flaw-mitigation-leads-to-cloudflare-outage-a-30207
https://www.securityweek.com/cloudflare-outage-caused-by-react2shell-mitigations/
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/technology/cloudflare-down-websites-offline-with-500-internal-server-error/
https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/05/react2shell_pocs_exploitation/
Rethinking The CIO-CISO Dynamic In The Age Of AI
"As artificial intelligence and digital transformation become table stakes for today's enterprises, CIOs and CISOs are being pulled into the spotlight, and the way these two leaders operate is changing. Organizations are beginning to reimagine how these leadership roles should be structured, aligned and empowered as they grapple with regulatory pressures, the unpredictable nature of AI systems and the need for operational resilience in an uncertain business climate."
https://www.bankinfosecurity.com/rethinking-cio-ciso-dynamic-in-age-ai-a-30211
Threat Landscape Grows Increasingly Dangerous For Manufacturers
"Manufacturers continued to be a top target — if not the top target — of financially motivated cyberattacks in 2025, with their sensitivity to operational disruptions and their shortage of expertise and well-designed protections causing issues for the business sector as a whole, experts say. In 2025, half of manufacturers (51%) fell prey to ransomware and paid a ransom, with the average ransom costing $1 million and the average recovery cost (excluding the ransom) approaching $1.3 million, according to data that cybersecurity firm Sophos collected from more than 330 manufacturing organizations."
https://www.darkreading.com/cyberattacks-data-breaches/threat-landscape-increasingly-dangerous-manufacturers
CISOs Should Be Asking These Quantum Questions Today
"This isn't a pitch for a new box or black box. It's a look at how security, compliance, and engineering teams need to evolve as quantum methods quietly move into production workflows. What follows focuses on the practical questions chief information security officers (CISOs), SecOps leaders, and engineering teams should be asking about visibility, validation, and compliance, rather than hardware specs or vendor road maps. Most enterprises aren't running quantum computers. So why should security operations teams care today?"
https://www.darkreading.com/cybersecurity-operations/cisos-should-be-asking-these-quantum-questions-today
Building The Missing Layers For An Internet Of Agents
"Cybersecurity teams are starting to think about how large language model agents might interact at scale. A new paper from Cisco Research argues that the current network stack is not prepared for this shift. The work proposes two extra layers on top of the application transport layer to help agents communicate in a structured way and agree on shared meaning before they act."
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2025/12/05/cisco-research-internet-of-agents-architecture/
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2511.19699
Maryland Man Sentenced For N. Korea IT Worker Scheme Involving US Government Contracts
"A 40-year-old Maryland man has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for his role in a scheme where he allowed North Korean nationals to use his identity to work in software development roles at several U.S. government agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Minh Phuong Ngoc Vong will also have to serve three years of supervised release as part of his plea agreement with the Justice Department."
https://therecord.media/north-korea-it-worker-scheme-maryland-man-sentenced
CheatSheet – A Practical Guide For Securely Using Third-Party MCP Servers 1.0
"The Practical Guide for Securely Using Third-Party MCP Servers from the OWASP GenAI Security Project provides a detailed framework for safely deploying and managing external Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers. It outlines the unique security risks introduced by connecting AI models to third-party tools and data sources, including tool poisoning, prompt injection, memory poisoning, and tool interference. The guide offers actionable mitigations covering authentication, authorization, client sandboxing, secure server discovery, and governance workflows, emphasizing least-privilege access and human-in-the-loop oversight."
https://genai.owasp.org/resource/cheatsheet-a-practical-guide-for-securely-using-third-party-mcp-servers-1-0/
https://www.scworld.com/feature/mcp-servers-emerge-as-new-supply-chain-risk-as-real-attacks-accelerate
A Tale Of Two CISOs: Why An Engineering-Focused CISO Can Be a Liability
"QUESTION: What is the difference between an engineering-focused CISO and a holistic CISO, and what does it mean for the organization? David Schwed, COO at SovereignAI: Right now, there is a global CISO hiring spree. AI labs, cryptocurrency exchanges, and financial institutions are competing over the same small pool of security leaders. Also right now, 2025 is on track to be the worst year for digital asset theft, with over $2 billion stolen by midyear and a single $1.5 billion hack of exchange Bybit dominating the losses."
https://www.darkreading.com/cyber-risk/why-an-engineering-focused-ciso-can-be-a-liability

อ้างอิง
Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA)