Qilin Ransomware Is Eating Through Palo Alto VPNs

Palo Alto Networks' GlobalProtect VPN software — a product used by over 70,000 organisations worldwide, including 90% of Fortune 10 companies — has a critical authentication bypass flaw that the Qilin ransomware gang is now weaponising at scale, according to Arctic Wolf.

The flaw, CVE-2026-0257, lets an attacker skip the login process entirely and connect to a corporate VPN as if they belong there. Once inside, Qilin affiliates have been deploying full ransomware encryption across entire corporate networks, with some victims facing double-extortion (where attackers both encrypt files and threaten to publish stolen data publicly).

Arctic Wolf investigated multiple separate incidents during June 2026, all tracing back to this same vulnerability. The activity is assessed as ongoing.

Internet threat watchdog Shadowserver tracks over 167,000 GlobalProtect instances currently exposed to the public internet. There is no confirmed figure for how many remain unpatched.

Qilin is a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operation — meaning the group behind it rents their attack tools to other criminals, who then run their own campaigns and share the proceeds. Past victims include Nissan, pathology provider Synnovis, and Australia's Court Services Victoria.

CISA added CVE-2026-0257 to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on May 29, ordering federal agencies to patch within three days.

What you should do: If your organisation uses Palo Alto Networks GlobalProtect, confirm with your IT team that the May 13 patch has been applied. If you are unsure, assume it has not been and escalate today.

Researchers at Sysdig have uncovered ENCFORGE, a ransomware variant built specifically to encrypt AI infrastructure files — think PyTorch model checkpoints, Hugging Face SafeTensors, FAISS vector indexes, and training datasets. It targets approximately 180 file types associated with AI environments, according to The Hacker News.

The entry point is CVE-2025-3248, a flaw in Langflow — an open-source tool for building AI agent workflows — that allows any remote attacker to execute arbitrary code without logging in first. That flaw has been in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog since May 2025.

The attacker group behind this, tracked as JADEPUFFER, deployed ENCFORGE after sweeping compromised servers for credentials. The ransomware encrypts files using AES-256 encryption, then deletes itself. No data was observed being stolen — the only leverage is the encrypted data itself.

What you should do: If your team runs Langflow, update immediately to version 1.3.0 or later. Any version before that is an open door.

CVE ID not confirmed in source — check the original advisory before acting.

What ServiceNow is: ServiceNow is a cloud-based platform used by businesses to manage IT operations, employee workflows, and customer service processes.

What it is: CVE-2026-6875 is a sandbox escape vulnerability — meaning an attacker can break out of the restricted code environment ServiceNow uses to run user-submitted logic, then execute arbitrary code (run any command they choose) on the underlying server, all without logging in.

Who's at risk: Organisations running self-hosted ServiceNow instances that have not applied the June 2026 patches. Cloud-managed customers on supported versions should confirm their instance is current.

CVSS: 9.5 (Critical — patch today).

Root cause: The flaw exists in a pre-authentication endpoint (/assessment_thanks.do), meaning the server processes attacker-controlled input before verifying who is sending it. The sandbox meant to contain that code execution can be escaped via a documented gadget chain, giving the attacker full control of the ServiceNow instance and any connected proxy servers.

Attack vector: An attacker sends an HTTP POST request to the publicly accessible /assessment_thanks.do endpoint with a crafted payload. No credentials are needed. The sandbox escape gadget routes the request to the same code execution primitive identified in the published proof-of-concept exploit, resulting in complete instance compromise. Active exploitation has been observed in the wild.

Detection strategies: Look for unexpected POST requests to /assessment_thanks.do in your web server logs. Monitor for new or unusual processes spawned by the ServiceNow application user. Alert on any outbound connections from your ServiceNow host to unfamiliar external IP addresses.

Recommended actions:

1. Apply the June 2026 patches immediately (Brazil EA/GA, Australia Patch 2, Zurich Patch 7b/9, Yokohama Patch 12 HF1b/13).
2. Restrict external access to your ServiceNow instance at the network level where possible.
3. Review ServiceNow logs for POST activity against the affected endpoint going back to April 2026.

Amazon GuardDuty — a managed threat detection service that monitors AWS cloud accounts for suspicious activity — has launched an AI-powered investigation agent, now in public preview and free to use during the preview period, according to Help Net Security.

When a security alert fires, the investigation agent automatically analyses the finding, maps it to the MITRE ATT&CK framework (a standardised catalogue of attacker techniques), assesses risk and confidence levels, and produces actionable remediation steps. Think of it as the first analyst on the scene writing up the incident report before your team even opens their laptop.

It is available in 10 AWS regions, limited to 10 investigations per account per day during preview.

What you should do: If your organisation runs workloads on AWS and has GuardDuty enabled, turn on the investigation agent in your GuardDuty console today. It costs nothing during preview and reduces the window between alert and action.

The Netherlands' civilian and military intelligence services (AIVD and MIVD) published an advisory on July 10 warning that Russian intelligence is systematically hijacking internet-connected security cameras across EU and NATO countries to monitor military logistics and weapons shipments, according to The Hacker News. In Ukraine, the access has reportedly been used to target military personnel directly. The entry method in most cases: default passwords and outdated firmware.

What you should do: Change default passwords on any internet-connected cameras at your home or business, and check the manufacturer's website for firmware updates.