hacker-news · Crawled Sep 11, 2026
Cisco FMC Flaws Exploited to Steal Credentials and Deploy Qilin Ransomware
1 Actors 1 Malware
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AI Summary
Multiple threat actor clusters have exploited two critical vulnerabilities in Cisco's Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) to gain unauthorized access, steal credentials, and deploy ransomware. CVE-2026-20079, a critical authentication bypass flaw (CVSS 10.0), allowed unauthenticated remote attackers to execute scripts and gain root access. CVE-2026-20316, a lower-severity flaw, enabled access via a low-privilege account and was used in conjunction with other vulnerabilities for privilege escalation. Three distinct post-compromise activity clusters were identified: UAT-12197 deployed JSP web shells and JAR-based command executors; UAT-11823 delivered Netcat reverse shells and a Cyclops Blink variant; and UAT-11988, a ransomware operation, used living-off-the-land techniques to deploy Qilin ransomware.
AI-extracted · verify before operational use
Extracted Entities 2 found
MITRE ATT&CK TTPs 85 techniques
T1003 OS Credential Dumping · Credential Access T1012 Query Registry · Discovery T1016 System Network Configuration Discovery · Discovery T1018 Remote System Discovery · Discovery T1021 Remote Services · Lateral Movement T1021.001 Remote Desktop Protocol · Lateral Movement T1021.002 SMB/Windows Admin Shares · Lateral Movement T1027 Obfuscated Files or Information · Defense Evasion T1033 System Owner/User Discovery · Discovery T1040 Network Sniffing · Credential Access T1046 Network Service Discovery · Discovery T1047 Windows Management Instrumentation · Execution T1048 Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol · Exfiltration T1053 Scheduled Task/Job · Execution T1055 Process Injection · Defense Evasion T1057 Process Discovery · Discovery T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter · Execution T1059.001 PowerShell · Execution T1070.001 Clear Windows Event Logs · Defense Evasion T1070.004 File Deletion · Defense Evasion T1071 Application Layer Protocol · Command And Control T1071.001 Web Protocols · Command And Control T1078 Valid Accounts · Defense Evasion T1078.004 Cloud Accounts · Defense Evasion T1081 T1081 T1082 System Information Discovery · Discovery T1083 File and Directory Discovery · Discovery T1086 T1086 T1087 Account Discovery · Discovery T1087.002 Domain Account · Discovery T1090 Proxy · Command And Control T1095 Non-Application Layer Protocol · Command And Control T1098 Account Manipulation · Persistence T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer · Command And Control T1110 Brute Force · Credential Access T1110.003 Password Spraying · Credential Access T1112 Modify Registry · Defense Evasion T1120 Peripheral Device Discovery · Discovery T1129 Shared Modules · Execution T1133 External Remote Services · Persistence T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application · Initial Access T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution · Execution T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services · Lateral Movement T1211 Exploitation for Defense Evasion · Defense Evasion T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access · Credential Access T1218 System Binary Proxy Execution · Defense Evasion T1222 File and Directory Permissions Modification · Defense Evasion T1222.001 Windows File and Directory Permissions Modification · Defense Evasion T1482 Domain Trust Discovery · Discovery T1484.001 Group Policy Modification · Defense Evasion T1485 Data Destruction · Impact T1486 Data Encrypted for Impact · Impact T1489 Service Stop · Impact T1490 Inhibit System Recovery · Impact T1495 Firmware Corruption · Impact T1534 Internal Spearphishing · Lateral Movement T1537 Transfer Data to Cloud Account · Exfiltration T1542.001 System Firmware · Persistence T1543.003 Windows Service · Persistence T1547.001 Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder · Persistence T1548.002 Bypass User Account Control · Privilege Escalation T1552.001 Credentials In Files · Credential Access T1558 Steal or Forge Kerberos Tickets · Credential Access T1562.001 Disable or Modify Tools · Defense Evasion T1566 Phishing · Initial Access T1566.002 Spearphishing Link · Initial Access T1569 System Services · Execution T1570 Lateral Tool Transfer · Lateral Movement T1573 Encrypted Channel · Command And Control T1574.002 DLL Side-Loading · Persistence T1588 Obtain Capabilities · Resource Development T1588.001 Malware · Resource Development T1589 Gather Victim Identity Information · Reconnaissance T1595 Active Scanning · Reconnaissance T1599 Network Boundary Bridging · Defense Evasion T1650 Acquire Access · Resource Development T1048.003 Exfiltration Over Unencrypted Non-C2 Protocol · Exfiltration T1053.005 Scheduled Task · Execution T1059.003 Windows Command Shell · Execution T1069.002 Domain Groups · Discovery T1071.004 DNS · Command And Control T1090.002 External Proxy · Command And Control T1136.002 Domain Account · Persistence T1204.002 Malicious File · Execution T1217 Browser Information Discovery · Discovery