Local Privilege Escalation
Microsoft working on Defender patch for ShieldBreak zero-day
On Friday, Microsoft confirmed it has begun working on a security patch for a Defender zero-day vulnerability named “ShieldBreak.” A security researcher who uses the “Nightmare Eclipse” handle disclosed this privilege escalation vulnerability after Microsoft released the August 2026 Patch Tuesday security updates. ”Microsoft is aware of the reported vulnerability and is actively investigating the […]
Microsoft patches LegacyHive Windows zero-day vulnerability
Microsoft has released security patches to address a Windows zero-day vulnerability known as “LegacyHive,” disclosed after the July 2026 Patch Tuesday. The security flaw was disclosed by a security researcher who uses the “Nightmare Eclipse” handle in protest of Microsoft’s bug bounty and vulnerability disclosure practices. Nightmare Eclipse published a LegacyHive proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit hours […]
New Microsoft Defender ‘ShieldBreak’ zero-day grants SYSTEM privileges
A security researcher known as Nightmare Eclipse has released a new Microsoft Defender zero-day exploit named “ShieldBreak” after Microsoft released the August 2026 Patch Tuesday security updates. The new vulnerability is described as a bypass for RoguePlanet, another Defender privilege escalation flaw disclosed in June and patched by Microsoft one month later. However, cybersecurity expert Kevin […]
New RefluXFS Linux flaw lets attackers gain root privileges
A nine-year-old race condition vulnerability in the Linux kernel’s XFS filesystem, tracked as CVE-2026-64600, allows local attackers to overwrite protected files and gain root privileges. Dubbed RefluXFS by the Qualys Threat Research Unit (TRU), which found and reported it, the security flaw affects systems with an XFS filesystem with reflink enabled (a default configuration on […]
New Windows LegacyHive zero-day gives hackers admin privileges
A security researcher using the “Nightmare Eclipse” handle has released a Windows zero-day exploit dubbed LegacyHive that allows attackers to escalate privileges on up-to-date Windows systems. Nightmare Eclipse published a proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit hours after Microsoft released its July 2026 Patch Tuesday updates, saying that it abuses a security vulnerability in the Windows User Profile […]
CISA: Windows BlueHammer flaw now exploited by ransomware gangs
CISA confirmed on Monday that ransomware gangs have begun exploiting a high-severity Microsoft Defender privilege escalation vulnerability that has previously been abused in zero-day attacks. Dubbed BlueHammer, the security flaw (CVE-2026-33825) was leaked by a security researcher known as “Nightmare Eclipse” in early April, together with proof-of-concept exploit code, in protest at how the Microsoft Security Response […]
New CIFSwitch Linux flaw gives root on multiple distributions
A newly discovered local privilege escalation vulnerability dubbed ‘CIFSwitch’ in the Linux kernel could allow attackers to forge CIFS authentication key descriptions, abuse the kernel’s key request mechanism, and gain root privileges. The issue impacts multiple Linux distributions that ship vulnerable combinations of the kernel CIFS and cifs-utils (versions 6.14 and higher, although some older […]
Exploit released for new PinTheft Arch Linux root escalation flaw
A recently patched Linux privilege escalation vulnerability now has a publicly available proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit that allows local attackers to gain root privileges on Arch Linux systems. The vulnerability, named PinTheft by the V12 security team and still waiting to be assigned a CVE ID for easier tracking, exists in the Linux kernel’s RDS (Reliable […]
Exploit available for new DirtyDecrypt Linux root escalation flaw
A recently patched local privilege escalation vulnerability in the Linux kernel’s rxgk module now has a proof-of-concept exploit that allows attackers to gain root access on some Linux systems. Named DirtyDecrypt and also known as DirtyCBC, this security flaw was also autonomously found and reported by the V12 security team earlier this month, when the […]
New Fragnesia Linux flaw lets attackers gain root privileges
Linux distros are rolling out patches for a new high-severity kernel privilege escalation vulnerability that allows attackers to run malicious code as root. Known as Fragnasia and tracked as CVE-2026-46300, this security flaw stems from a logic bug in the Linux XFRM ESP-in-TCP subsystem that can enable unprivileged local attackers to gain root privileges by writing arbitrary bytes […]