May 2, 2026 - Red Dot Security

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Hello all,

Another week, and another report replete with vulnerabilities, bugs, fails, defects, holes, exfiltration, compromises, phishing, breaches, hacking and exploitation. Of course there are also plenty of links to articles about patches, fixes, takedowns, arrests, sentencing, and legislation, all related to cyber security and our digital world. Artificial intelligence continues its inexorable steady march toward world dominance with a new model by OpenAI, a new AI Legal Agent from Microsoft, and Tesla launching an AI controlled vehicle that has no steering wheel. And Microsoft is finally getting the message, after years of consumers complaining about performance of Windows 11, Redmond has launched an initiative named K2 that aims to solve at least some of the issues in their flagship operating system instead of continuing to tack things on.

Headline NEWS:

Linux operating systems worldwide have been found to be vulnerable to a newly discovered defect in the Kernel, dubbed “Copy Fail”, that can enable a local user to elevate to root, the highest permission available. Most Linux distributions are affected and require patching. Some End of Life (EOL) systems do not have patches available and should be upgraded to supported versions. The latest version 7.0 Kernels do not appear to be affected by this flaw.
cPanel and WebHost Manager is widely used to administer websites on virtual hosted and private servers. A critical defect was announced this past week that allows unauthorized access to the panel, which can enable a threat actor to take over your web server. A patch is now available and major web hosting companies are rapidly pushing this out to all of their hosting clients. If you self-host, update immediately as this defect has been exploited as a zero-day for 30-days or longer. With over 2 million cPanels currently on the internet, the attack surface is quite broad.
SonicWall was quiet for a few weeks, and then this week they shot gunned a message to all of their current clients urging them to apply firmware patches immediately. And if clients cannot apply the patches at this time, to disable HTTP/HTTPS-based firewall management on all interfaces, disable SSL-VPN on all interfaces, and to restrict management access to SSH only. Wow! That is amazingly draconian. Basically, SonicWall is saying, if someone can connect, they can get in. However, all is not lost, if you are on the 7.x, or 8.x branch of firmware and have automatic updates enabled, you should have received the needed patches back in February of this year. If you aren’t receiving automatic updates, or are running version 6.x firmware, you should heed the vendor’s advice and patch immediately.
Wireshark is not something that you’d ordinarily associate with a severe vulnerability that allows a threat actor to execute arbitrary code, but here it is. Wireshark has published a significant update that plugs over 40 defects, some of which are the aforementioned code execution flaws. Also included are fixes for Denial of Service (DoS) issues, resource exhaustion, and decompression defects. If you use Wireshark, update to the latest version to mitigate these vulnerabilities.

In Ransomware, Malware, and Vulnerabilities News:

Microsoft Defender flagging “Cerdigent” trojan malware. This late-breaking news item could mushroom into something significant for defenders come Monday morning as they respond to a potential flood of warnings. Reports came in fast this weekend of notices worldwide popping up on systems alerting to “Trojan:Win32/Cerdigent.A!dha”. This appears to be related to a security incident involving certificate authority DigiCert and their revocation of 60 certificates that were used by malware named “Zhong stealer”. In response, Microsoft wrongly flagged DigiCert root certificates and promptly removed them from the Windows registry which created all sorts of havoc. Thankfully, their error was identified and Defender Security Intelligence updates version 1.449.430.0 and later have resolved the problem.

In Other News Events of Note and Interest:

Age Restrictions Spreading. The European Union wants member nations to use an app that they developed for age verification. The goal, according to Commission Executive Vice President Henna Virkkunen is “ensuring that children do not have access to content that is not meant for them.” The state of Utah’s Senate Bill 73 is set to take effect on Wednesday May 6, 2026 and is intended to restrict websites minors may access and will require age checks for anyone who is physically located in the state. Naturally, VPN providers and content providers are rather alarmed, because the legislation makes them liable if a VPN is used by a Utahan that is spoofing their location. Canadian province Manitoba announced that they are planning to ban social media and AI chatbots for youth. There are no specifics as to when this would take effect or the targeted age range yet. In December 2025 the country of Australia required that all social media companies take reasonable measures to keep anyone under the age of 16 off their services. VPN use subsequently skyrocketed. Yep, the online world is getting increasingly Orwellian in how privacy and anonymity is treated.

Musings

I recently was honored to speak to the Girl Scouts of Orange County California about basic Cyber Security. In the short time allotted, I had to decide from among the vast quantity of topics and current events. But ultimately, I decided upon the following five items – habits for them, and you to make part of your life.

Stop, Think, Verify — Then Click. Any message that creates urgency (“Act now!”, “Your account is locked!”) is a red flag. Pause before you click.
Strong Passwords Made Simple. Use a unique password for every account. Consider a password manager to keep track — and if you only change one password today, make it your email. (Check if yours may have been compromised at haveibeenpwned.com)
Turn On Two-Step Verification (MFA). That small extra step stops most attackers in their tracks. Enable it on your critical accounts today.
Protect Your Personal Information. Those fun Facebook quizzes asking for your first pet’s name or high school mascot? They’re often collecting your password reset answers. Be thoughtful about what you share — and remember, there’s no rule saying your security answers have to be true!
Trust Your Instincts. If something feels off, it probably is. Pause, verify, and when in doubt — don’t click.

Please practice safe computing and keep the shields up!

Viscount Jan Broucinek
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Headline NEWS

Ransomware, Malware, and Vulnerabilities News

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