Insight Partners Ransomware Breach Affects 12,657 Individuals

A critical vulnerability in Salesforce Agentforce, named ForcedLeak, allowed attackers to exfiltrate sensitive CRM data through indirect prompt injection. The flaw affected organizations using Salesforce Agentforce with Web-to-Lead functionality enabled. The vulnerability was discovered and reported by Noma Security on July 28, 2025. Salesforce has since patched the issue and implemented additional security measures, including regaining control of an expired domain and preventing AI agent output from being sent to untrusted domains. The exploit involved manipulating the Description field in Web-to-Lead forms to execute malicious instructions, leading to data leakage. Salesforce has enforced a Trusted URL allowlist to mitigate the risk of similar attacks in the future. The ForcedLeak vulnerability is a critical vulnerability chain with a CVSS score of 9.4, described as a cross-site scripting (XSS) play for the AI era. The exploit involves embedding a malicious prompt in a Web-to-Lead form, which the AI agent processes, leading to data leakage. The attack could potentially lead to the exfiltration of internal communications, business strategy insights, and detailed customer information. Salesforce is addressing the root cause of the vulnerability by implementing more robust layers of defense for their models and agents.

The UNC5221 activity cluster, attributed to suspected Chinese hackers, has been using the BRICKSTORM malware in long-term espionage operations against U.S. organizations in the technology, legal, SaaS, and BPO sectors. The malware, a Go-based backdoor, has been active for over a year, with an average dwell time of 393 days. It has been used to steal data from various sectors, including SaaS providers and BPOs. The attackers exploit vulnerabilities in edge devices and use anti-forensics techniques to avoid detection. The malware serves multiple functions, including web server, file manipulation, dropper, SOCKS relay, and shell command execution. It targets appliances without EDR support, such as VMware vCenter/ESXi, and uses legitimate traffic to mask its C2 communications. The attackers aim to exfiltrate emails and maintain stealth through various tactics, including removing the malware post-operation to hinder forensic investigations. The attackers use a malicious Java Servlet Filter (BRICKSTEAL) on vCenter to capture credentials, and clone Windows Server VMs to extract secrets. The stolen credentials are used for lateral movement and persistence, including enabling SSH on ESXi and modifying startup scripts. The malware exfiltrates emails via Microsoft Entra ID Enterprise Apps, utilizing its SOCKS proxy to tunnel into internal systems and code repositories. UNC5221 focuses on developers, administrators, and individuals tied to China's economic and security interests. Mandiant has released a free scanner script to help defenders detect BRICKSTORM. The BRICKSTORM backdoor is under active development, with a variant featuring a delay timer for C2 communication. The attackers have exploited Ivanti Connect Secure zero-day vulnerabilities (CVE-2023-46805 and CVE-2024-21887) for initial access. The attackers have used a custom dropper to install a malicious Java Servlet filter (BRICKSTEAL) in memory, avoiding detection. The attackers have modified init.d, rc.local, or systemd files to ensure persistence on appliances. The attackers have targeted Windows environments in Europe since at least November 2022. The attackers have been linked to other related Chinese threat actors besides UNC5221. The campaign has been monitored by Mandiant since March 2025. The attackers have targeted downstream customers of compromised SaaS providers. The attackers are believed to be analyzing stolen source code to identify zero-day vulnerabilities in enterprise technologies. The attackers use a delay timer to lie dormant on infected systems until a hard-coded date. The malware employs Garble, an open-source tool, for code obfuscation to hide function names, structures, and logic. Brickstorm has been found on VMware vCenter and ESXi hosts, often deployed prior to pivoting to these systems. The attackers use legitimate cloud services like Cloudflare Workers or Heroku for C2 communications. The attackers use dynamic domains like sslip.io or nip.io that point directly to the C2 server’s IP. The attackers favor appliance and management-plane compromise, per-victim obfuscated Go binaries, delayed-start implants, and Web/DoH C2 to preserve stealth. The attackers harvest and use valid high-privilege credentials to appear as routine administrator tasks. The attackers deploy in-memory servlet filters, remove installer artifacts, and embed delayed-start logic to limit forensic traces. The attackers abuse virtualization management capabilities, such as cloning VMs to extract credential stores offline. The attackers deploy an in-memory Java Servlet filter on vCenter to intercept and decode web authentication to harvest high-privilege credentials. The attackers use a SOCKS proxy on compromised appliances to tunnel into internal networks for interactive access and file retrieval.

A U.S. federal civilian executive branch (FCEB) agency was breached in July 2024 after attackers exploited an unpatched GeoServer instance. The attackers gained initial access through a critical remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability (CVE-2024-36401) and moved laterally within the network, deploying web shells and scripts for persistence and privilege escalation. The breach remained undetected for three weeks until the agency's Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) tool alerted the Security Operations Center (SOC). The attackers exploited the vulnerability in GeoServer, which was patched in June 2024 but remained unpatched in the agency's environment. They used brute force techniques for lateral movement and privilege escalation, accessing service accounts and deploying web shells like China Chopper. The breach highlights the importance of timely patching, continuous monitoring of EDR alerts, and comprehensive incident response plans. The attackers discovered the vulnerable GeoServer instances by conducting network scanning with Burp Suite. They exploited the vulnerability to gain access to a public-facing GeoServer instance and downloaded open-source scripts and tools for lateral movement. On July 24, 2024, the attackers exploited the same vulnerability to gain access to a second GeoServer instance and moved laterally to a Web server and SQL server, where they dropped web shells, including China Chopper. The attackers also used Stowaway for command-and-control (C2) traffic and attempted to exploit CVE-2016-5195 for privilege escalation. The agency's incident response plan was inadequate, and some public-facing resources lacked endpoint protection, allowing the breach to remain undetected for three weeks.

SonicWall has released a firmware update to remove rootkit malware from SMA 100 series devices, following a breach that exposed firewall configuration backup files. The breach, caused by brute-force attacks, affected less than 5% of customers and may have exposed sensitive information. SonicWall has advised customers to reset credentials and update secrets. Additionally, the Akira ransomware group has been targeting unpatched SonicWall devices, exploiting a year-old security flaw (CVE-2024-40766) and bypassing MFA on VPN accounts using previously stolen OTP seeds. There is no evidence that threat actors have leveraged exposed data against impacted customers in attacks at this time. In September 2025, SonicWall disclosed a security breach affecting MySonicWall accounts, resulting in the exposure of firewall configuration backup files for less than 5% of its customers. The breach, caused by a series of brute-force attacks, could facilitate easier exploitation of SonicWall firewalls by threat actors. SonicWall has advised customers to reset credentials, update secrets, and follow detailed guidance to mitigate potential risks. The company has cut off attackers' access and is collaborating with cybersecurity and law enforcement agencies. The exposed files may contain sensitive information, such as credentials and tokens, for services running on SonicWall devices. Additionally, the Akira ransomware group has been targeting unpatched SonicWall devices, exploiting a year-old security flaw (CVE-2024-40766) and bypassing MFA on VPN accounts using previously stolen OTP seeds. SonicWall confirmed that attackers accessed the API service for cloud backup and there is no evidence that threat actors have leveraged exposed data against impacted customers in attacks at this time. The threat actor UNC6148 has been deploying the OVERSTEP malware, a previously unknown persistent backdoor/user-mode rootkit, to maintain persistent access, steal sensitive credentials, and conceal its own components. The malware modifies the appliance's boot process to evade detection and hide files and activity. UNC6148 may have used an unknown zero-day remote code execution vulnerability to deploy OVERSTEP on SonicWall SMA appliances. Potential vulnerabilities exploited by UNC6148 include CVE-2021-20038, CVE-2024-38475, CVE-2021-20035, CVE-2021-20039, and CVE-2025-32819. SonicWall has advised customers to look for signs of compromise, such as gaps or deletions in SMA logs, unexpected appliance reboots, persistent admin sessions, unauthorized configuration changes, and reoccurring access following patching or resets. CISA recommends upgrading firmware, replacing and rebuilding SMA 500v, resetting OTP bindings, enforcing MFA, resetting passwords, and replacing certificates with private keys stored on the appliance.

The RaccoonO365 phishing network, a financially motivated threat group, was disrupted by Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) and Cloudflare. The operation, executed through a court order in the Southern District of New York, seized 338 domains used by the group since July 2024. The network targeted over 2,300 organizations in 94 countries, including at least 20 U.S. healthcare entities, and stole over 5,000 Microsoft 365 credentials. The RaccoonO365 network operated as a phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) toolkit, marketed to cybercriminals via a subscription model on a private Telegram channel. The group used legitimate tools like Cloudflare Turnstile and Workers scripts to protect their phishing pages, making detection more challenging. The mastermind behind RaccoonO365 is believed to be Joshua Ogundipe, who received over $100,000 in cryptocurrency payments. The group is also suspected to collaborate with Russian-speaking cybercriminals. Cloudflare executed a three-day 'rugpull' against RaccoonO365, banning all identified domains, placing interstitial 'phish warning' pages, terminating associated Workers scripts, and suspending user accounts to prevent re-registration.