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In the last 72 hours (Jan 28–30), four developments should set your weekend posture: (1) Fortinet FortiCloud/FortiOS SSO authentication bypass moved into active exploitation with fresh U.S. federal guidance; (2) OpenSSL shipped updates for 12 flaws including a high-severity RCE; (3) wide exploitation of the WinRAR CVE-2025-8088 was confirmed by Google’s threat intel team; and (4) a critical vm2 (Node.js) sandbox-escape was disclosed (CVSS 9.8).
Priorities: lock down Fortinet identity/admin planes, fast-track OpenSSL patching on internet-facing services, counter WinRAR lure campaigns at the email/web gateway, and evaluate Node.js service exposure for vm2.
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Top-level takeaways this week:
Identity & Edge Exposure ↑ — Fortinet SSO bypass drives admin-plane risk across Forti* estates.
Exploit & Zero-Day Velocity ↑ — OpenSSL multi-fix drop + active WinRAR exploitation compress patch and control windows.
App-Stack & Dev Risk ↑ — vm2 sandbox-escape threatens Node.js services and app runtimes.
1) Fortinet FortiCloud / FortiOS SSO auth bypass – High
What changed: Federal guidance highlights active exploitation of CVE-2026-24858, while vendor PSIRT confirms malicious activity against FortiCloud SSO in FG-IR-26-060; national CERTs also amplified the alert in the last 48 hours via Fortinet 0-day advisory.
Why this matters: Identity-adjacent admin planes are crown-jewel surfaces; SSO bypass + cloud accounts can silently widen blast radius across Forti* estates.
2) OpenSSL patches 12 flaws, including high-severity RCE – High
What changed: OpenSSL released updates addressing a dozen issues, including a high-severity RCE in OpenSSL on Jan 28.
Why this matters: Office lures still bypass user judgment; document-borne exploits can deliver initial access and token theft on executive endpoints.
3) Active exploitation of WinRAR expands – Medium-High
What changed: Google Threat Intelligence and multiple outlets report broad, in-the-wild exploitation of the WinRAR bug by nation-state and cybercrime actors.
Why this matters: RAR-lure campaigns remain effective for initial access; archives can deliver LNK/HTA droppers that sidestep basic filters.
4) vm2 (Node.js) sandbox-escape (CVSS 9.8) – Medium-High
What changed: Researchers disclosed a critical vm2 Node.js sandbox escape.
Why this matters: Any service relying on vm2 for untrusted code evaluation, including plugins, AI tools, and workflow apps, may allow remote code execution if exposed.
Stage | Vector / System | What we’re seeing |
|---|---|---|
Initial access | SSO/admin planes; lure archives; TLS endpoints | Fortinet SSO bypass on admin surfaces; WinRAR lures; OpenSSL bugs on exposed services. |
Privilege & persistence | Token/session abuse; service-level RCE | FortiCloud accounts + SSO → durable admin access; OpenSSL/vm2 RCE enables service takeover. |
Impact | Policy tamper, data exfil, staging | Admin-plane control + library/runtime exploits enable rule changes, covert exfil, and stealth staging. |
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🔄 Patch & Hardening
Fortinet SSO/admin planes: Apply mitigations/patches for CVE-2026-24858; gate FortiCloud/SSO and all Forti admin surfaces behind VPN/JIT allow-lists*; rotate tokens/certs; forward admin logs to SIEM.
OpenSSL: Identify versions fleet-wide (load balancers, proxies, app servers, appliances); patch or hot-swap images; restart services to load new libraries. Track third-party appliances for vendor updates.
WinRAR exposure: Block inbound RAR/ACE/7z to high-risk groups; detonate archives; enforce MOTW + “open in sandbox” for unknown senders; update endpoint rules for LNK/HTA chains.
vm2/Node.js: Inventory services using vm2; disable untrusted code execution or patch to a fixed release; gate any eval endpoints behind auth and strict input size/timeouts.
🧑💻 People & Monitoring
Identity/SSO: Alert on Forti* SSO config edits, new admins, unusual SAML assertions, and FortiCloud logins from rare ASNs.
TLS/OpenSSL: Monitor for service restarts/crash loops and anomalous client behavior post-update; watch IDS for new exploit probes.
Archives/WinRAR: Detect archive extraction followed by script/LOLBin spawns; flag LNK/HTA execution from temp or downloads.
Node.js/vm2: Alert on unexpected child processes from Node services and outbound connections from eval workers.
📋 Process
Change freeze on identity/admin planes this weekend unless CISO-approved.
Tabletop (30 min): “RAR lure → initial access → OpenSSL/vm2 service takeover → policy tamper/exfil.”
🤝 Partners
Network/MSPs: attest Fortinet versions & exposure; provide centralized logging evidence.
Platform/SRE: report OpenSSL patch coverage across ingress/egress tiers and app stacks; include restart timestamps.
SecOps/Email: show archive-type blocks/detonation results and VIP-group exceptions.
SSO bypass traces: Forti* SSO assertions from new geos → admin-plane actions; IdP vs device log mismatches.
OpenSSL exploitation: Spikes in malformed TLS handshakes; IDS signatures for new OpenSSL CVEs; service crashes tied to crafted inputs.
WinRAR lure chain: Archive extraction → wscript/mshta/powershell from user paths → outbound C2 on uncommon ports.
vm2 escape: Node process loading vm2 then spawning shell/utility binaries; unexpected file writes in plugin/temp directories.
Overall: High for identity-adjacent compromise (Fortinet SSO) and lure-driven initial access (WinRAR); Medium-High for TLS/runtime-level exploitation (OpenSSL/vm2) until patch attestations are complete.
Admin/SSO planes are production. Isolate FortiCloud/SSO and rotate tokens now.
Library/runtime bugs ripple outward. OpenSSL and vm2 issues affect many upstream services—patch depth matters.
Old-school lures still land. WinRAR exploitation shows user trust remains a soft spot—tighten archive controls.
🔄 Verify: CVE-2026-24858 mitigations/patches and Forti* admin-plane isolation; token/cert rotation complete.
📊 Validate: OpenSSL coverage on gateways/proxies/app servers with restart evidence; vendor appliance status tracked.
💼 Confirm: Archive controls enforced; detections active for LNK/HTA chains; VIP exceptions documented.
🔹 Double-check: Monday tabletop — “RAR lure → SSO bypass → TLS/runtime takeover → exfil.”
Final Insight: Quiet weekends happen when identity gates are locked, libraries are patched, and lures die at the door. Close the Fortinet gap, push OpenSSL/vm2 fixes, and starve WinRAR campaigns of clicks.
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Attio is the AI-native CRM for modern teams. With automatic enrichment, call intelligence, AI agents, flexible workflows and more, Attio works for any business and only takes minutes to set up.
Join industry leaders like Granola, Taskrabbit, Flatfile and more.