The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Tuesday added four critical vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, stating they are being exploited in the wild.
The shortcomings added to the KEV catalog are listed below –
- CVE-2026-65400 (CVSS score: 9.8) – An improper authentication vulnerability impacting Apple macOS that could allow an attacker on the network to authenticate to Screen Sharing without valid credentials.
- CVE-2026-55040 (CVSS score: 9.1) – A weak authentication vulnerability impacting Microsoft SharePoint that could allow an unauthorized attacker to bypass a security feature over a network.
- CVE-2026-59310 (CVSS score: 9.8) – A path traversal vulnerability in Broadcom VMware vCenter that could allow a threat actor with network access to vCenter to execute arbitrary code.
- CVE-2026-33824 (CVSS score: 9.8) – A double free vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Key Exchange (IKE) Service Extensions that could allow an unauthorized attacker to execute code over a network.
Although the vulnerabilities have since been patched by the respective vendors, they have come under active exploitation, according to multiple public reports.
While the Apple macOS flaw has been abused to deliver a Monero cryptocurrency miner, the SharePoint vulnerability has been exploited by unknown actors following the release of a proof-of-concept (PoC) code.
The vulnerability affecting VMware vCenter is assessed to have been exploited by a suspected China-nexus advanced persistent threat (APT) actor to deploy a backdoor along with reverse_ssh binaries for persistent access to compromised instances. In at least one case, the campaign has led to the deployment of a Babuk-derived ransomware.
In all, the activity has compromised 361 unique victim IP addresses across 47 countries, with most of the infections concentrated in Germany (55), the U.S. (41), Turkey (38), Iran (26), and France (25).
CVE-2026-33824, per Palo Alto Networks Unit 42, has been observed being exploited by another Chinese-speaking threat actor, who is said to have simultaneously launched an AI-enabled autonomous hacking campaign using DeepSeek and conducted manual operations using known vulnerabilities, including the Microsoft Internet Key Exchange flaw.
Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) agencies have until August 21, 2026, to update vulnerable systems to the latest version and adhere to BOD 26-04 patching guidelines for optimal protection.
