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Best Security Practices for Digital Banking

Tue, 04/21/2026
Online banking is now nearly universal. Long lines at the credit union, late-night ATM trips, and waiting for checks to clear have largely become a thing of the past. Digital banking has revolutionized the financial industry and the way we do business as a whole. However, it has also indelibly increased the risk of cyberattacks, social engineering scams, and online compromise to the financial...
Offensive Cybersecurity
Blog

Analysis of RedSun: Local Privilege Escalation via Defender Remediation Abuse

By Cristian Rubio on Fri, 04/17/2026
Fortra Intelligence and Research Experts (FIRE) have conducted a detailed analysis of RedSun, the latest proof-of-concept by "Chaotic Eclipse", the same researcher responsible for disclosing BlueHammer. Published in April 2026, RedSun is related to BlueHammer both in origin and technique, abusing Microsoft Defender logic and filesystem timing/path confusion to achieve privilege escalation...
Offensive Cybersecurity
Penetration Testing
Blog

Analysis of BlueHammer: LPE Exploiting Windows Defender Updates 

By Cristian Rubio on Mon, 04/13/2026
Fortra Intelligence and Research Experts (FIRE) have conducted a deep technical analysis of BlueHammer, a highly sophisticated Windows zero-day exploit chain that achieves Local Privilege Escalation (LPE) to NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM. To help security teams better navigate the advanced threat landscape, we are sharing this technical deep dive into how the exploit operates and how to defend against it...
Offensive Cybersecurity
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Blog

CVE-2026-2636: Using ReadFile with Handle of Opened .blf Log File Produces an Unrecoverable State in CLFS.sys Causing a BSoD

By Ricardo Narvaja on Wed, 02/25/2026
IntroductionWhile researching the Common Log File System (CLFS) to analyze a published vulnerability, I achieved remote code execution (RCE). However, after modifying certain values in a proof of concept (PoC), I observed that it triggered a non‑exploitable blue screen of death (BSoD) on the target system. Consequently, I am reporting this issue. This document helps the reader understand the BSoD...
Penetration Testing
new exploit blog
Blog

Core Impact Chronicle: Exploits and Updates | H2 2025

By Pablo Zurro on Fri, 02/06/2026
Core Impact Exploit Library AdditionsOne of Core Impact’s most valuable features is its certified exploit library, maintained by a team (formerly Core Labs) within the Fortra Intelligence & Research Experts (FIRE) group. This team conducts in-depth research to evaluate and prioritize the most critical vulnerabilities, ensuring the library is updated with high-impact, reliable exploits that enable...
Penetration Testing
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Blog

Core Impact 21.8: The No-Agent Agent

By Pablo Zurro on Tue, 12/09/2025
We’re excited to share what’s new in Core Impact v21.8! This release is all about making your penetration testing workflows more efficient, more integrated, and easier to manage. Let’s dive into the highlights.Smarter Agent DeploymentAgents are at the heart of Core Impact, and we’ve made them even better:New OSCI Agent Entity In many cases, it is very difficult to get an agent deployed on a...
Penetration Testing
new exploit blog
Blog

What's New in Impacket's 0.13 Release?

By Gabi Gonzalez on Wed, 10/22/2025
Our next Impacket release is almost ready to land. Since 0.12, we have been hard at work tackling long-standing feature requests and merging valuable patches from the community. Thanks to these efforts, this release is full of enhancements and improvements that we are excited for users to see. Here's a look at the highlights from the forthcoming release.New Attack Paths and Relay TricksRelay...
Offensive Cybersecurity
Blog

7 Overlooked Attack Vectors Lurking in Your Office Environment

Wed, 10/22/2025
Today’s cybercriminals prefer an easy entrance just as much as a sophisticated exploit. And most often, that’s where they start. Here is a list of seven overlooked attack vectors in which a serious threat could pop up, enter the network, and do serious damage. Remember: While many enterprise cybersecurity approaches are shooting high, a larger number of cybercriminals are “looking low.”1. Printers...
Blog

The Strategic Value of Offensive Security

Fri, 10/17/2025
For anyone who’s been in cybersecurity for even the past five years, the trends are as unprecedented as they are obvious; attacks are now more sophisticated, subtle, and scalable than ever before. Cybercriminals use AI to automatically find vulnerabilities, the mean time-to-exploit has now dropped to only 5 days (down from 32), and there is little to stop spray-and-pray campaigners from...
Offensive Cybersecurity
Penetration Testing
Blog

How Pen Testing Shines a Light on Your Hidden Technical Debt

Wed, 10/15/2025
Technical debt can have cybersecurity consequences. Even teams that feel they know exactly what needs fixing are often surprised at what a team of outside hackers can do – as they so often are during a breach.So how can you determine what’s emergency-worthy technical debt? Your backlog might not show it, but your pen test will.Technical Debt as Attack SurfaceIt’s difficult, if not impossible, to...
Penetration Testing
Guide

How to Build a Culture of Security

Do you have a culture of security at your organization? No matter your business venture, security should be at the core of the internal operations. Organizational cybersecurity is no easy job and it shouldn’t be the job of just one individual. Unfortunately, every enterprise's number one resource is also their number one threat- their people. By building a culture of security in your organization...
Guide

Dissecting Ransomware: Understanding Types, Stages, and Prevention

New, emerging ransomware attack methods impact organizations every day. Even though ransomware attacks are changing, it's more likely cybercriminals will use tried and true methods that are already proven to be effective. When it comes to ransomware attacks, low effort and high value tactics are easy to implement and very lucrative. Preventing...
Offensive Cybersecurity
Guide

Ways Hackers Look to Exploit Federal Agencies

Federal agencies are often high targets of attackers to obtain access to your environment, steal data, or leak information. There are 7 common ways hackers try to get into federal agencies. In this guide you'll get: Descriptions of each type, a couple of which might surprise you Real-world examples of why hackers want data in that way Strategies for...
Offensive Cybersecurity
Penetration Testing