Flax Typhoon Exploits Five Flaws as CISA Sets October 11 Deadline for Federal Agencies

October 9, 2026

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Thursday added five security flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, following their abuse by a China-linked threat actor known as Flax Typhoon.

The vulnerabilities in question are listed below –

CVE-2015-3306 (CVSS score: 10.0) – An improper access control vulnerability in ProFTPD that could allow remote attackers to read and write to arbitrary files via the site cpfr and site cpto commands.
CVE-2021-3199 (CVSS score: 9.8) – A path traversal vulnerability in ONLYOFFICE Docs that can occur when JSON Web Token (JWT) is used, via a “/..” sequence in an image upload parameter and could allow for remote code execution.
CVE-2023-22894 (CVSS score: 7.2) – A cleartext storage of sensitive information vulnerability in Strapi that could allow an attacker with access to the admin panel to discover sensitive user details via the query filter.
CVE-2016-3081 (CVSS score: 8.1) – A command injection vulnerability in Apache Struts that could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code via method:prefix when Dynamic Method Invocation is enabled.
CVE-2015-5477 (CVSS score: 7.5) – A reachable assertion vulnerability in ISC BIND that could allow a remote attacker to cause a denial-of-service via TKEY queries.

The addition of the five vulnerabilities coincides with a joint advisory released by Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, the U.K., and the U.S. warning of attacks enabled by a China-based cybersecurity company known as Integrity Technology Group.

These operations have been found to target eight security vulnerabilities, including the five listed above, to obtain initial access to organizations and siphon sensitive data. The activity involves exploiting flaws using scanning tools, cross-site scripting attacks, and password spraying on Microsoft Exchange servers, while setting up persistence through VPN software and exfiltrating emails and credentials using scripts.

It’s worth noting that the remaining three vulnerabilities already have a place in the KEV catalog –

CVE-2014-6278 – GNU Bash operating system command injection vulnerability (aka Shellshock) (Added in October 2025)
CVE-2019-11510 – Ivanti Pulse Connect Secure arbitrary file read vulnerability (Added in November 2021)
CVE-2021-22205 – GitLab Community and Enterprise Edition remote code execution vulnerability (Added in November 2021)

“Chinese government-affiliated actors continue to position themselves within critical infrastructure networks, including operational technology (OT) systems, with the aim of disrupting critical functions at a future time of their choosing,” said Acting Executive Assistant Director for Cybersecurity Chris Butera.

In light of active exploitation, federal agencies are required to apply the necessary patches or discontinue their use by October 11, 2026.

📰 Original Source:TheHackerNews
✍️ Author: info@thehackernews.com (The Hacker News)

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