Things I build, break, fix, and write about

5 November 2026
Embedded payloads in trojanised PDF viewers

Modified PDF viewers are a neat little delivery trick because they look like ordinary job bait until someone opens them. I keep coming back to the same point, the file name is not the danger, the loader path is; that is where the unwanted code slips in.

5 November 2026
Ransomware group fragmentation and detection priorities

Ransomware group fragmentation means the label matters less than the behaviour, and I trust activity over reputation every time. A small crew with...

5 November 2026
Security Advisory – 05 Nov 2026

Daily security advisory summary for 05 Nov 2026

4 November 2026
Linux kernel net/sched UAF constraints on CentOS 9 desktop

Linux kernel net/sched use-after-free looks messy on paper, and on CentOS 9 Desktop it is worse, because the obvious paths are blocked and the useful...

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3 July 2026
Spotting API access in DDoS-as-a-Service panels

DDoS-as-a-Service platforms rarely hide what they are doing; the panel, the payment flow, and the API tend to sit out in the open. I pay more attention to the selling machinery than the noise, because...

2 July 2026
23andMe breach notification gaps and account risk

23andMe breach notification gaps are the part that still bothers me, because people were left guessing whether they had a password problem or something much wider. If you reused a login anywhere,...

2 July 2026
Malware delivery through chatgpt.com/s links

ChatGPT share links can look boringly legitimate, which is exactly the problem. Once a trusted domain starts rendering attacker-controlled HTML, I stop trusting the address bar and start checking...

1 July 2026
cifs.upcall root trust and NSS lookup risk

A forged `cifs.spnego` request should die in the kernel, but on affected builds it reaches root-owned helper code instead. The ugly bit is `cifs.upcall`, where CIFS authentication key descriptions can...

1 July 2026
Harden PAN-OS by disabling auth override cookies

PAN-OS GlobalProtect authentication bypass is not a clever trick, it is a trust error with a neat finish. I prefer the boring fix, disable auth override cookies, then check the portal and gateway...

30 June 2026
Conditional access still anchors ZTNA policy

Zero Trust Network Access looks tidy until you test the policy against a failed identity provider, a stale token, or a changing location. I have seen too many setups where conditional access does all...

30 June 2026
ZTNA access policies for self-hosted services

ZTNA access policies only work when I treat the service, not the subnet, as the thing being protected. Once you start drawing the boundary around the app, rather than the VLAN, the gaps show up...

29 June 2026
Persisting federated users in AWS Cognito

AWS Cognito writes the user record before most people notice the decision point has gone, so I keep the real check in AWS Cognito PreSignUp_ExternalProvider. Anything later is tidying up after the...

29 June 2026
fits_open_file can copy arbitrary paths before validation

CFITSIO Extended Filename Syntax is the bit that makes me distrust a filename on sight. If `fits_open_file` gets attacker input, it can copy, fetch, or touch paths before FITS validation even starts,...

29 June 2026
Weekly Tech Digest | 29 Jun 2026

Stay updated with the latest in tech! This digest covers AI ethics, auto industry shifts, and the impact of politics on technology, exploring today's pressing issues.