CISA orders feds to patch actively exploited Dell flaw within 3 days

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) ordered government agencies to patch their systems within three days against a maximum-severity Dell vulnerability that has been under active exploitation since mid-2024. According to security researchers from Mandiant and the Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG), this hardcoded-credential vulnerability (CVE-2026-22769) in Dell's RecoverPoint (a solution used for VMware virtual machine backup and recovery) is being exploited by a suspected Chinese hacking group tracked as UNC6201. After gaining access to a victim's network in CVE-2026-22769 attacks, UNC6201 deploys several malware payloads, including a newly identified backdoor called Grimbolt. This malware is built using a relatively new compilation technique that makes it harder to analyze than its predecessor, the Brickstorm backdoor. While the group swapped Brickstorm for Grimbolt in September 2025, it's not yet clear whether this switch was part of a planned upgrade or "a reaction to incident response efforts led by Mandiant and other industry partners." "Analysis of incident response engagements revealed that UNC6201, a suspected PRC-nexus threat cluster, has exploited this flaw since at least mid-2024 to move laterally, maintain persistent access, and deploy malware including SLAYSTYLE, BRICKSTORM, and a novel backdoor tracked as GRIMBOLT," they said. The security researchers have also found overlaps between UNC6201 and the Silk Typhoon Chinese state-...