React2Shell

Exploiting CVE-2025-55182 React2Shell Vulnerability on Hack The Box Reactor Machine

A detailed walkthrough demonstrates remote code execution against a seasonal Hack The Box machine named Reactor by abusing the critical Next.js deserialization flaw CVE-2025-55182, also known as React2Shell. The attack begins with Nmap reconnaissance revealing an exposed Next.js service on port 3000, followed by Wappalyzer identification of an outdated framework version. Public exploit code is used to obtain an initial reverse shell as the node user without authentication. Credential access is achieved by extracting password hashes from the reactor.db SQLite database and cracking the engineer account with Hashcat against rockyou.txt. Privilege escalation leverages an exposed Node.js Inspector debug port on 9229, allowing WebSocket interaction via websocat to set the SUID bit on /bin/bash and obtain root access. The article highlights both the impact of the unauthenticated RCE vulnerability and common misconfigurations such as forgotten debug ports on production systems.

Over 15,000 Companies Deploy AI Agents to Combat Cloud Cyberattacks

More than 15,000 companies are already using AI-powered information security services in public clouds to detect attacks in real time, triage alert streams, and address vulnerabilities faster than human teams can process thousands of notifications. Yandex Cloud's threat report for the first half of 2026 shows attackers moving away from stolen passwords toward exploiting vulnerabilities in public applications. Specific attempts observed in Russian clouds include the critical React2Shell flaw along with Linux kernel issues Copy Fail and Dirty Frag. Companies are handing routine tasks such as alert prioritization, incident data collection, and initial investigations to AI agents while keeping human oversight for critical vulnerability remediation. The report notes that retail has become the top attack target at 39 percent, followed by manufacturing at 29 percent, while the IT sector dropped to 20 percent. Modern defenses now require behavioral detectors, unified telemetry, and AI agents to match the accelerated pace of attacks.