Three Microsoft Defender Zero-Days Actively Exploited; Two Still Unpatched - The Hacker News

Three Microsoft Defender Zero-Days Actively Exploited; Two Still Unpatched Ravie LakshmananApr 17, 2026Vulnerability / Endpoint Security Huntress is warning that threat actors are exploiting three recently disclosed security flaws in Microsoft Defender to gain elevated privileges in compromised systems. The activity involves the exploitation of three vulnerabilities that are codenamed BlueHammer (requires GitHub sign-in), RedSun, and UnDefend, all of which were released as zero-days by a researcher known as Chaotic Eclipse (aka Nightmare-Eclipse) in response to Microsoft's handling of the vulnerability disclosure process. While both BlueHammer and RedSun are local privilege escalation (LPE) flaws impacting Microsoft Defender, UnDefend can be used to trigger a denial-of-service (DoS) condition and effectively block definition updates. Microsoft moved to address BlueHammer as part of its Patch Tuesday updates released earlier this week. The vulnerability is being tracked under the CVE identifier CVE-2026-33825. However, the other flaws do not have a fix as of writing. In a series of posts shared on X, Huntress said it observed all three flaws being exploited in the wild, with BlueHammer being weaponized since April 10, 2026, followed by the use of RedSun and UnDefend proof-of-concept (PoC) exploits on April 16. "These invocations followed after typical enumeration commands: whoami /priv, cmdkey /list, net group, and others that indicate hands-on-keyboard threat actor activity," it added. The cybersecurity vendor said it has taken steps to isolate the affected organization to prevent further post-exploitation. When reached for comment, Microsoft confirmed that the BlueHammer exploit has been addressed via CVE-2026-33825. "Microsoft has a customer commitment to investigate reported security issues and update impacted devices to protect customers as soon aspossible," a Microsoft spokesperson said. "We also support coordinated vulnerability disclosure, a widely adopted industry practice that helps ensure issues are carefully investigated and addressed before public disclosure, supporting both customer protection and the security research community." (The story was updated after publication to include a response from Microsoft.) Found this article interesting? Follow us on Google News, Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post. SHARE     Tweet Share Share SHARE  cybersecurity, denial of service, endpoint security, Microsoft Defender, patch Tuesday, privilege escalation, Vulnerability, zero day Trending News Microsoft Warns of WhatsApp-Delivered VBS Malware Hijacking Windows via UAC Bypass Anthropic's Claude Mythos Finds Thousands of Zero-Day Flaws Across Major Systems Docker CVE-2026-34040 Lets Attackers Bypass Authorization and Gain Host Access ⚡ Weekly Recap: Axios Hack, Chrome 0-Day, Fortinet Exploits, Paragon Spyware and More Fortinet Patches Actively Exploited CVE-2026-35616 in FortiClient EMS AI Will Change Cybersecurity. Humans Will Define Its Success. A Lesson No Algorithm Can Teach Microsoft Details Cookie-Controlled PHP Web Shells Persisting via Cron on Linux Servers BKA Identifies REvil Leaders Behind 130 German Ransomware Attacks Hackers Exploit CVE-2025-55182 to Breach 766 Next.js Hosts, Steal Credentials New GPUBreach Attack Enables Full CPU Privilege Escalation via GDDR6 Bit-Flips The AI Arms Race – Why Unified Exposure Management Is Becoming a Boardroom Priority Block the Prompt, Not the Work: The End of "Doctor No" China-Linked Storm-1175 Exploits Zero-Days to Rapidly Deploy Medusa Ransomware New Chrome Zero-Day CVE-2026-5281 Under Active Exploitation — Patch Released Apple Expands iOS 18.7.7 Update to More Devices to Block DarkSword Exploit New SparkCat Variant in iOS, Android Apps Steals Crypto Wallet Recovery Phrase Images Load More ▼ Popular Resources Get Full Visibility into Vendor and Internal Risk in One Platform Secure Your AI Systems Across the Full Lifecycle of Risks [Guide] Get Practical Steps to Govern AI Agents with Runtime Controls Learn How to Block Breached Passwords in Active Directory Before Attacks