WinRAR Woes: Russian Hackers Exploit Zero-Day Flaw in Hilarious Path Traversal Plot
The Russian RomCom hacking group exploited a WinRAR path traversal vulnerability, CVE-2025-8088, in zero-day attacks to drop malware. WinRAR quickly patched the flaw. However, the attacks cleverly used hidden alternate data stream payloads, proving once again that a well-crafted RAR can compress not just files, but also our security expectations!
Hot Take:
WinRAR: the ultimate blast from the past and the present for hackers! Who knew our favorite archiving tool would become the hot potato of cybersecurity dramas in 2025? While WinRAR might not have an auto-update feature, it sure knows how to auto-invite hackers to the party. RomCom, the hacking group, decided to exploit a path traversal vulnerability in WinRAR, making it drop malware like it’s hot. Guess the old saying is true: “If you can’t beat ’em, at least make them open a malicious archive!”
Key Points:
– RomCom group exploited a WinRAR vulnerability, CVE-2025-8088, in zero-day attacks.
– The vulnerability involved path traversal using alternate data streams.
– ESET notified WinRAR, which patched the flaw by July 30, 2025.
– Malicious payloads included Mythic Agent, SnipBot, and MeltingClaw.
– The flaw required manual updates, highlighting WinRAR’s lack of an auto-update feature.