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  • Field Marshal Asim Munir reaffirms Pakistan’s deep fraternal bonds with Azerbaijan

    Field Marshal Asim Munir reaffirms Pakistan’s deep fraternal bonds with Azerbaijan

    RAWALPINDI – Colonel General Karim Valiyev, First Deputy Minister of Defence and Chief of the General Staff of the Azerbaijan Army, called on Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, Chief of Army Staff (COAS), at General Headquarters (GHQ) on Wednesday.

    The meeting encompassed discussions on matters of mutual interest, with particular focus on the prevailing global and regional security landscape.

    COAS reaffirmed Pakistan’s deep fraternal bonds with Azerbaijan and reiterated the resolve to further consolidate bilateral relations. He also congratulated the visiting dignitary on the successful conclusion of the peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

    The visiting dignitary praised Pakistan Armed Forces for their professionalism and success in Maarka-e-Haq, Operation Bunyanum Marsoos.

    The delegation also extended best wishes for the upcoming Independence Day and Victory Celebrations.

    COAS thanked Azerbaijan’s leadership and people for standing together with the people of Pakistan during Maarka-e-Haq and also for sending the Azeri Contingent for participating in the Independence Day ceremony.

    Both military leaders expressed a shared commitment to advancing defence cooperation and promoting joint efforts for regional peace and stability.

    Field Marshal Asim Munir Reaffirms Pakistans Deep Fraternal Bonds With Azerbaijan

    On the occasion, Colonel General Karim Valiyev conferred upon Field Marshal Asim Munir, Azerbaijan’s prestigious Patriotic War Medal for “Services in the Field of Military Cooperation”, on behalf of President Illham Aliyev, in recognition of his exceptional contributions in Azerbaijan- Pakistan bilateral military cooperation.

    He commended Pakistan’s unwavering efforts in combating terrorism and reaffirmed Azerbaijan’s determination to enhance collaboration in defence and security. The visiting dignitary conveyed gratitude for Pakistan’s warm hospitality and steadfast support for Azerbaijan.

    Earlier, upon arrival at GHQ, Colonel General Karim Valiyev was presented with the guard of honour by a smartly turned-out contingent of the Pakistan Army. He also laid a floral wreath at the Yadgar-e-Shuhada.

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  • Foundation to spread ‘magic of dance’ in Southport victim’s memory

    Foundation to spread ‘magic of dance’ in Southport victim’s memory

    Lynette Horsburgh

    BBC News, Liverpool

    Family handout Alice Aguiar with long brown hair tied back wearing a pale blue dance outfit standing in a theatre in front of a gold door with the sign stage. She is smiling.Family handout

    Alice was always dancing from the age of 16 months, said her mum

    The parents of a Southport attack victim have said they want to “spread the magic” of dance to other children with a foundation set up in the name of their daughter who “loved dancing”.

    Alice Aguiar was murdered alongside Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and six-year-old Bebe King at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on 29 July last year.

    Alexandra and Sergio Aguiar said Alice’s Wonderdance will fund after school clubs, dance outfits and university funding.

    Mr Aguiar, who ran the London Marathon to raise money for a playground at Alice’s former school, told BBC Breakfast he was going to run six more marathons to raise money for the foundation and take Alice’s name “across the world”.

    Family photograph Alexandra, Alice and Sergio Aguiar in a restaurant eating a meal al wearing Portugal football shirts. They are all smiling.Family photograph

    Alexandra and Sergio Aguiar say they want to help other children who love dancing like Alice

    He said he will start the challenge in Berlin and then run marathons in Chicago, New York, Boston and Tokyo and finish off in London all in memory of Alice.

    “Everything I can do, I’m going to do… in her name,” he said.

    Mrs Aguiar said the new foundation’s logo features pink ballet shoes to represent Alice’s “non-stop dancing”, which she started enjoying at about 16 months, and a magic wand “to spread the magic”.

    She said the foundation was “created in the name of Alice just to show everyone how wonderful Alice was”.

    She added: “We just want to provide fun for children in the world of dance.”

    The couple said dance was “more than movement, it’s freedom, creativity, connection, and joy” and the foundation aims to remove barriers so every child can access dance.

    Family handout Alice with her brown hair in a bun dressed in a pink leotard in a dance studio. She is smiling.Family handout

    Alice’s parents want to give other children who love dance like Alice opportunities they may not be able to afford

    The couple said they are getting support for the project from Elsie and Bebe’s family who have also set up charities – Elsie’s Story and Bebe’s Hive – in their daughters’ names.

    Mr Aguiar said: “We work together as a team… try to help each other.”

    His wife added their help and support was “everything”.

    He completed the London Marathon in April having only started running in January to raise money for a new playground and library at Churchtown Primary School dedicated to Alice and Bebe.

    It will include a stage in memory of the two girls who were pupils there.

    Sarah Buck, a family friend, who is helping with the foundation, praised the Southport community for getting behind Alice’s Wonderdance.

    “Everyone in the community is excited to get involved,” she said.

    She said: “Alice’s WonderDance is a foundation we created in the name of Alice just to show everyone how wonderful Alice was.

    “We just want to provide fun for children in the world of dance.”

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  • Immunotherapy Boost Possible by Blocking Brake in T Cells

    Immunotherapy Boost Possible by Blocking Brake in T Cells


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    In a discovery that could expand the array of current cancer immunotherapy treatments, scientists at Harvard Medical School have identified a new molecular brake that hinders the ability of T cells to attack tumors.


    The research, published Aug. 12 in Nature Immunology and supported in part by federal fundingoffers a new pathway to design treatments that help more patients — a welcome development given that current cancer immunotherapies work in less than half of those who receive them.

    The research, done in mice and in human cells, shows that a protein called STUB1 restrains the immune system’s elite cancer-fighting CD8+ T cells. It does so by interfering with immune-signaling receptors — particularly one for the molecule IL-27 — that are crucial for T cells’ ability to mount a vigorous anti-tumor response.

    Blocking STUB1, the researchers said, could lead to new ways to supercharge cancer immunotherapies.

    “Even though cancer immunotherapies have transformed the way we treat cancer, it’s important that we find new ways to extend the lifesaving and lifechanging benefits of these therapies to more people,” said lead author Martin LaFleur, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Arlene Sharpe, the Kolokotrones University Professor in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS, a pioneer in cancer immunotherapy, and senior author on the work. “We believe our work and CRISPR screens more broadly are critical for identifying and prioritizing possible therapeutic targets to find the best ones for patients.”

    What the researchers found

    Using the gene-editing tool CRISPR, the researchers screened nearly 900 genes to see which ones might be preventing the CD8+ T cells from attacking tumors effectively. One gene stood out: STUB1. When the researchers deleted this gene in CD8+ T cells, these cells became markedly better at attacking tumors. Mice with STUB1-deficient T cells had slower-growing cancers and lived longer than those with unaltered T cells.


    The experiments showed that STUB1 works by dialing down the ability of T cells to detect and respond to signals from immune-boosting molecules called cytokines. STUB1 does so by engaging with another protein called CHIC2, the study found. When STUB1-CHIC2 interact, they remove key receptors from the surface of T cells, rendering these immune defenders less responsive to immune-activating signals sent by cytokines. The findings suggest that blocking the interplay between STUB1-CHIC2 could strengthen the body’s natural responses against cancer and inform the design of new treatments.

    How the findings can inform next-generation cancer therapies

    Even though the work was done mainly in mice, the researchers say there are telltale signs that the same process might be at play in humans. A separate set of experiments showed that removing STUB1 or CHIC2 in human T cells led to increased levels of cytokine receptors, consistent with their observations in mice. And, notably, a recent study found that IL-27 is linked with improved killer T-cell and immunotherapy responses in human patients. This leads the researchers to believe that inhibition of STUB1 may boost IL-27 signaling and enhance tumor immunity in humans.


    The discovery could lead to a drug — an avenue the research team is currently pursuing — but it could also enable cell-based approaches. For example, engineering T cells without STUB1 may be a promising strategy, especially given that STUB1 is broadly expressed and selectively removing it from T cells would enhance their function while minimizing the risk of potential toxicities that could result from systemic inhibition.

    Additionally, the findings can help fill two important gaps in cancer immunotherapy.

    First, scientists do not know all the crucial signals that give a T cell the go-ahead to mount a potent anti-tumor response. The results of the new study show that STUB1 inhibits cytokine signaling during early T-cell responses and highlights the cytokine IL-27 as an important signal in the priming of T cells.

    Second, researchers said, blocking STUB1 is a tantalizing therapeutic approach because it works on two fronts: enhancing T cells’ anti-tumor responses while also rendering tumors more vulnerable to killing by T cells.

    “We anticipate that STUB1 inhibition could be effective as either as a monotherapy or with existing cancer treatments,” LaFleur said. “Given that STUB1 influences early T-cell priming, it may be an effective combination therapy with other treatments that work later in the T-cell response.”

    The researchers emphasize that further studies are needed to fully understand the promise, effectiveness, and safety of STUB1 inhibition in humans. But the findings provide valuable new insights into how the immune system fights cancer and how scientists might help it do so more efficiently.

    Reference: LaFleur MW, Milling LE, Prathima P, et al. A STUB1–CHIC2 complex inhibits CD8+ T cells to restrain tumor immunity. Nat Immunol. 2025. doi: 10.1038/s41590-025-02231-6

    This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source. Our press release publishing policy can be accessed here.

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  • All Blacks XV to play England A in November » allblacks.com

    All Blacks XV to play England A in November » allblacks.com

    The All Blacks XV side will return this autumn with a fixture against England Men’s A at The Recreation Ground.

    England will host the historic meeting at the home of current Gallagher PREM Rugby champions, Bath Rugby, on Saturday 8th November 2025 (13:15 GMT kick-off). 
     
    This is the first match between the unions’ high-performance pathway teams, with England having previously faced the All Blacks XV when they were known as New Zealand A. 
     
    England A will look to continue their unbeaten run since the team’s return in 2023 whilst the All Blacks XV managed an unbeaten 2024 Northern Hemisphere tour to set up a finely poised encounter. 
     
    England A provides a platform for players transitioning from Gallagher PREM Rugby and pathway at U20 level to the senior men’s team. Of those that represented the A side in the 2024/25 season, 10 players went on to earn their senior men’s debut for England.  
     
    The All Blacks XV are a key part of New Zealand’s high-performance rugby pathway — a team designed to develop and showcase the next tier of Test-ready talent. 
     
    A coaching team will be chosen by the RFU in consultation with PREM Rugby, with the selection of the match day 23 determined by senior men’s head coach, Steve Borthwick, and RFU Executive Director of Performance, Conor O’Shea. 
     
    Tickets for the match go on general sale Friday 15th August at 10am via this link, with a 48-hour pre-sale now open for Bath Rugby season ticket holders and members. Adult tickets start from £25 and kids (U16) from £15, booking fees apply.  
     
    Further information around squad and coach selection, as well as future fixtures, will be communicated in due course.  
     
    Conor O’Shea said: “Any time a side representing New Zealand has set foot on English soil, it serves up a fantastic fixture and is a fitting opening to an exciting and challenging campaign for the England A team. 
     
    “The Men’s A programme has served our senior men’s team brilliantly in 2025 with a number of players earning what we hope to be the first of many caps. We look forward to developing the talents of a refreshed cohort in a testing international arena.  
     
    “The Recreation Ground has been a fantastic venue for the U20 Men in recent years with vibrant and youthful crowds that we’re confident will match the occasion of a touring All Blacks XV this November.” 
     
    Tarquin McDonald, Chief Executive Officer at Bath Rugby, said: “We are incredibly proud to host this clash between England A and the All Blacks XV.  
     
    “It’s a fantastic opportunity for fans to witness top-tier international talent at our home ground, and a proud moment for our club to see several of our own players representing England.  
     
    “We look forward to welcoming supporters from across the country for what will undoubtedly be a special occasion at the Rec.”   


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  • Most Gulf shares rise on Fed rate cut hopes; mixed earnings cap gains – Reuters

    1. Most Gulf shares rise on Fed rate cut hopes; mixed earnings cap gains  Reuters
    2. Gulf bourses mixed on weaker corporate earnings, Fed rate cut hopes  Business Recorder
    3. UAE Markets Slip As Investors Focus On US Inflation And Rates  Finimize
    4. Mideast Stocks: Most Gulf shares rise on Fed rate cut hopes; mixed earnings cap gains  ZAWYA
    5. Gulf shares muted on lower corporate earnings; US inflation in focus  Business Recorder

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  • Iron ore futures close flat-Xinhua

    DALIAN, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) — Iron ore futures closed flat on Wednesday in daytime trading at the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE).

    The most active iron ore contract for January 2026 delivery was flat to close at 795 yuan (about 111.42 U.S. dollars) per tonne.

    On Wednesday, the total trading volume of 11 listed iron ore futures contracts on the exchange was 337,081 lots, with a turnover of about 26.98 billion yuan.

    As the world’s largest importer of iron ore, China opened the DCE iron ore futures to international investors in May 2018.

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  • UN warns Afghan women face "increasingly untenable" situation and risk removal from public life – ANI News

    1. UN warns Afghan women face “increasingly untenable” situation and risk removal from public life  ANI News
    2. Four Years On, UN Says Taliban Close To ‘Erasing’ Afghan Women From Public Life  Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
    3. UN report says its female staff in Afghanistan have received death threats  Al Jazeera
    4. War May Be Over, but Afghanistan’s Hospitals Are Still in Crisis  New Lines Magazine
    5. The exam that hasn’t ended for four years  Amu TV

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  • France, Germany, UK express willingness to reinstate sanctions on Iran

    France, Germany, UK express willingness to reinstate sanctions on Iran



    Iranian flag, atom symbol and words “Nuclear program” are in this illustration taken June 16, 2025. — Reuters 

    Major European powers have informed the United Nations they are ready to reimpose UN-mandated sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme if no diplomatic solution is found by the end of August, according to a joint letter obtained by AFP.

    The letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council says the three European powers are “committed to use all diplomatic tools at our disposal to ensure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon” unless Tehran meets the deadline.

    The foreign ministers from the so-called E3 group threaten to use a “snapback mechanism” that was part of a 2015 international deal with Iran that eased UN Security Council sanctions.

    Under the deal, which terminates in October, any party to the accord can restore the sanctions.

    All three have stepped up warnings to Iran about its suspension of cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

    That came after Israel launched a 12-day war with Iran in June, partly seeking to destroy its nuclear capability. The United States staged its own bombing raid during the war.

    “We have made clear that if Iran is not willing to reach a diplomatic solution before the end of August 2025, or does not seize the opportunity of an extension, E3 are prepared to trigger the snapback mechanism,” foreign ministers Jean-Noel Barrot of France, David Lammy of Britain and Johann Wadephul of Germany said in the letter.

    All three countries were signatories to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with the US, China and Russia that offered the carrot and stick deal for Iran to slow its enrichment of uranium needed for a nuclear weapon.

    President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the accord in 2018 during his first term and ordered new sanctions.

    The European countries said they would stick to the accord. But their letter sets out engagements that the ministers say Iran has breached, including building up a uranium stock more than 40 times the permitted level under the 2015 deal.

    “The E3 remain fully committed to a diplomatic resolution to the crisis caused by Iran’s nuclear programme and will continue to engage with a view to reaching a negotiated solution.

    “We are equally ready, and have unambiguous legal grounds, to notify the significant non-performance of JCPOA commitments by Iran […] thereby triggering the snapback mechanism, should no satisfactory solution be reached by the end of August 2025,” the ministers wrote in the letter first reported by the Financial Times.

    Cooperation with IAEA

    The US had already started contacts with Iran, which denies seeking a weapon, over its nuclear activities.

    But these were halted by the Israeli strikes in June on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

    Even before the strikes, the international powers had raised concerns about the lack of access given to IAEA inspectors.

    Iran halted all cooperation with the IAEA after the strikes, but it announced that the agency’s deputy chief was expected in Tehran for talks on a new cooperation deal.

    Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi sent a letter to the UN last month saying that the European countries did not have the legal right to restore sanctions.

    The European ministers called this allegation “unfounded”.

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  • Modi likely to meet Trump in US next month: report

    Modi likely to meet Trump in US next month: report



    US President Donald Trump meets Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the G20 leaders summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina November 30, 2018. — Reuters

    Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to meet President Donald Trump during a visit to the United States next month to attend the UN General Assembly meeting, the Indian Express newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing sources.

    India’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. An Indian official familiar with the matter said a decision has not yet been taken, and that countries usually reserve slots for the General Debate at the assembly, which is why India’s “head of government” features in a provisional list of speakers on September 26.

    “The list will go through revisions,” the official said, adding that it had not yet been decided if Modi would be going to the assembly.

    The General Assembly kicks off on September 9, but the debate, the annual meeting of heads of state and government, will be held from September 23-29.

    Although the reason for the potential visit will be to attend the UN meeting in New York, a key objective will be to hold talks with Trump and iron out trade and tariff issues that have led to some souring of ties between the two countries, the newspaper reported.

    News of a possible Modi trip to the US comes days after Trump announced an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods to penalise New Delhi for continuing to buy Russian oil.

    The penalty took the total levy on Indian goods exported to the US to 50%, among the highest levied on any US trading partner.

    Trade talks between New Delhi and Washington collapsed after five rounds of negotiations over disagreement on opening India’s vast farm and dairy sectors and stopping Russian oil purchases.

    On Tuesday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said several large trade agreements were still waiting to be completed, including with Switzerland and India, but New Delhi had been “a bit recalcitrant” in talks with Washington.

    Bessent told Fox Business Network‘s “Kudlow” he hoped the Trump administration could wrap up its trade negotiations by the end of October.

    “That’s aspirational, but I think we are in a good position,” he said, adding, “I think we can be, we will have agreed on substantial terms with all the substantial countries.”

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  • Microsoft August 2025 Patch Tuesday Fixes Kerberos Zero-Day Among 111 Total New Flaws

    Microsoft August 2025 Patch Tuesday Fixes Kerberos Zero-Day Among 111 Total New Flaws

    Microsoft on Tuesday rolled out fixes for a massive set of 111 security flaws across its software portfolio, including one flaw that has been disclosed as publicly known at the time of the release.

    Of the 111 vulnerabilities, 16 are rated Critical, 92 are rated Important, two are rated Moderate, and one is rated Low in severity. Forty-four of the vulnerabilities relate to privilege escalation, followed by remote code execution (35), information disclosure (18), spoofing (8), and denial-of-service (4) defects.

    This is in addition to 16 vulnerabilities addressed in Microsoft’s Chromium-based Edge browser since the release of last month’s Patch Tuesday update, including two spoofing bugs affecting Edge for Android.

    Included among the vulnerabilities is a privilege escalation vulnerability impacting Microsoft Exchange Server hybrid deployments (CVE-2025-53786, CVSS score: 8.0) that Microsoft disclosed last week.

    The publicly disclosed zero-day is CVE-2025-53779 (CVSS score: 7.2), another privilege escalation flaw in Windows Kerberos that stems from a case of relative path traversal. Akamai researcher Yuval Gordon has been credited with discovering and reporting the bug.

    Cybersecurity

    It’s worth mentioning here that the issue was publicly detailed back in May 2025 by the web infrastructure and security company, giving it the codename BadSuccessor. The novel technique essentially allows a threat actor with sufficient privileges to compromise an Active Directory (AD) domain by misusing delegated Managed Service Account (dMSA) objects.

    “The good news here is that successful exploitation of CVE-2025-53779 requires an attacker to have pre-existing control of two attributes of the hopefully well protected dMSA: msds-groupMSAMembership, which determines which users may use credentials for the managed service account, and msds-ManagedAccountPrecededByLink, which contains a list of users on whose behalf the dMSA can act,” Adam Barnett, lead software engineer at Rapid7, told The Hacker News.

    “However, abuse of CVE-2025-53779 is certainly plausible as the final link of a multi-exploit chain which stretches from no access to total pwnage.”

    Action1’s Mike Walters noted that the path traversal flaw can be abused by an attacker to create improper delegation relationships, enabling them to impersonate privileged accounts, escalate to a domain administrator, and potentially gain full control of the Active Directory domain.

    “An attacker who already has a compromised privileged account can use it to move from limited administrative rights to full domain control,” Walters added. “It can also be paired with methods such as Kerberoasting or Silver Ticket attacks to maintain persistence.”

    “With domain administrator privileges, attackers can disable security monitoring, modify Group Policy, and tamper with audit logs to hide their activity. In multi-forest environments or organizations with partner connections, this flaw could even be leveraged to move from one compromised domain to others in a supply chain attack.”

    Satnam Narang, senior staff research engineer at Tenable, said the immediate impact of BadSuccessor is limited, as only 0.7% of Active Directory domains had met the prerequisite at the time of disclosure. “To exploit BadSuccessor, an attacker must have at least one domain controller in a domain running Windows Server 2025 in order to achieve domain compromise,” Narang pointed out.

    Some of notable Critical-rated vulnerabilities patched by Redmond this month are below –

    • CVE-2025-53767 (CVSS score: 10.0) – Azure OpenAI Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
    • CVE-2025-53766 (CVSS score: 9.8) – GDI+ Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
    • CVE-2025-50165 (CVSS score: 9.8) – Windows Graphics Component Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
    • CVE-2025-53792 (CVSS score: 9.1) – Azure Portal Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
    • CVE-2025-53787 (CVSS score: 8.2) – Microsoft 365 Copilot BizChat Information Disclosure Vulnerability
    • CVE-2025-50177 (CVSS score: 8.1) – Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ) Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
    • CVE-2025-50176 (CVSS score: 7.8) – DirectX Graphics Kernel Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

    Microsoft noted that the three cloud service CVEs impacting Azure OpenAI, Azure Portal, and Microsoft 365 Copilot BizChat have already been remediated, and that they require no customer action.

    Identity Security Risk Assessment

    Check Point, which disclosed CVE-2025-53766 alongside CVE-2025-30388, said the vulnerabilities allow attackers to execute arbitrary code on the affected system, leading to a full system compromise.

    “The attack vector involves interacting with a specially crafted file. When a user opens or processes this file, the vulnerability is triggered, allowing the attacker to take control,” the cybersecurity company said.

    The Israeli firm revealed that it also uncovered a vulnerability in a Rust-based component of the Windows kernel that can result in a system crash that, in turn, triggers a hard reboot.

    “For organizations with large or remote workforces, the risk is significant: attackers could exploit this flaw to simultaneously crash numerous computers across an enterprise, resulting in widespread disruption and costly downtime,” Check Point said. “This discovery highlights that even with advanced security technologies like Rust, continuous vigilance and proactive patching are essential to maintaining system integrity in a complex software environment.”

    Another vulnerability of importance is CVE-2025-50154 (CVSS score: 6.5), an NTLM hash disclosure spoofing vulnerability that’s actually a bypass for a similar bug (CVE-2025-24054, CVSS score: 6.5) that was plugged by Microsoft in March 2025.

    “The original vulnerability demonstrated how specially crafted requests could trigger NTLM authentication and expose sensitive credentials,” Cymulate researcher Ruben Enkaoua said. “This new vulnerability […] allows an attacker to extract NTLM hashes without any user interaction, even on fully patched systems. By exploiting a subtle gap left in the mitigation, an attacker can trigger NTLM authentication requests automatically, enabling offline cracking or relay attacks to gain unauthorized access.”

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