AI Agents Automate PaperCut Exploitation Across 395 Organizations
Summary
GreyNoise reports that an attacker used AI agents to automate exploitation of PaperCut NG/MF vulnerabilities, compromising at least 440 instances across 395 organizations in 48 countries. Education was the hardest-hit sector.
Key points
- GreyNoise attributed at least 440 compromised PaperCut instances across 395 organizations in 48 countries to the campaign.
- The attacker reportedly developed and tested exploits for CVE-2026-81578 and CVE-2026-82078 in a private lab.
- AI agents using OpenAI’s Codex harness and a DeepSeek model, alongside public offensive-security tools, automated much of the intrusion work.
- GreyNoise observed rapid escalation: one U.S. high school reportedly reached domain administrator rights seven minutes after initial access.
- GreyNoise counted 280 victims where credentials were harvested and 147 where operating-system or domain secrets were obtained; domain-admin access was achieved at 12 organizations.
- Education was the most affected sector, with 204 victims; GreyNoise attributed this to PaperCut’s customer base rather than deliberate targeting.
- PaperCut Software reportedly confirmed exploitation in late August and released emergency patches, advising customers to restrict public-internet access to the Application Server.
Article Details
- Victim Organization
- 395 organizations; individual organizations not named
- Incident Type
- Mass exploitation and compromise of PaperCut NG/MF instances using exploits for CVE-2026-81578 and CVE-2026-82078, with AI agents automating intrusion activity
- Data Types Exposed
- Credentials
- Operating system or domain secrets
- Affected Records
- At least 440 PaperCut instances across 395 organizations; GreyNoise counted credential harvesting at 280 victims and operating system or domain secrets pulled at 147 victims.
- Operational Impact
- GreyNoise reported remote code execution against victims and domain administrator access at 12 organizations. In one case, a U.S. high school reached domain administrator status seven minutes after initial access.
- Ransom Or Extortion
- No ransomware deployment or extortion was reported. GreyNoise said it was unclear whether the actor would pursue data theft or ransomware as a follow-on objective.
- Claim Status
- confirmed
MITRE ATT&CK
CVE
Vendors
DeepSeekAI agents using OpenAI’s Codex harness and a DeepSeek model automated much of the intrusion work.OpenAIAI agents using OpenAI’s Codex harness and a DeepSeek model automated much of the intrusion work.PaperCutGreyNoise says an attacker built and tested exploits for PaperCut NG/MF vulnerabilities in a private lab, then used AI agents to automate mass compromise efforts against organizations worldwide.
Products
Microsoft Active Directoryfirst built a private lab environment with a vulnerable copy of PaperCut NG/MF and an Active Directory server to develop and test exploits for two vulnerabilities, tracked as CVE-2026-81578 andPaperCut NG/MFGreyNoise says an attacker built and tested exploits for PaperCut NG/MF vulnerabilities in a private lab, then used AI agents to automate mass compromise efforts against organizations worldwide.
Tools
Countries
CanadaBy country, the United States recorded the most victims at 98, followed by the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and Canada.ChinaGreyNoise found victims in several of those excluded countries anyway, including Russia, China, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan, in what the researchers describe as a case of “agents gone wild,” where the automated toolingFranceBy country, the United States recorded the most victims at 98, followed by the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and Canada.KazakhstanGreyNoise found victims in several of those excluded countries anyway, including Russia, China, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan, in what the researchers describe as a case of “agents gone wild,” where the automated toolingPakistanfound victims in several of those excluded countries anyway, including Russia, China, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan, in what the researchers describe as a case of “agents gone wild,” where the automated tooling deviatedRussiaGreyNoise found victims in several of those excluded countries anyway, including Russia, China, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan, in what the researchers describe as a case of “agents gone wild,” where the automated toolingSpainBy country, the United States recorded the most victims at 98, followed by the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and Canada.United KingdomBy country, the United States recorded the most victims at 98, followed by the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and Canada.United StatesIn one case, a high school in the United States went from initial access to domain admin in seven minutes.
Industries
EducationThe campaign led to at least 440 compromised PaperCut instances across 395 organizations in 48 countries, with education as the most affected sector.GovernmentRetail, professional services, and hospitality organizations followed, along with a scattering of government, healthcare, and legal victims.HealthcareRetail, professional services, and hospitality organizations followed, along with a scattering of government, healthcare, and legal victims.HospitalityEducation was the hardest-hit sector, followed by retail, professional services, and hospitality.LegalRetail, professional services, and hospitality organizations followed, along with a scattering of government, healthcare, and legal victims.Professional ServicesEducation was the hardest-hit sector, followed by retail, professional services, and hospitality.RetailEducation was the hardest-hit sector, followed by retail, professional services, and hospitality.