Unit 42 Tracks DeepSeek-Powered Hermes Agent’s Autonomous Attacks on Exposed Servers
Summary
Unit 42 says a China-based actor used DeepSeek and Hermes Agent to autonomously find and attempt to exploit exposed Langflow and n8n servers; those attempts failed. Unit 42 separately confirmed three manual Citrix NetScaler compromises.
Key points
- Unit 42 attributed the activity to a China-based operator using the aliases knaithe and KnYuan.
- An exposed web server created by Hermes revealed the operator’s API keys, exploit scripts, target lists, shell history, and AI attack logs.
- The operator configured Hermes Agent with DeepSeek, FOFA, Telegram instructions, and a mode that can execute commands without approval.
- Hermes identified exposed Langflow and n8n servers and attempted to use exploits for CVE-2026-33017, CVE-2026-21858, and CVE-2025-68613; the autonomous attempts did not compromise targets.
- Unit 42 also reported manual attacks against more than 460 systems and confirmed three Citrix NetScaler compromises involving CVE-2026-3055.
Article Details
- Event Type
- AI-enabled autonomous cyberattack campaign targeting internet-exposed servers, alongside separate manual attacks
- Impact
- Unit 42 reported that the autonomous attempts against Langflow and n8n servers failed to compromise targets. In separate manual attacks against more than 460 systems, Unit 42 confirmed three successful Citrix NetScaler compromises; the actor extracted memory and searched for authentication cookies that could enable session hijacking.
MITRE ATT&CK
T1190 · Exploit Public-Facing ApplicationThe actor attempted to exploit vulnerabilities in internet-facing Langflow and n8n servers, and Unit 42 reported successful manual exploitation of Citrix NetScaler.T1595 · Active ScanningThe agent used FOFA to identify exposed systems and scanned targets for vulnerable configurations.
CVE
People
Threat Actors
knaitheUnit 42 attributed the reported attacks to a China-based operator using the aliases knaithe and KnYuan; the article identifies knaithe as one of those aliases.KnYuanUnit 42 attributed the reported attacks to a China-based operator using the aliases knaithe and KnYuan; the article identifies KnYuan as one of those aliases.
Products
Apache Tomcatmanual attacks against more than 460 systems using vulnerabilities affecting Citrix NetScaler, Apache Tomcat, Marimo Notebook, Windows IKE VPN, and other products.Citrix NetScalerUnit 42 also found manual attacks against more than 460 systems, including successful Citrix NetScaler compromises.DeepSeekA Chinese-speaking threat actor used DeepSeek and the open-source Hermes Agent to run autonomous attacks against exposed servers with minimal human involvement.Langflow#DeepSeekMarimo Notebookagainst more than 460 systems using vulnerabilities affecting Citrix NetScaler, Apache Tomcat, Marimo Notebook, Windows IKE VPN, and other products.n8n#DeepSeekWindows IKE VPNthan 460 systems using vulnerabilities affecting Citrix NetScaler, Apache Tomcat, Marimo Notebook, Windows IKE VPN, and other products.
Tools
Countries
ChinaThe threat actor was attributed to a China-based operator known as knaithe and KnYuan.ThailandThe exposed AI campaign comes after another recently disclosed incident in which poorly secured Hermes infrastructure exposed details about an alleged cyberattack against Thailand’s Ministry of Finance.