AI-driven attack breaches Dutch bug-hunting group DIVD

The Dutch Institute for Vulnerability Disclosure (DIVD) says attackers broke into its IT systems on 21 September 2026 by chaining two previously unknown flaws in Zammad, the open-source helpdesk and ticketing software it used. According to The Register, the intruders hijacked user sessions, ran code remotely as the local zammad user, and escalated to root. On Thursday the non-profit said the attackers stole data belonging to its volunteer security researchers, including DIVD email addresses and potentially other contact details.

"We're still investigating exactly which data of which volunteers is affected," DIVD said in its incident report. The organisation warned that the theft raises the risk of social engineering, "because this makes it easier for someone to pose as a DIVD'er". In a later LinkedIn post it advised anyone who receives an email or contact request from a supposed DIVD member that "feels slightly off" to verify it by emailing the group's communications address.

DIVD is itself a CVE Numbering Authority, and it assigned identifiers to the two now-public Zammad flaws. CVE-2026-102489 lets unauthenticated attackers achieve remote code execution and leak user sessions. CVE-2026-102490 lets a local user elevate privileges to root. Both carry CVSS 4.0 scores of 9.4 when assessed in the chained attack scenario. Zammad versions 6.3.0 to 6.5.4 are vulnerable to CVE-2026-102489, and the flaw also exists in versions 7.0.0 through 7.1.3, though DIVD's advisory says it is not exploitable there "due to environment conditions". All Zammad versions are vulnerable to CVE-2026-102490. DIVD advises all Zammad users to upgrade to version 7 or take the software offline.

The chained exploits took only seconds to move from session hijacking to root access, according to the report. DIVD discovered the intrusion the following day, 22 September 2026, blocked access to all of its data centre systems, and formed an incident response team with Merlon Security. On 24 September 2026 it reported the vulnerabilities to Zammad, notified the Dutch Data Protection Authority and the National Cyber Security Centre, discussed options with police, and published its first disclosure on LinkedIn. "It took us (almost) seven years but we can now say that we're the hackers that got hacked," that post said, adding the group would handle the incident "open, transparent and honest, even if it sucks".

DIVD says the pattern of the intrusion points to automation. "This is an attack we have not seen before," it said. "Not because it's our first, but because the modus operandi indicates that this is an agentic AI powered attack." The group described the activity as "loud and very very messy", adding: "We could see the agent working automated, because after every action it decided the next step itself, at the speed of light and sloppy logic or pattern." Later posts included screenshots of logs showing comments embedded in the attack script. "What human attacker leaves notes to themself in their scripts, explaining why what they're doing is okay and really not phishing?" DIVD wrote. "The AI just got a task and keeps justifying its own actions in the code as comments."

The investigation is continuing. VulnCheck security researcher Patrick Garrity praised the group's handling of the breach on LinkedIn, writing: "Kudos to DIVD for their level of honesty and transparency working through their active incident and investigation." He told The Register that DIVD was "getting information out quickly to other organizations that potentially use this product so they can take action before they get hit".