Security Engineer: 2026-09-22

1. Windows Exploitation Techniques: Dangling COM Object Registrations

   Google Project Zero, 2026-09-21. Read, 9 min.

   James Forshaw of Google Project Zero describes CVE-2026-66804, a Windows privilege-escalation bug Microsoft recently fixed, as an incomplete fix for CVE-2026-50343, the flaw Calif dubbed Dark Elevator. The CrossDevice COM class stayed registered system-wide against a DLL path under C:\ProgramData that did not exist, so any user could plant a DLL there, and the post includes a PowerShell script that finds other COM classes whose registered DLL is missing.

   Why it matters for this role: You harden the systems everyone relies on, and this shows an incomplete patch left a system-wide COM class pointing at a writable, missing DLL path, so check that fixes close the dangling registration and not just one path to it.

2. Meta Muse AI app flaw lets local malware redirect dictation traffic

   The Register, 2026-09-21. Read, 3 min.

   Security researcher Patrick Wardle published a proof of concept, not-a-mused, for what he describes as a local zero-day in Meta’s Muse macOS app: an unprivileged local process can change an undocumented setting, endo_voyager_dictation_endpoint, to redirect Muse’s dictation traffic to an attacker-controlled endpoint, potentially exposing dictated prompts and enabling prompt injection and theft of authentication material. Wardle says the flaw is not a remote issue and requires the ability to run local code, and Meta did not immediately respond to The Register’s request for comment.

   Why it matters for this role: You build and harden the endpoints these apps run on, and a setting an unprivileged process can change to redirect an app’s traffic is the kind of writable configuration your hardening baselines should cover.

Security Engineer