Carbonato Botnet Compromises Docker Hosts to Deploy Telegram-Controlled Hermes AI Agent

The Carbonato botnet exploits a critical and avoidable misconfiguration: Docker daemons left exposed to the internet without authentication. By gaining unauthenticated access, attackers can spin up privileged containers that effectively have root-level access to the underlying host, enabling worm-like lateral spread across environments. The use of an AI agent (Hermes) controlled via Telegram demonstrates how attackers are weaponizing legitimate open-source tools to evade traditional detection. This incident highlights that exposing container orchestration APIs without proper access controls is equivalent to leaving a server room unlocked — any attacker can walk in and take control.