Check Point Warns of Management Server Zero-Day Exploited in Targeted Attacks

Summary

Check Point has disclosed a zero-day vulnerability, CVE-2026-93616, affecting its Security Management Server, which was exploited in targeted attacks on July 23. The flaw allows unauthenticated script execution via the web service. Separately, attempts to exploit a VPN flaw (CVE-2026-85102) targeting Spark firewall customers have been observed since September 12.

Full text

Check Point Warns of Management Server Zero-Day Exploited in Targeted Attacks Swati KhandelwalSep 22, 2026Network Security / Vulnerability Attackers exploited a previously unknown flaw in Check Point's Security Management Server in a handful of targeted attacks on July 23, the company said. The flaw, CVE-2026-93616, allows an attacker who can access the server's web service to run scripts on it without logging in. Check Point released a fix on September 22 for the server that controls firewall policies for the Check Point gateways it manages. Separately, Check Point said attackers have been trying since September 12 to exploit a VPN flaw it fixed on September 9. The attempts, against a flaw tracked as CVE-2026-85102, have targeted customers of Spark, Check Point's firewall line for small businesses. When the fix came out, Check Point had no evidence the flaw was being exploited. CVE-2026-93616 is a path traversal bug in the management server's web service. The service does not properly limit which files and folders a request can reach. An attacker can use it to upload scripts to the server and then run them. Check Point rated it 9.8 out of 10 on the CVSS scale in the CVE record for the flaw. Check Point's advisory does not name the targets of the July attacks or the attackers, nor does it say what the attackers did after exploiting the flaw. Management Server Versions and Fix Check Point numbers the Jumbo Hotfix updates for each release by "Take." Its LivePatch channel, which pushes urgent fixes, uses a separate set of take numbers. The CVE record lists these versions as affected: R82.20 with no Jumbo Hotfix installed R82.10 with Jumbo Hotfix Take 44 or below R82 with Jumbo Hotfix Take 126 or below R81.20 with Jumbo Hotfix Take 166 or below R81.10 with Jumbo Hotfix Take 190 or below (end of support) R81, R80.40, R80.30, R80.20, R80.10 and R80 (all end of support) Check Point's advisory lists R82.20 as affected without the "no Jumbo Hotfix" condition. On September 16, Check Point fixed a separate flaw in the management server, CVE-2026-91843, through LivePatch. That update was LivePatch Take 28, or Take 29 on R82.20, according to a summary of Check Point's advisory by France's CERT Santé. Check Point says those LivePatch takes do not fix CVE-2026-93616. CVE-2026-85103, a VPN certificate flaw that Check Point fixed on September 9, affected both gateways and management servers. On R82.10, R82, and R81.20, the new flaw's affected list goes one take higher than that flaw's. So a server updated only enough to be outside that September flaw's range is still affected by CVE-2026-93616. The fixed builds, and Check Point's guidance on mitigation, hunting and indicators of compromise, are in support article sk1000171. Administrators of management servers should: Check the server's release and Jumbo Hotfix take against the list above. Install the fix listed in sk1000171. Use the hunting guidance and indicators of compromise in sk1000171 to look for signs of an attack. Installing the fix does not show whether the server was attacked before. Check Point's advisory names only Security Management as affected and does not say what network access an attacker needs. The Hacker News has asked Check Point about other affected products, the fixed builds, and the July attacks. Spark Firewalls Targeted Through VPN Flaw CVE-2026-85102 is in the way Check Point gateways check certificates while a VPN connection is being set up. It may let an attacker who has not logged in run code on the gateway. Fixes have been out since September 9 and are in support article sk1000117. The affected products are Security Gateway and Spark firewalls, whether centrally or locally managed, on R81 and R81.10 (both end of support), R81.10.x, R81.20, R82, R82.00.x and R82.10. The Netherlands' National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) says the flaw applies when these products use Site-to-Site VPN or Remote Access VPN. Check Point said the attempts came from anonymizing infrastructure, including VPN services and proxies, and used certificates with these subjects: Certificate subject: CN=vpn,OU=users,O=global Certificate subject: CN=vpn-user,OU=users,O=global Certificate subject: CN=vpnuser,OU=users,O=global The list is not complete, and other subjects may be in use. Administrators should check logs for any unusual certificate-based Mobile Access login, not only those with these subjects. They should also check what suspicious Mobile Access users do after logging in, which often includes scanning internal ports and services. Check Point says customers who installed the September 9 fix are protected, but its advisory does not say whether any attempt succeeded. For gateways that cannot be patched yet, the NCSC lists a Check Point workaround for Site-to-Site VPN: turn off the implied VPN rules and allow UDP ports 500 and 4500 only from specific peer IP addresses. The workaround does not apply to locally managed Spark firewalls. Mitigation steps from Check Point are in sk1000117. Found this article interesting? Follow us on Google News, Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post. 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Indicators of Compromise

• cve — CVE-2026-93616
• cve — CVE-2026-85102
• cve — CVE-2026-91843

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