Elevation of Privelage via symlinked file in Avast Antivirus
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- Active
- Attack complexity
- High
- Attack requirements
- Present
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- No fix listed
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA.
Summary
A sym-linked file accessed via the repair function in Avast Antivirus <24.2 on Windows may allow user to elevate privilege to delete arbitrary files or run processes as NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM. The vulnerability exists within the "Repair" (settings -> troubleshooting -> repair) feature, which attempts to delete a file in the current user's AppData directory as NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM. A low-privileged user can make a pseudo-symlink and a junction folder and point to a file on the system. This can provide a low-privileged user an Elevation of Privilege to win a race-condition which will re-create the system files and make Windows callback to a specially-crafted file which could be used to launch a privileged shell instance. This issue affects Avast Antivirus prior to 24.2.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avast | Antivirus | 24.2 | — | No fix listed | CNA |
- Antivirus VendorAvast Affected 24.2 Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
Remediation
No fixed version listed by the sources yet.
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2024-5102
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-75r7-wf67-87f9
More Avast Antivirus vulnerabilities
- TI-2020-08753 An issue was discovered in Avast Antivirus before 20. CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2017-05872 In Avast Antivirus before v17, using the LPC interface API exposed by the AvastSVC.exe… CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2025-03074 Integer Overflow in Avast Antiviurs 25.1.981.6 on Windows may result in privilege escalation CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2025-11929 Time-of-check time-of-use race condition in Avast Antivirus CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.9
- TI-2021-20488 Privilege escalation vulnerability in the Self-Defense driver of Avast Antivirus prior to… CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2021-20487 Privilege escalation vulnerability in the Sandbox component of Avast Antivirus prior to… CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
Sources
- CVE-2024-5102 · CVE Program
- CVE-2024-5102 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-75r7-wf67-87f9 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences