Avira Internet Security Optimizer TOCTOU

Summary

Avira Internet Security contains a time-of-check time-of-use (TOCTOU) vulnerability in the Optimizer component. A privileged service running as SYSTEM identifies directories for cleanup during a scan phase and subsequently deletes them during a separate cleanup phase without revalidating the target path. A local attacker can replace a previously scanned directory with a junction or reparse point before deletion occurs, causing the privileged process to delete an unintended system location. This may result in deletion of protected files or directories and can lead to local privilege escalation, denial of service, or system integrity compromise depending on the affected target.