# CVE-2016-20061: sheed AntiVirus 2.3 Unquoted Service Path Privilege Escalation

> Local attackers can escalate privileges to LocalSystem by placing a malicious executable in the unquoted service path of sheed AntiVirus.

- **Severity:** High 8.5 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 4 Apr 2026
- **Updated:** 6 Apr 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-9qg8-v48q-mvfp

## What is CVE-2016-20061?

CVE-2016-20061 is a high-severity vulnerability in Sheedantivirus sheed AntiVirus, published on 4 Apr 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

sheed AntiVirus 2.3 contains an unquoted service path vulnerability in the ShavProt service that allows local attackers to escalate privileges by exploiting the service binary path. Attackers can insert a malicious executable in the unquoted path and trigger service restart or system reboot to execute code with LocalSystem privileges.

Weakness: CWE-428 (Unquoted Search Path or Element)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-20061?


## How do I fix CVE-2016-20061?

No fix has been published for CVE-2016-20061 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2016-20061 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2016-20061 exists.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2016-20061 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2016-20061 is a high-severity vulnerability in Sheedantivirus sheed AntiVirus, published on 4 Apr 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2016-20061 exists.

Affected product: Sheedantivirus sheed AntiVirus. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-20061/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-20061/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-20061
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-20061
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-20061

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-20061/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.