# CVE-2019-16897: Privilege escalation in n/a

> A local attacker can escalate privileges by exploiting improper administrative privilege validation in K7 Antivirus modules to perform arbitrary registry writes.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 28 Oct 2019
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** CVE-2019-16898, GHSA-9fx5-x523-x375

## What is CVE-2019-16897?

CVE-2019-16897 is a critical vulnerability in n/a, published on 28 Oct 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In K7 Antivirus Premium 16.0.xxx through 16.0.0120; K7 Total Security 16.0.xxx through 16.0.0120; and K7 Ultimate Security 16.0.xxx through 16.0.0120, the module K7TSHlpr.dll improperly validates the administrative privileges of the user, allowing arbitrary registry writes in the K7AVOptn.dll module to facilitate escalation of privileges via inter-process communication with a service process.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-16897?

It affects 3 products.


Products: K7computing K7 Antivirus Premium, K7computing K7 Total Security, K7computing K7 Ultimate Security.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-16897?

No fix has been published for CVE-2019-16897 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2019-16897 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-16897 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2019-16897 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-16897 is a critical vulnerability in n/a, published on 28 Oct 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-16897 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. 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-2019-16897/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-16897/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-16897
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-16897
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-16897

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-16897/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.