# CVE-2024-13990: MicroWorld eScan AV Insecure Update Mechanism Allows Man-in-the-Middle Replacement of Updates

> An on-path attacker can replace antivirus updates with malicious payloads due to missing cryptographic verification, leading to remote code execution.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.3 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 19 Sep 2025
- **Updated:** 19 Nov 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-5327-q2rh-5x5w

## What is CVE-2024-13990?

CVE-2024-13990 is a critical vulnerability in MicroWorld Technologies eScan AV, published on 19 Sep 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

MicroWorld eScan AV's update mechanism failed to ensure authenticity and integrity of updates: update packages were delivered and accepted without robust cryptographic verification. As a result, an on-path attacker could perform a man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack and substitute malicious update payloads for legitimate ones. The eScan AV client accepted these substituted packages and executed or loaded their components (including sideloaded DLLs and Java/installer payloads), enabling remote code execution on affected systems. MicroWorld eScan confirmed remediation of the update mechanism on 2023-07-31 but versioning details are unavailable. NOTE: MicroWorld eScan disputes the characterization in third-party reports, stating the issue relates to 2018–2019 and that controls were implemented then.

Weakness: CWE-347 (Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature), CWE-295 (Improper Certificate Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-13990?


## How do I fix CVE-2024-13990?

No fix has been published for CVE-2024-13990 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2024-13990 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-13990 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-13990 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-13990 is a critical vulnerability in MicroWorld Technologies eScan AV, published on 19 Sep 2025. 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-2024-13990 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: MicroWorld Technologies eScan AV. 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-2024-13990/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-13990/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-13990
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-13990
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-13990

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-13990/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.