CVE-2024-7229 Avast Cleanup Premium Link Following Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

High 7.8 Published Updated

Local attackers can escalate privileges to SYSTEM by exploiting a symbolic link flaw in the Avast Cleanup Service to delete arbitrary files.

Exploited in the wild
Not known
Login needed
Any signed-in user
Attackable
Local or same network only
Victim action needed
Not needed
Fix
None listed

What is CVE-2024-7229?

CVE-2024-7229 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in Avast Cleanup Premium, published on 22 Nov 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

Avast Cleanup Premium Link Following Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of Avast Cleanup Premium. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability.

The specific flaw exists within the Avast Cleanup Service. By creating a symbolic link, an attacker can abuse the service to delete a file. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code in the context of SYSTEM. Was ZDI-CAN-22892.

Weakness: CWE-59

Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-7229?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Avast Cleanup Premium.

How do I fix CVE-2024-7229?

No fix has been published for CVE-2024-7229 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.

Is CVE-2024-7229 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-7229 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Sources

Also known as GHSA-f49p-8mpp-whc8.

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