CVE-2026-20216 ClamAV InstallShield File Format Processing Resource Exhaustion Vulnerability

High 7.5 Published 1 Jul 2026 Updated 1 Jul 2026

An unauthenticated remote attacker can cause a denial of service by submitting a crafted InstallShield file to ClamAV, terminating the scanning process.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Not needed
Attackable: Over the internet
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: Available

What is CVE-2026-20216?

CVE-2026-20216 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Clamav Clamav, published on 1 Jul 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

A vulnerability in the InstallShield file format parser of ClamAV could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a DoS condition on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to improper handling of temporary resources during file scanning. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by submitting a crafted InstallShield file to be scanned by ClamAV on an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to terminate the ClamAV scanning process and temporarily consume available system resources, resulting in a DoS condition on the affected software.

Weakness: CWE-770

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-20216?

It affects 2 products.

Products include Cisco Secure Endpoint, Clamav Clamav.

How do I fix CVE-2026-20216?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2026-20216 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-20216 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Clamav Clamav vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as AZL-92172, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-20216, GHSA-8fx8-2p33-gv76, MINI-5h6c-g84w-c64h, MINI-7mfh-fvf2-p3gp, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-20216.