CVE-2025-7007
📋 TL;DR
A NULL pointer dereference vulnerability in Avast Antivirus on macOS and Linux allows an attacker to crash the antivirus process by scanning a malformed Windows PE file. This affects Avast Antivirus on macOS version 16.0.0 and on Linux version 3.0.3, potentially disrupting security monitoring.
💻 Affected Systems
- Avast Antivirus for macOS
- Avast Antivirus for Linux
⚠️ Manual Verification Required
This CVE does not have specific version information in our database, so automatic vulnerability detection cannot determine if your system is affected.
Why? The CVE database entry doesn't specify which versions are vulnerable (no version ranges provided by the vendor/NVD).
🔒 Custom verification scripts are available for registered users. Sign up free to download automated test scripts.
- Review the CVE details at NVD
- Check vendor security advisories for your specific version
- Test if the vulnerability is exploitable in your environment
- Consider updating to the latest version as a precaution
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Denial of service (DoS) by repeatedly crashing the antivirus process, leaving the system unprotected against malware and other threats.
Likely Case
Antivirus process crashes intermittently when scanning malicious or malformed files, reducing security effectiveness temporarily.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if antivirus is quickly restarted or patched, but may cause brief security gaps.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation is straightforward if an attacker can place the malformed file on the system and trigger a scan, but no public proof-of-concept is known.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Check vendor advisory for updated versions; typically, upgrade to latest release beyond affected versions.
Vendor Advisory: https://www.gendigital.com/us/en/contact-us/security-advisories/
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Visit the vendor advisory URL for details. 2. Update Avast Antivirus to the latest version via the software's update mechanism or package manager. 3. Restart the system or antivirus service to apply changes.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable scanning of external or untrusted files
allTemporarily avoid scanning malformed files by restricting scans to trusted sources or disabling real-time scanning for external inputs.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Monitor antivirus logs for crash events and restart the service automatically if crashes occur.
- Implement strict file upload controls to prevent malformed PE files from being introduced to the system.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check the Avast Antivirus version; if it matches the affected versions (macOS 16.0.0 or Linux 3.0.3), the system is vulnerable.Check Version:
On macOS/Linux, run 'avast --version' or check via the Avast GUI under 'About' or settings.Verify Fix Applied:
After updating, confirm the version is no longer 16.0.0 for macOS or 3.0.3 for Linux, and test scanning a safe file to ensure the antivirus runs without crashing.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Log entries indicating antivirus process crashes, segmentation faults, or NULL pointer errors in system or Avast logs.
Network Indicators:
- No direct network indicators; focus on file activity related to PE file scans.
SIEM Query:
Example: 'source="avast.log" AND ("crash" OR "segmentation fault" OR "NULL pointer")'