CVE-2024-13990

Sept. 19, 2025, 7:15 p.m.

9.3
Critical

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.

Product(s) Impacted

Vendor Product Versions
Microworld
  • Escan Av
  • *

Weaknesses

Common security weaknesses mapped to this vulnerability.

CWE-295
Improper Certificate Validation
The product does not validate, or incorrectly validates, a certificate.

*CPE(s)

Affected systems and software identified for this CVE.

Type Vendor Product Version Update Edition Language Software Edition Target Software Target Hardware Other Information
a microworld escan_av / / / / / / / /

References

https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/04/hackers-infect-users-of-antivirus-service-that-delivered-updates-over-http/
https://blog.avast.com/leading-the-charge-against-guptiminer
https://securityaffairs.com/162228/breaking-news/escan-antivirus-mitm-attack.html
https://thehackernews.com/2024/04/escan-antivirus-update-mechanism.html
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hackers-hijack-antivirus-updates-to-drop-guptiminer-malware/
https://www.escanav.com/en/about-us/eScan-update-advisory.asp
https://www.gendigital.com/blog/insights/research/guptiminer-hijacking-antivirus-updates-for-distributing-backdoors-and-casual-mining
https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/microworld-escan-av-insecure-update-mechanism-allows-mitm-replacement-of-updates

Tags

CWE-295
disclosure@vulncheck.com
2025-09-19
CVE-2024-13990

CVSS Score

9.3 / 10

CVSS Data - 4.0

  • Attack Vector: NETWORK
  • Attack Complexity: LOW
  • Attack Requirements: NONE
  • Privileges Required: NONE
  • User Interaction: NONE
  • Scope:
  • Confidentiality Impact: HIGH
  • Integrity Impact: HIGH
  • Availability Impact: HIGH
  • Exploit Maturity: NOT_DEFINED

    • 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/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

    View Vector String

Timeline

Published: Sept. 19, 2025, 7:15 p.m.
Last Modified: Sept. 19, 2025, 7:15 p.m.

Status : Received

CVE has been recently published to the CVE List and has been received by the NVD.

More info

Source

disclosure@vulncheck.com

*Disclaimer: Some vulnerabilities do not have an associated CPE. To enhance the data, we use AI to infer CPEs based on CVE details. This is an automated process and might not always be accurate.