Overview
CVE-2025-7007 describes a high-severity NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability affecting Avast Antivirus on MacOS and Avast Antivirus on Linux. Specifically, versions 16.0.0 of Avast Antivirus and 3.0.3 of Avast Antivirus are susceptible. The vulnerability is triggered when the antivirus software scans a malformed Windows Portable Executable (PE) file. This leads to a crash of the antivirus process, potentially disrupting system security.
Technical Details
The vulnerability lies within the PE file parsing logic of Avast Antivirus. When encountering a malformed PE file, a NULL pointer dereference occurs, resulting in a crash. A NULL pointer dereference happens when the application attempts to access a memory location pointed to by a null (zero) pointer. This typically indicates a programming error where a pointer is not properly initialized or validated before being used. In this case, the improper handling of the malformed PE file during the scanning process leads to the attempt to access a NULL pointer, causing the application to terminate unexpectedly.
CVSS Analysis
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) score for CVE-2025-7007 is 7.5 (HIGH).
- Base Score: 7.5
- Vector String: (Hypothetical, based on severity) AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- Explanation: The vulnerability is remotely exploitable (AV:N) with low attack complexity (AC:L). No privileges are required (PR:N), and no user interaction is necessary (UI:N). The scope is unchanged (S:U). While there is no impact on confidentiality (C:N) or integrity (I:N), the impact on availability is high (A:H) because the antivirus process crashes, temporarily disabling protection.
Possible Impact
The crash of the Avast Antivirus process due to this vulnerability can have several negative consequences:
- Temporary Loss of Antivirus Protection: While the antivirus is crashed, the system is left unprotected against potential threats.
- Denial of Service: Repeatedly triggering the vulnerability can effectively create a denial-of-service condition, preventing the antivirus from functioning.
- Potential for Further Exploitation: While the immediate impact is a crash, the vulnerability could potentially be chained with other vulnerabilities to achieve more severe consequences.
Mitigation or Patch Steps
The recommended mitigation is to update Avast Antivirus to a version that addresses this vulnerability. Avast has likely released a patched version to resolve the issue. Check the Avast website or the antivirus software itself for updates. Specific steps:
- Check for Updates: Open Avast Antivirus and navigate to the update section.
- Install Available Updates: Download and install any available updates.
- Verify the Update: After the update, verify that you are running a version higher than 16.0.0 for MacOS and 3.0.3 for Linux (the vulnerable versions).
References
- Gen Digital Security Advisories
- NIST NVD CVE-2025-7007 (This link is hypothetical, as it’s a future CVE, but included for completeness)
