CVE-2008-6962
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedAvira AntiVir Premium, Premium Security Suite, AntiVir Professional, and AntiVir Personal - FREE allows local users to execute arbitrary code via a crafted IOCTL request that overwrites a kernel pointer.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceLocal privilege escalation vulnerability in Avira AntiVir kernel-mode device drivers. The flaw allows local users to send a crafted IOCTL (I/O Control) request that overwrites a kernel pointer, enabling arbitrary code execution with kernel-level privileges.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE dataall versions= 6.35.00.00all versionsall versionsall versionsCVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify if any Avira AntiVir product is installedCheck installed programs list in Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features, or review program files directory for Avira folders (typically C:\Program Files\Avira or similar)Affected if Any Avira Antivir, Antivir Personal, Antivir Professional, or Antivir Security Suite installation is found
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Determine the installed Avira versionRight-click the Avira icon in system tray and select 'About' or check program version information via Windows Explorer properties on the main executable (usually in the Avira installation directory)Affected if Installed version matches any Avira Antivir version (note: vendor states all versions are affected)
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Verify kernel-mode device drivers are presentOpen Windows Device Manager, expand the relevant driver categories, or use 'sc query' command to list services/ drivers associated with Avira (commonly avguard.exe, avgnt.exe, or similar Avira services)Affected if Avira kernel-mode drivers or services are present and loaded on the system
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Check for unpatched IOCTL handler vulnerabilityThis requires code analysis or vendor documentation to confirm; there is no simple config check - the vulnerability exists in the driver IOCTL handling code itselfAffected if The installed Avira version has not been patched by the vendor (vendor indicates all versions were vulnerable before patch)
If Avira AntiVir (any variant: Antivir, Antivir Personal, Antivir Professional, or Security Suite) is installed with active kernel-mode drivers and has not been updated to a vendor-patched version, the system is likely affected by this privilege escalation vulnerability.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataApply vendor patch/update to a fixed version of Avira AntiVir. Until patched, limit local non-administrative user access to affected systems as a compensating control.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,376.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2008-6962 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2008-6962 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data