Advanced Threat DefenseApplication · Mcafee

CVE-2015-8990

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-03-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 3.4.6 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
Detection bypass vulnerability in Intel Security Advanced Threat Defense (ATD) 3.4.6 and earlier allows malware samples to bypass ATD detection via renaming the malware.

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 · moderate confidence

Intel Security Advanced Threat Defense (ATD) 3.4.6 and earlier versions have a detection bypass vulnerability where malware can evade detection simply by being renamed, indicating the product was relying on filename or extension-based detection signatures rather than analyzing file content and behavior.

MitigationUpgrade to a patched version of ATD that performs content-based and behavioral analysis rather than relying on filename detection.

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 data
Advanced Threat DefenseApplication
Affected:<= 3.4.6

CVSS 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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify ATD installation version
    Access the ATD administrative interface or system information panel to find the currently installed version number
    Affected if Version displayed is 3.4.6 or earlier
  2. Compare version to affected range
    Verify the installed version against the known vulnerable range: any version <= 3.4.6 is affected
    Affected if Installed version is 3.4.6 or lower
  3. Check detection method configuration
    Review ATD detection settings to determine if the system relies primarily on filename or extension-based signatures for malware identification
    Affected if Detection configuration shows filename or extension as the primary detection mechanism rather than content-based or behavioral analysis
  4. Test with renamed malware sample
    Submit a known malware file with a benign filename or extension through ATD for analysis to see if detection still triggers
    Affected if The malware file is not detected when renamed to a non-suspicious name or extension

If the installed ATD version is 3.4.6 or earlier and the detection mechanism relies on filename or extension rather than file content or behavior, the environment is affected by this vulnerability.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 3.4.6
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to a patched version of ATD that performs content-based and behavioral analysis rather than relying on filename detection.

Fix this in Advanced Threat Defense Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,440
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,504.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-8990 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2015-8990 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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