CVE-2018-0649
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 · uneditedUntrusted search path vulnerability in the installers of multiple Canon IT Solutions Inc. software programs (ESET Smart Security Premium, ESET Internet Security, ESET Smart Security, ESET NOD32 Antivirus, DESlock+ Pro, and CompuSec (all programs except packaged ones)) allows an attacker to gain privileges via a Trojan horse DLL in an unspecified directory.
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 confidenceUntrusted search path vulnerability in Canon IT Solutions Inc. software installers (ESET security products, DESlock+ Pro, CompuSec) allows DLL hijacking. Attackers can place a malicious DLL in an unspecified directory that gets loaded during installation, executing with elevated 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 versionsall versionsall versionsall 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
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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 installed ESET productsOpen Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run 'wmic product get name,version' to list installed software. Look for: ESET Compusec, ESET Deslock+ Pro, ESET Internet Security, ESET Nod32 Antivirus, ESET Smart Security, or ESET Smart Security Premium.Affected if Any of these six products appear in the installed software list.
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Confirm product versionRight-click the installed product in Programs and Features and select 'Change' or 'Repair', or check the program's About/Help section to view the exact version number.Affected if Any version number is shown (all versions of the affected products are vulnerable).
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Verify installer source directoriesCheck installation media or downloaded installer locations. Look at where the installer was run from: external drives, network shares, download folders, or user-writable directories pose higher risk.Affected if installers were run from directories with weak access controls or locations writable by other users.
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Inspect for unauthorized DLLs in installer directoriesSearch installer directories for unexpected DLL files, especially those with names matching common system DLLs (e.g., version.dll, bcrypt.dll, or crypt32.dll) that may have been placed by an attacker.Affected if Unexpected DLL files are found in directories where installers were stored or run.
You are affected if any of the six listed ESET products are installed and their installers were run from directories where an attacker could place a malicious DLL.
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 dataRun installers from trusted, secure directories with controlled access. Verify installation package integrity. Apply vendor patches when available and test patched installers before deployment.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,480.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-0649 — 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-2018-0649 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