CVE-2018-6525
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 · uneditedIn nProtect AVS V4.0 before 4.0.0.39, the driver file (TKFsAv.SYS) allows local users to cause a denial of service (BSOD) or possibly have unspecified other impact because of not validating input values from IOCtl 0x220458.
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 confidenceThe nProtect AVS V4.0 antivirus driver (TKFsAv.SYS) fails to validate input values from IOCTL 0x220458, allowing local authenticated users to send specially crafted requests to the kernel-mode driver that trigger a system crash (BSOD) or potentially achieve unspecified code execution. This is a local privilege escalation/denial of service vulnerability in a security product's kernel driver.
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>= 4.0, < 4.0.0.39CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/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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Confirm nProtect AVS V4.0 is installedCheck for the presence of nProtect AVS antivirus software on the system. Look for the nProtect service or the TKFsAv.SYS driver file in the Windows\System32\drivers directory.Affected if nProtect AVS V4.0 is installed and the driver file TKFsAv.SYS exists on the system.
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Identify the TKFsAv.SYS driver versionRight-click the TKFsAv.SYS file, select Properties, and view the File Version tab. Alternatively, use the command: driverquery /v | findstr TKFsAv to list driver details including version.Affected if The driver version is found to be below 4.0.0.39.
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Verify the driver is loadedOpen Command Prompt as administrator and run: sc query TKFsAv or check Device Manager for hidden devices under Non-Plug and Play Drivers. Also verify the service status via services.msc for nProtect-related services.Affected if The TKFsAv.SYS driver is currently loaded or the nProtect service is running.
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Compare against affected version rangeCross-reference the identified driver version with the affected range: version 4.0.0.0 through 4.0.0.38 are vulnerable. Version 4.0.0.39 and later contain the fix.Affected if The installed version falls within >= 4.0.0.0 and < 4.0.0.39.
A system is affected if nProtect AVS V4.0 is installed with the TKFsAv.SYS driver version below 4.0.0.39 and the driver is loaded in memory.
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 data4.0.0.39
Apply vendor patch to update nProtect AVS V4.0 to version 4.0.0.39 or later, which includes proper input validation in the TKFsAv.SYS driver. Given this is a kernel-level vulnerability with DoS potential, prioritize patching on all affected systems.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-6525 — 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-2018-6525 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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- 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
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