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Free AntivirusApplication · Avira

CVE-2020-12680

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-05-08
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 15.0.2005.1866 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Avira Free Antivirus through 15.0.2005.1866 allows local users to discover user credentials. The functions of the executable file Avira.PWM.NativeMessaging.exe are aimed at collecting credentials stored in Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Edge. The executable does not verify the calling program and thus a request such as fetchChromePasswords or fetchCredentials will succeed. NOTE: some third parties have stated that this is "not a vulnerability.

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

The Avira.PWM.NativeMessaging.exe component in Avira Free Antivirus fails to verify the identity of the calling program before executing credential extraction functions. Local unprivileged users can invoke functions like fetchChromePasswords or fetchCredentials to extract stored browser passwords from Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Edge without any authentication or authorization checks.

MitigationUpdate to a patched version of Avira Free Antivirus that implements proper caller verification, or contact Avira support for a hotfix. Until then, restrict local user access to the vulnerable executable and monitor for suspicious credential access attempts.

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
Free AntivirusApplication
Affected:<= 15.0.2005.1866

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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. Check if Avira Free Antivirus is installed
    Open Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run 'wmic product get name,version' to list installed software, looking for 'Avira Free Antivirus'
    Affected if Avira Free Antivirus is not present in the system, then not affected
  2. Determine the installed Avira Free Antivirus version
    Right-click Avira icon in system tray and select 'About Avira', or check Programs and Features for the version number, or inspect the product version in the registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Avira
    Affected if Version is 15.0.2005.1866 or lower, then the system is within the affected version range
  3. Locate the vulnerable component Avira.PWM.NativeMessaging.exe
    Search for the file Avira.PWM.NativeMessaging.exe in the Avira installation directory, typically found in C:\Program Files\Avira\Antivirus\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Avira\Antivirus\
    Affected if The file exists in the Avira installation directory, indicating the vulnerable component is present
  4. Verify the executable has weak file permissions
    Right-click the file Avira.PWM.NativeMessaging.exe, go to Properties > Security, and check if standard users have execute or read permissions. Also run 'icacls Avira.PWM.NativeMessaging.exe' from an elevated command prompt
    Affected if Non-admin users can read or execute this file, confirming the local privilege escalation vector exists

If Avira Free Antivirus version 15.0.2005.1866 or lower is installed AND the Avira.PWM.NativeMessaging.exe component exists with weak permissions allowing unprivileged access, the environment is affected by this CVE.

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 15.0.2005.1866
Interim mitigation

Update to a patched version of Avira Free Antivirus that implements proper caller verification, or contact Avira support for a hotfix. Until then, restrict local user access to the vulnerable executable and monitor for suspicious credential access attempts.

Fix this in Free Antivirus Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
32.0 hours of engineering $5,600
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
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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-2020-12680 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