AntitrackApplication · Avast

CVE-2020-8987

HIGH · 7.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-03-09
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.5.1.172 / 2.0.0.178 or later.
See remediation →
83/100
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
Avast AntiTrack before 1.5.1.172 and AVG Antitrack before 2.0.0.178 proxies traffic to HTTPS sites but does not validate certificates, and thus a man-in-the-middle can host a malicious website using a self-signed certificate. No special action necessary by the victim using AntiTrack with "Allow filtering of HTTPS traffic for tracking detection" enabled. (This is the default configuration.)

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 confidence

Avast AntiTrack and AVG AntiTrack versions before 1.5.1.172 and 2.0.0.178 respectively proxy HTTPS traffic for tracking detection but fail to validate SSL/TLS certificates, allowing a man-in-the-middle attacker with a self-signed certificate to intercept and modify encrypted traffic.

MitigationUpdate to Avast AntiTrack 1.5.1.172+ or AVG AntiTrack 2.0.0.178+ to resolve the certificate validation bypass; alternatively, disable the 'Allow filtering of HTTPS traffic for tracking detection' setting if updates are unavailable.

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
AntitrackApplication
Affected:< 1.5.1.172
Avg AntitrackApplication
Affected:< 2.0.0.178

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
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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. Find Avast AntiTrack version
    Open Avast AntiTrack, go to Settings > About, or check Programs and Features for the installed version number
    Affected if Installed version is below 1.5.1.172
  2. Find AVG AntiTrack version
    Open AVG AntiTrack, go to Settings > About, or check Programs and Features for the installed version number
    Affected if Installed version is below 2.0.0.178
  3. Check if HTTPS filtering is enabled
    Go to Avast/AVG AntiTrack Settings > Protection or Network section and look for 'Allow filtering of HTTPS traffic for tracking detection' or similar HTTPS proxy setting
    Affected if HTTPS traffic filtering toggle is turned ON and a vulnerable version is installed

You are affected if either Avast AntiTrack is below version 1.5.1.172 or AVG AntiTrack is below version 2.0.0.178, AND the HTTPS traffic filtering feature is enabled.

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 1.5.1.172 / 2.0.0.178 or later
Fixed in 1.5.1.1722.0.0.178
Interim mitigation

Update to Avast AntiTrack 1.5.1.172+ or AVG AntiTrack 2.0.0.178+ to resolve the certificate validation bypass; alternatively, disable the 'Allow filtering of HTTPS traffic for tracking detection' setting if updates are unavailable.

Fix this in Antitrack Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,060
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,696.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2020-8987 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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