CVE-2022-26523
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 · uneditedThe socket connection handler in aswArPot.sys in the Avast and AVG Windows Anti Rootkit driver before 22.1 allows local attackers to execute arbitrary code in kernel mode or cause a denial of service (memory corruption and OS crash) due to a double fetch vulnerability at aswArPot+0xbb94.
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 confidenceA double fetch vulnerability in the aswArPot.sys kernel driver (aswArPot+0xbb94) allows local attackers to execute code in kernel mode or cause memory corruption/crashes. The driver reads a memory location twice without synchronization, enabling a race condition exploit.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
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
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
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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Verify the aswArPot.sys driver is loadedOpen an elevated command prompt and run: 'driverquery /v | findstr aswArPot' or check in Device Manager under non-plug-and-play drivers. Alternatively, check the Windows\System32\drivers folder for aswArPot.sys existence.Affected if The aswArPot.sys driver is present and loaded on the system (typically with Avast or AVG antivirus installed).
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Locate the driver file and retrieve its versionNavigate to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\aswArPot.sys (or the path shown by the previous check), right-click the file, select Properties, and view the Details tab for the 'File version' field. Alternatively, use PowerShell: (Get-Item 'C:\Windows\System32\drivers\aswArPot.sys').VersionInfo.Affected if The driver file exists on the system.
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Compare the installed driver version to the fixed versionCompare the file version you retrieved against version 22.1. Note that version formats may vary (for example, 22.1.6077.102 or similar). Ensure the major version is at least 22 and the minor version is 1 or higher.Affected if The driver version is below 22.1 (for example, 21.x or earlier), meaning the vulnerability is present and the double-fetch race condition can potentially be exploited by a local attacker.
The system is affected if Avast or AVG antivirus is installed with the aswArPot.sys driver loaded and the driver version is older than 22.1.
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.
dbcve · scopedUpdate Avast or AVG antivirus software to version 22.1 or later to obtain the patched aswArPot.sys driver. No workarounds available for kernel driver vulnerabilities.
version 22.1 or later
- Identify the current version of the Avast or AVG Anti-Rootkit driver (aswArPot.sys) by opening Avast/AVG settings and navigating to Troubleshooting or by checking the driver file properties
- Download and install Avast or AVG Antivirus version 22.1 or later which includes the patched aswArPot.sys driver
- Restart the computer to ensure the updated kernel driver is properly loaded
- Verify the new driver version is installed by checking aswArPot.sys properties or through the Avast/AVG interface
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-26523 — 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-2022-26523 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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