dbcve.org
Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 19 Jun 2024.
Javs ViewerApplication · Javs

CVE-2024-4978

HIGH · 8.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-05-23
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
98/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Public exploit Remotely reachable

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
Justice AV Solutions Viewer Setup 8.3.7.250-1 contains a malicious binary when executed and is signed with an unexpected authenticode signature. A remote, privileged threat actor may exploit this vulnerability to execute of unauthorized PowerShell commands.

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

Justice AV Solutions Viewer Setup version 8.3.7.250-1 contains a malicious binary that is signed with an unexpected Authenticode signature, allowing it to bypass security controls. A remote, privileged attacker can exploit this to execute unauthorized PowerShell commands on affected systems.

MitigationImmediately remove Justice AV Solutions Viewer Setup 8.3.7.250-1 from all systems and obtain a clean, properly signed installer from the vendor. Investigate for signs of compromise and review PowerShell execution logs.

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
Javs ViewerApplication
Affected:= 8.3.7.250

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
Low
Privileges
High
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify if Javs Viewer is installed
    Check for Justice AV Solutions Viewer or Javs Javs Viewer in the list of installed programs. On Windows, this can be done via Control Panel > Programs and Features, or by querying the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for display names containing 'Javs' or 'Justice AV'.
    Affected if The software is present on the system.
  2. Verify the installed version
    Locate the installed Javs Viewer application and check its version information. Right-click the executable file (typically found in Program Files or Program Files (x86)), select Properties, and view the Details tab for the File Version. Alternatively, use PowerShell: Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*' | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -match 'Javs|Justice AV'} | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion.
    Affected if The version displayed is 8.3.7.250.
  3. Inspect the Authenticode signature
    Right-click the main Javs Viewer executable file, select Properties, go to the Digital Signatures tab, and click Details to view the signature information. Check if the signer certificate is unexpected or differs from the legitimate Justice AV Solutions certificate. Use SignTool.exe if available: signtool verify /pa /v <path_to_executable>.
    Affected if The Authenticode signature is present but was created by an unexpected or unauthorized certificate authority, or the signature validation fails unexpectedly.
  4. Check for suspicious PowerShell activity
    Review Windows Event Logs, specifically Windows PowerShell event logs (Microsoft-Windows-PowerShell/Operational) and Windows Security logs for PowerShell execution events around the time of the software installation. Look for unexpected or unauthorized PowerShell command executions. Use PowerShell: Get-WinEvent -LogName 'Microsoft-Windows-PowerShell/Operational' -MaxEvents 100 | Where-Object {$_.Message -match 'suspicious_command'}.
    Affected if PowerShell commands were executed that were not initiated by legitimate user activity.

A user is affected if Javs Javs Viewer version 8.3.7.250 is installed, particularly if the executable has an unexpected or invalid Authenticode signature indicating tampering.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Immediately remove Justice AV Solutions Viewer Setup 8.3.7.250-1 from all systems and obtain a clean, properly signed installer from the vendor. Investigate for signs of compromise and review PowerShell execution logs.

Fix this in Javs Viewer Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-4978 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2024-4978 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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