CVE-2024-7237
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 · uneditedAVG AntiVirus Free AVGSvc Link Following Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of AVG AntiVirus Free. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the AVG Service. By creating a symbolic link, an attacker can abuse the service to delete a folder. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code in the context of SYSTEM. Was ZDI-CAN-22960.
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 confidenceThis is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in AVG AntiVirus Free's AVG Service (AVGSvc). The flaw allows an attacker with low-privileged code execution to create a symbolic link that the service follows, causing it to delete an arbitrary folder. By chaining this folder deletion with other techniques (e.g., deleting security files or replacing service binaries), the attacker can escalate to SYSTEM context and execute arbitrary code.
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= 23.12.8700.813CVSS 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:3.1/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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Verify AVG Antivirus is installedCheck installed programs for AVG Antivirus or AVG AntiVirus Free in Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run: Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -like '*AVG*'}Affected if AVG Antivirus Free appears in installed programs
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Check installed AVG versionOpen AVG Antivirus Free and navigate to Menu > Settings > About, or check version via registry: Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\Software\AVG\Setup' | Select-Object VersionAffected if Version equals exactly 23.12.8700.813
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Confirm AVG Service (AVGSvc) is runningOpen Services console (services.msc) and locate 'AVG Service' or run: Get-Service -Name 'AVG*' | Select-Object Name, StatusAffected if AVGSvc service exists and is running
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Check for symbolic link creation permissionsReview NTFS permissions on high-value folders (especially Windows system directories) and monitor for unexpected symlink creation using: fsutil hardlink list <target folder> or check for new symlinks in sensitive pathsAffected if Low-privileged users can create symbolic links that the AVG Service process accesses
A user is affected if AVG AntiVirus Free version 23.12.8700.813 is installed with the AVG Service running, allowing a low-privileged attacker to exploit symlink behavior for privilege escalation.
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 dataApply the vendor patch from AVG when available; until then, restrict creation of symbolic links in the environment and monitor for suspicious service behavior.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-7237 — 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-2024-7237 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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