{"id":"CVE-2024-13990","state":"PUBLISHED","title":"MicroWorld eScan AV Insecure Update Mechanism Allows Man-in-the-Middle Replacement of Updates","description":"MicroWorld eScan AV's update mechanism failed to ensure authenticity and integrity of updates: update packages were delivered and accepted without robust cryptographic verification. As a result, an on-path attacker could perform a man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack and substitute malicious update payloads for legitimate ones. The eScan AV client accepted these substituted packages and executed or loaded their components (including sideloaded DLLs and Java/installer payloads), enabling remote code execution on affected systems. MicroWorld eScan confirmed remediation of the update mechanism on 2023-07-31 but versioning details are unavailable. NOTE: MicroWorld eScan disputes the characterization in third-party reports, stating the issue relates to 2018–2019 and that controls were implemented then.","publishedAt":"2025-09-19T18:54:08.729Z","updatedAt":"2025-11-19T15:58:41.454Z","severity":{"score":9.3,"label":"Critical","version":"4.0","vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N","source":"VulnCheck"},"assigner":"VulnCheck","products":["MicroWorld Technologies eScan AV"],"affected":[{"vendor":"MicroWorld Technologies","product":"eScan AV","defaultStatus":"unknown","versions":[{"version":"*","status":"affected"}],"modules":["software update mechanism (update client and update delivery/protocol)"],"platforms":["Windows"]}],"references":["https://blog.avast.com/leading-the-charge-against-guptiminer","https://www.gendigital.com/blog/insights/research/guptiminer-hijacking-antivirus-updates-for-distributing-backdoors-and-casual-mining","https://securityaffairs.com/162228/breaking-news/escan-antivirus-mitm-attack.html","https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/04/hackers-infect-users-of-antivirus-service-that-delivered-updates-over-http/","https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hackers-hijack-antivirus-updates-to-drop-guptiminer-malware/","https://thehackernews.com/2024/04/escan-antivirus-update-mechanism.html","https://www.escanav.com/en/about-us/eScan-update-advisory.asp","https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/microworld-escan-av-insecure-update-mechanism-allows-mitm-replacement-of-updates"],"weaknesses":["CWE-295","CWE-347"],"ingestedAt":"2026-10-29T20:06:50.777Z","source":{"repository":"CVEProject/cvelistV5","path":"cves/2024/13xxx/CVE-2024-13990.json","commit":"556c9d3a8cd17e218bb8e452ba7cd619a384ff47"},"raw":{"dataType":"CVE_RECORD","dataVersion":"5.2","cveMetadata":{"cveId":"CVE-2024-13990","state":"PUBLISHED","datePublished":"2025-09-19T18:54:08.729Z","dateUpdated":"2025-11-19T15:58:41.454Z","assignerShortName":"VulnCheck","assignerOrgId":"83251b91-4cc7-4094-a5c7-464a1b83ea10","dateReserved":"2025-09-18T16:06:40.562Z"},"containers":{"cna":{"title":"MicroWorld eScan AV Insecure Update Mechanism Allows Man-in-the-Middle Replacement of Updates","descriptions":[{"lang":"en","value":"MicroWorld eScan AV's update mechanism failed to ensure authenticity and integrity of updates: update packages were delivered and accepted without robust cryptographic verification. As a result, an on-path attacker could perform a man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack and substitute malicious update payloads for legitimate ones. The eScan AV client accepted these substituted packages and executed or loaded their components (including sideloaded DLLs and Java/installer payloads), enabling remote code execution on affected systems. MicroWorld eScan confirmed remediation of the update mechanism on 2023-07-31 but versioning details are unavailable. NOTE: MicroWorld eScan disputes the characterization in third-party reports, stating the issue relates to 2018–2019 and that controls were implemented then."}],"affected":[{"vendor":"MicroWorld Technologies","product":"eScan AV","defaultStatus":"unknown","versions":[{"version":"*","status":"affected"}],"modules":["software update mechanism (update client and update delivery/protocol)"],"platforms":["Windows"]}],"references":[{"url":"https://blog.avast.com/leading-the-charge-against-guptiminer","tags":["technical-description"]},{"url":"https://www.gendigital.com/blog/insights/research/guptiminer-hijacking-antivirus-updates-for-distributing-backdoors-and-casual-mining","tags":["technical-description","exploit"]},{"url":"https://securityaffairs.com/162228/breaking-news/escan-antivirus-mitm-attack.html","tags":["media-coverage"]},{"url":"https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/04/hackers-infect-users-of-antivirus-service-that-delivered-updates-over-http/","tags":["technical-description"]},{"url":"https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hackers-hijack-antivirus-updates-to-drop-guptiminer-malware/","tags":["media-coverage"]},{"url":"https://thehackernews.com/2024/04/escan-antivirus-update-mechanism.html","tags":["media-coverage"]},{"url":"https://www.escanav.com/en/about-us/eScan-update-advisory.asp","tags":["vendor-advisory","patch"]},{"url":"https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/microworld-escan-av-insecure-update-mechanism-allows-mitm-replacement-of-updates","tags":["third-party-advisory"]}],"metrics":[{"cvssV4_0":{"Automatable":"NOT_DEFINED","Recovery":"NOT_DEFINED","Safety":"NOT_DEFINED","attackComplexity":"LOW","attackRequirements":"NONE","attackVector":"NETWORK","baseScore":9.3,"baseSeverity":"CRITICAL","exploitMaturity":"NOT_DEFINED","privilegesRequired":"NONE","providerUrgency":"NOT_DEFINED","subAvailabilityImpact":"NONE","subConfidentialityImpact":"NONE","subIntegrityImpact":"NONE","userInteraction":"NONE","valueDensity":"NOT_DEFINED","vectorString":"CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N","version":"4.0","vulnAvailabilityImpact":"HIGH","vulnConfidentialityImpact":"HIGH","vulnIntegrityImpact":"HIGH","vulnerabilityResponseEffort":"NOT_DEFINED"},"format":"CVSS","scenarios":[{"lang":"en","value":"GENERAL"}]}],"problemTypes":[{"descriptions":[{"cweId":"CWE-295","description":"CWE-295 Improper Certificate Validation","lang":"en","type":"CWE"}]},{"descriptions":[{"cweId":"CWE-347","description":"CWE-347 Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature","lang":"en","type":"CWE"}]}],"providerMetadata":{"shortName":"VulnCheck","orgId":"83251b91-4cc7-4094-a5c7-464a1b83ea10","dateUpdated":"2025-11-19T15:58:41.454Z"},"credits":[{"lang":"en","type":"finder","value":"Milánek and Jan Rubín"}],"source":{"discovery":"UNKNOWN"},"tags":["x_known-exploited-vulnerability"],"x_generator":{"engine":"Vulnogram 0.2.0"}},"adp":[{"title":"CISA ADP Vulnrichment","metrics":[{"other":{"type":"ssvc","content":{"timestamp":"2025-09-19T20:13:55.903355Z","id":"CVE-2024-13990","options":[{"Exploitation":"none"},{"Automatable":"no"},{"Technical Impact":"total"}],"role":"CISA Coordinator","version":"2.0.3"}}}],"providerMetadata":{"shortName":"CISA-ADP","orgId":"134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0","dateUpdated":"2025-09-19T20:14:07.736Z"}}]}}}