Fortinet Discovers AVIRA Self-Protection Bypass via Registry Removal

Summary

Fortinet's FortiGuard Labs has discovered self-protection bypass flaw in Avira Antivirus.


Avira Antivirus is a security software developed by Avira Operations GmbH & Co. KG.


Avira self-defense driver can be bypassed by user-mode program that would allow adversary to disable critical product functionalities. The flaw resides in Avira's self-defense driver avipbb.sys which allows adversary to modify Avast protected registry key that could make product become completely nonfunctional or partially malfunction by disabling product update

Solutions

Users of vulnerable Avira products should apply the latest updates from Avira.

Additional Information

Following products and versions are affected.

  Avira Free Edition 15.0.19.164 and below

Timeline

Fortinet reported the vulnerability to Avira on September 9, 2016.

Avira confirmed the vulnerability on  September 9, 2016.


Acknowledgement

This vulnerability was discovered by Wayne Low of Fortinet's FortiGuard Labs.

IPS Subscription

Fortinet customers who subscribe to Fortinet's intrusion prevention (IPS) service should be protected against this vulnerability with the appropriate configuration parameters in place. Fortinet's IPS service is one component of FortiGuard Subscription Services, which also offer comprehensive solutions such as antivirus, Web content filtering and antispam capabilities. These services enable protection against threats on both application and network layers. FortiGuard Services are continuously updated by FortiGuard Labs, which enables Fortinet to deliver a combination of multi-layered security intelligence and true zero-day protection from new and emerging threats. These updates are delivered to all FortiGate, FortiMail and FortiClient products. Fortinet strictly follows responsible disclosure guidelines to ensure optimum protection during a threat's lifecycle.