{"id":"CVE-2019-17190","url":"https://www.cyber-defence.io/tools/cve/CVE-2019-17190","generatedAt":"2026-10-27T23:43:01.115Z","title":"A Local Privilege Escalation issue was discovered in Avast Secure Browser 76.0.1659.101.","description":"A Local Privilege Escalation issue was discovered in Avast Secure Browser 76.0.1659.101. The vulnerability is due to an insecure ACL set by the AvastBrowserUpdate.exe (which is running as NT AUTHORITY\\SYSTEM) when AvastSecureBrowser.exe checks for new updates. When the update check is triggered, the elevated process cleans the ACL of the Update.ini file in %PROGRAMDATA%\\Avast Software\\Browser\\Update\\ and sets all privileges to group Everyone. Because any low-privileged user can create, delete, or modify the Update.ini file stored in this location, an attacker with low privileges can create a hard link named Update.ini in this folder, and make it point to a file writable by NT AUTHORITY\\SYSTEM. Once AvastBrowserUpdate.exe is triggered by the update check functionality, the DACL is set to a misconfigured value on the crafted Update.ini and, consequently, to the target file that was previously not writable by the low-privileged attacker.","published":"2020-01-27T16:15:11.000Z","lastModified":"2026-06-17T02:23:27.000Z","status":"Modified","sourceIdentifier":"cve@mitre.org","cvss":{"version":"3.1","score":7.8,"severity":"HIGH","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"},"cwe":["CWE-863"],"affected":["avast/secure browser"],"epss":{"score":0.00522,"percentile":0.44034,"date":"2026-10-26","history":[]},"kev":{"listed":false},"exploits":{"count":0,"verified":false,"firstPublished":null,"source":"Exploit-DB (https://gitlab.com/exploit-database/exploitdb)","entries":[]},"verdict":{"level":"high","text":"High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.52%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit."},"changes":[],"references":[{"url":"http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/156844/Avast-Secure-Browser-76.0.1659.101-Local-Privilege-Escalation.html","tags":["Third Party Advisory","VDB Entry"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Mar/25","tags":["Mailing List","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"https://www.avast.com/bug-bounty-credits/en/a-tribute-to-our-security-research-community","tags":["Vendor Advisory"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/156844/Avast-Secure-Browser-76.0.1659.101-Local-Privilege-Escalation.html","tags":["Third Party Advisory","VDB Entry"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Mar/25","tags":["Mailing List","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://www.avast.com/bug-bounty-credits/en/a-tribute-to-our-security-research-community","tags":["Vendor Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"}],"sources":{"nvd":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-17190","epss":"https://www.first.org/epss/","kev":"https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog","exploitdb":"https://www.exploit-db.com/"},"licence":"CC BY 4.0 — link back to the CVE Explorer if you publish the results; upstream data remains subject to its own terms."}