CVE-2025-7018 Overview
CVE-2025-7018 is a null pointer dereference vulnerability [CWE-476] in the Avira Antivirus engine. The flaw occurs when the engine scans a malformed Windows Portable Executable (PE) file. Successful triggering causes a denial-of-service condition in the antivirus engine process.
The issue affects Avira Antivirus on Windows, macOS, and Linux for engine builds before 8.3.70.64. Exploitation requires local access and user interaction to introduce the malformed PE file for scanning. Confidentiality and integrity remain intact, but availability of the scanning engine is impacted.
Critical Impact
An attacker who can place a crafted PE file in a scan path can crash the Avira engine process, disabling on-access malware protection until the engine recovers.
Affected Products
- Avira Antivirus on Windows (engine builds before 8.3.70.64)
- Avira Antivirus on macOS (engine builds before 8.3.70.64)
- Avira Antivirus on Linux (engine builds before 8.3.70.64)
Discovery Timeline
- 2026-06-12 - CVE-2025-7018 published to NVD
- 2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2025-7018
Vulnerability Analysis
The vulnerability resides in the Avira Antivirus scanning engine's PE file parser. When the engine processes a malformed Windows PE file, it dereferences a pointer that has not been validated against NULL. The resulting access violation terminates the antivirus engine process.
The vulnerability is classified under [CWE-476] (NULL Pointer Dereference). The attack requires local access (AV:L) and user interaction (UI:R), since the malformed file must be presented to the scanner. The impact is limited to availability of the engine process.
An EPSS score of 0.111% places active exploitation probability low. However, antivirus engines run with elevated privileges and parse untrusted input by design, making parser robustness a recurring concern.
Root Cause
The root cause is missing pointer validation inside the PE parsing routines of the Avira engine. Malformed PE headers, sections, or directory entries can lead the parser down a code path where an internal structure pointer is NULL. Subsequent field access triggers an unhandled exception and process termination.
Attack Vector
An attacker crafts a Windows PE file with malformed header or directory metadata. The file is then delivered to a system running a vulnerable Avira engine build through email attachment, removable media, file share, or download. Once the on-access scanner or an on-demand scan parses the file, the engine crashes. Repeated triggering can keep the antivirus engine in a degraded state, reducing malware protection coverage during the window of recovery.
No verified public proof-of-concept code is available. See the Gen Digital Security Advisory for vendor technical details.
Detection Methods for CVE-2025-7018
Indicators of Compromise
- Unexpected termination or restart of Avira engine processes such as avguard.exe, sched.exe, or platform equivalents on macOS and Linux.
- Windows Application event log entries showing access violation faults (0xC0000005) in the Avira engine module.
- Presence of malformed PE files in scan queues, quarantine staging directories, or user download paths immediately preceding engine crashes.
Detection Strategies
- Monitor antivirus service health telemetry for repeated engine crashes or scan-engine watchdog restarts on endpoints.
- Correlate file write events of .exe, .dll, or .sys artifacts with subsequent Avira process termination within a short window.
- Inspect crash dumps from Avira engine processes for stack frames inside PE parsing routines.
Monitoring Recommendations
- Forward Windows Event Log channels Application and System, plus macOS unified log and Linux journald entries for Avira services, to a centralized log platform.
- Alert on engine version strings below 8.3.70.64 reported by endpoint inventory.
- Track scan failure rates per endpoint to identify hosts repeatedly receiving malformed PE files.
How to Mitigate CVE-2025-7018
Immediate Actions Required
- Update the Avira Antivirus engine to build 8.3.70.64 or later on all Windows, macOS, and Linux endpoints.
- Verify that automatic engine updates are enabled and successfully applied across managed endpoints.
- Restrict the ability of untrusted users to drop arbitrary PE files into scanned directories on shared systems.
Patch Information
Gen Digital addresses CVE-2025-7018 in Avira Antivirus engine builds 8.3.70.64 and later. Refer to the Gen Digital Security Advisory for release details and platform-specific update guidance.
Workarounds
- Apply application allowlisting to limit which executables can be written to scan paths by untrusted users.
- Configure engine watchdog and auto-restart policies so the scanning service recovers quickly after a crash.
- Restrict inbound file delivery channels such as email attachments and removable media using existing email security and device control policies until the patch is deployed.
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
