CVE-2016-20058
Netgate Amiti Antivirus ≤ 23.0.305
Raw vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:XCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2016-20058 is a high-severity Unquoted Search Path or Element (CWE-428) vulnerability in Netgate Amiti Antivirus. Its CVSS base score is 8.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Path Interception (T1034); ranked in the top 48% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-15 (Development Process, Standards, and Tools) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2016-20058 is an unquoted service path vulnerability affecting Netgate AMITI Antivirus build 23.0.305, specifically in the AmitiAvSrv and AmitiAntivirusHealth services. This issue, mapped to CWE-428, allows local attackers to escalate privileges by exploiting the lack of quotes around the service binary path in the Windows registry. The vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating high impact with low complexity and requiring only local access and low privileges.
Local attackers with existing low-privilege access on the system can exploit this by placing a malicious executable in a directory that precedes the legitimate service binary in the system's PATH search order. By triggering a service restart or system reboot, the malicious executable executes with LocalSystem privileges, potentially granting full control over the system, including high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts.
Advisories and references include a detailed write-up from VulnCheck on the unquoted service path privilege escalation, an exploit published on Exploit-DB (ID 40540), and links to the vendor site at netgate.sk along with a potential download page. No specific patch details are outlined in the provided information, but security practitioners should check vendor resources for updates to affected builds.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2016-10865
Vulnerability Data
Netgate AMITI Antivirus build 23.0.305 contains an unquoted service path vulnerability in the AmitiAvSrv and AmitiAntivirusHealth services that allows local attackers to escalate privileges. Attackers can place a malicious executable in the unquoted service path and trigger service restart or…
more
system reboot to execute code with LocalSystem privileges.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation can discover unquoted search paths through static analysis or dynamic test cases.
Documented development standards and tools can mandate proper quoting and escaping of path elements.
Engineering principles can require safe construction and quoting of search paths and command elements.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Secure SDLC practices directly prevent path-handling flaws such as unquoted elements during development.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Enforcing controlled software installation can prevent unquoted search-path elements in executables and scripts.
Secure development lifecycle practices include input validation and path handling that reduce unquoted search-path weaknesses.
Secure system architecture and engineering principles require safe path construction and quoting conventions.
Secure coding standards directly mandate quoting search paths and avoiding unsafe path construction.
Security testing in development can detect unquoted search-path issues before deployment.
Change-management processes can enforce review of path-handling changes that might introduce unquoted elements.