CVE-2023-42125
Avast Premium Security 22.12.6044
Raw vector
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2023-42125 is a high-severity Use of Incorrectly-Resolved Name or Reference (CWE-706) vulnerability in Avast Premium Security. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Path Interception (T1034); ranked at the 33th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and AC-4 (Information Flow Enforcement) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-46584
Vulnerability Data
Avast Premium Security Sandbox Protection Link Following Privilege Escalation Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of Avast Premium Security. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system…
more
in order to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the implementation of the sandbox feature. By creating a symbolic link, an attacker can abuse the service to create arbitrary namespace objects. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code in the context of SYSTEM. . Was ZDI-CAN-20383.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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V15.4.2
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Proper enforcement of access authorizations on the resolved target resource stops a link from reaching an unintended object.
Information flow enforcement can constrain flows that result from an incorrectly resolved name or reference.
Least-privilege limits the damage an attacker can cause after following an unintended link.
Validating file-name inputs can reject or canonicalize names that resolve to links before access occurs.
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-development practices directly prevent incorrect name/reference resolution bugs during coding.
Enforced authorization boundaries limit damage from an incorrectly resolved reference.
Logical segmentation and access controls reduce the chance an out-of-sphere resolution succeeds.
Hardened configuration baselines can constrain allowable name-to-resource mappings.
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.
Security testing can detect incorrect name or reference resolution through fuzzing and negative test cases.
Network segmentation and routing policies reduce the chance that a mis-resolved name leads to an unintended external resource.
Segregated networks limit the blast radius when a name or reference resolves outside the intended control sphere.
Secure SDLC practices include design reviews that can catch incorrect name or reference handling before deployment.
Application security requirements can mandate validation of all external references and names used at runtime.
Secure architecture principles discourage reliance on ambient or globally-resolvable names without explicit scoping.