CVE-2008-5523

Severity: critical (CVSS 9.3 v2.0)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 2.9% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2008-12-12 · updated 2026-06-16
Weakness: CWE-20

Description

avast! antivirus 4.8.1281.0, when Internet Explorer 6 or 7 is used, allows remote attackers to bypass detection of malware in an HTML document by placing an MZ header (aka "EXE info") at the beginning, and modifying the filename to have (1) no extension, (2) a .txt extension, or (3) a .jpg extension, as demonstrated by a document containing a CVE-2006-5745 exploit.

Affected products

Avast Antivirus: 4.8.1281.0

References

http://securityreason.com/securityalert/4723
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/498995/100/0/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/499043/100/0/threaded
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/47435
http://securityreason.com/securityalert/4723
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/498995/100/0/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/499043/100/0/threaded
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/47435

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