What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-92253: Arbitrary File Write via Directory Junction in WatchDog Anti-Virus Quarantine Restoration

• Severity: medium (CVSS 5.2 v4.0)
• Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
• EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
• Public exploit or detection template: none known
• Published: 2026-09-20 · updated 2026-09-22
• Weakness: CWE-59

Description

Improper link resolution before file access in the quarantine restoration process of WatchDog Anti-Virus 1.8.640 on Windows allows local, low-privileged attackers to cause a quarantined file to be written to an arbitrary filesystem location by creating a directory junction at the original file path and persuading an administrator to restore the file. This may enable modification of protected files or SYSTEM-level code execution through DLL hijacking.

Affected products

• Watchdog Anti-Virus: from 1.8.640 before 1.8.804 — fixed in 1.8.804

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Watchdog Anti-Virus 1.8.804. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

• https://watchdog.com/anti-virus-release-notes/
• https://watchdog.com/vulnerability-disclosure-policy/

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