CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2023-28892 — Malwarebytes Adwcleaner security vulnerability

High CVSS 7.8

Malwarebytes AdwCleaner 8.4.0 runs as Administrator and performs an insecure file delete operation on C:\AdwCleaner\Logs\AdwCleaner_Debug.log in which the target location is user-controllable, allowing a non-admin user to escalate privileges to SYSTEM via a symbolic link.

Severity
High
CVSS
7.8 (3.1)
Published
2023-03-29
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-59

Affected products

  • malwarebytes / adwcleaner

Matched remediation archetype

Path traversal, unsafe upload, and file handling

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Check exposure

  • Trace untrusted filenames, archive entries, URLs, and path segments into read, write, include, extraction, and upload operations.
  • Identify filesystem roots, mount permissions, symbolic-link behavior, archive handling, and whether uploaded content is web-accessible or executable.
  • Review canonicalization and containment checks across supported operating systems and storage backends.

Remediate safely

  • Generate server-side storage identifiers and resolve paths beneath a fixed root using filesystem-aware containment checks.
  • Reject absolute, parent-relative, alternate-separator, device, link, and archive entries that escape the intended root.
  • Store uploads outside executable or served paths, validate type and size, and use private atomic temporary files.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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