Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
ClamAV 0.101.1 and earlier can crash when scanning a malformed Windows PE file. The main business risk is service disruption where ClamAV protects mail, file uploads, or file-transfer workflows. The sources do not show data theft, code execution, or confirmed active exploitation.
Executive priority
Treat as a high-priority availability issue where ClamAV is in production traffic paths. It does not indicate breach by itself, but scanner crashes can weaken security controls and interrupt business workflows.
Technical view
The flaw is improper input validation in ClamAV PE parsing, classified as CWE-20. A remote unauthenticated attacker can provide a malformed PE file to an affected scanner, causing an out-of-bounds read and crash. CVSS 3.0 is 7.5, driven by high availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely on systems running ClamAV 0.101.1 or earlier that automatically scan untrusted Windows executables, including mail gateways, upload pipelines, file stores, and security appliances embedding ClamAV.
Exploitation context
The source bundle supports remote unauthenticated denial of service. CISA KEV is false in the supplied data, and no cited source in the bundle confirms active exploitation or public exploit availability.
Researcher notes
Evidence is strongest for version scope, attack preconditions, and denial-of-service impact. The bundle does not provide detailed patch version mapping beyond affected versions, so remediation should follow ClamAV, Cisco, or distribution advisories.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory all ClamAV deployments and embedded ClamAV components.
- Prioritize systems scanning internet-supplied files or email attachments.
- Apply the relevant vendor or distribution update guidance.
- Use compensating controls to reduce untrusted PE scanning exposure until updated.
- Monitor scanner crash loops and service availability after remediation.
Validation and detection
- Confirm deployed ClamAV versions are newer than 0.101.1 or vendor-patched.
- Identify workflows where untrusted PE files reach ClamAV automatically.
- Review logs for repeated ClamAV crashes during file scanning.
- Confirm mail, upload, and file-transfer services remain available after updates.
- Document any appliance or distro package dependencies on ClamAV.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-20: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2019-1798 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 7.5 (3.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H3.93.6Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.0 score
7.5HighVector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://bugzilla.clamav.net/show_bug.cgi?id=12262CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- GLSA-201904-12CVE reference · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_GENTOO
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Improper Input Validation
Improper Input Validation represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.