An Untrusted Search Path vulnerability in Malwarebytes AdwCleaner before 8.0.1 could cause arbitrary code execution with SYSTEM privileges…

published 2019-12-23 6 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2019-9518

cvss: 7.8; version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 0.9%; EPSS 0.9% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 59%
public exploits: 0; none known

An Untrusted Search Path vulnerability in Malwarebytes AdwCleaner before 8.0.1 could cause arbitrary code execution with SYSTEM privileges when a malicious DLL library is loaded by the product.

Patch / fix

fixed in 1

malwarebytes adwcleaner 8.0.1

Exploit prediction

0.87% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 59% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
NVD	3.1	7.8	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD	2.0	6.9	AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Classification

Weakness

CWE-426 Untrusted Search Path

References

forums.malwarebytes.com /topic/254898-release-adwcleaner-801/
vendor-advisory
borncity.com /win/2019/12/19/adwcleaner-8-0-1-closes-a-dll-hijacking-vulnerability/
vendor-advisory
bleepingcomputer.com /news/software/adwcleaner-801-fixes-dll-hijacking-vulnerability/
third-party-advisory

Sources

CVE List CVE-2019-19929
NVD CVE-2019-19929

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

Summary