Malware infiltrates the defenses of common antivirus softwares like McAfee, Kaspersky, Symantec and others

• Antivirus software is supposed to keep us safe malware threats, but security loopholes left them vulnerable to file manipulation attacks.
  
• Because antivirus software usually requires a high level of clearance to operate, the malware can dig deeper into the system and sustain its foothold.
  
• McAfee, Kaspersky, Symantec, Forticlient, Avira, and Microsoft Defender were among those affected. All of them have since issued patches to address the issue.
  

Antivirus software is meant to protect you from external threats, but recently new security bugs were seen poking holes in their impenetrable shields. This includes some of the popular antivirus names in the market like McAfee, Kaspersky, Symantec and others.

According to CyberArk Labs, who made the discovery, the high level of privileges often associated with anti-malware products have a ‘fatal flaw’ — it leaves them more vulnerable to exploitation via file manipulation attacks.

As a result, the malware may gain elevated permission on the system. “Due to the high privilege level of security products, an error in them could help malware to sustain its foothold and cause more damage to the organization,” said the report.

The good news is that most of the bugs that were found can easily be eliminated. Those affected were alerted to the problem by the team of cybersecurity researchers. The security vulnerabilities have since been fixed.

Full list of antivirus softwares spotted with security flaw:

1. Kaspersky Security Center
2. McAfee Endpoint Security
3. McAfee Total Protection
4. Symantec Norton Power Eraser
5. Fortinet
6. FortiClient
7. Check Point ZoneAlarm
8. Check point Endpoint Security
9. Trend Micro HouseCall for Home Networks
10. Avira
11. Microsoft Defender
    

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