In K7 Antivirus Premium 16.0.xxx through 16.0.0120; K7 Total Security 16.0.xxx through 16.0.0120; and K7 Ultimate Security 16.0.xxx through…

published 2019-10-28 7y ago modified 2026-06-17 4mo ago also EUVD-2019-7395

cvss: 9.8; version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 1.6%; EPSS 1.6% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 76%
public exploits: 0; none known

In K7 Antivirus Premium 16.0.xxx through 16.0.0120; K7 Total Security 16.0.xxx through 16.0.0120; and K7 Ultimate Security 16.0.xxx through 16.0.0120, the module K7TSHlpr.dll improperly validates the administrative privileges of the user, allowing arbitrary registry writes in the K7AVOptn.dll module to facilitate escalation of privileges via inter-process communication with a service process.

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Exploit prediction

1.62% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 76% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

github.com https://github.com/NtRaiseHardError/Antimalware-Research/blob/master/K7%20Security/Local%20Privilege%20Escalation/v16.0.0120/README.md referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
NVD	3.1	9.8	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD	2.0	7.5	AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Classification

Weakness

CWE-269 Improper Privilege Management

References

github.com /NtRaiseHardError/Antimalware-Research/blob/master/K7%20Security/Local%20Privilege%20Escalation/v16.0.0120/REA
exploit, third-party-advisory

Sources

CVE List CVE-2019-16897
NVD CVE-2019-16897

Fencer Intel 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.