Reported by 2 outlets
PrettyPrague PoC Claims Avast Antivirus Zero-Day for SYSTEM Privilege Escalation
Why this score
- Breadth
- 1.00 / 2.0 · 2 sources
- Authority
- 1.20 / 2.0 · best outlet weight
- Severity
- 1.00 / 5.0 · CVSS + content signals
- Velocity
- 0.00 / 2.0 · updates in 48h
- Pickup speed
- 0.53 / 0.6 · time to second source
- Recency
- × 0.00 temporal multiplier
- Community
- + 0.00 / 1.5 · reddit signal
- Score
- 0.0 / 10 = base × recency + community
Timeline
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original reporting
PrettyPrague PoC Claims Avast Antivirus Zero-Day Enables SYSTEM Privilege Escalation
cyberpress.org · 40d ago · September 3rd, 2026
A publicly released proof-of-concept exploit named PrettyPrague claims to abuse a zero-day flaw in Gen Digital’s Avast Antivirus, allowing a local user to dump Windows Security Account Manager (SAM) data and obtain an NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM command shell. The proof of concept was published by the researcher behind the MSNightmare, INFINITE NIGHTMARE, and Nightmare-Eclipse identities. According to the project’s public repository, PrettyPrague targets Avast Sandbox , a component intended to isolate potentially unsafe activity within the antivirus product’s environment. The researcher alleges that the component can instead be abused as a local privilege-escalation path. PrettyPrague PoC Claims Avast Antivirus Zero-Day PrettyPrague’s reported impact is significant because it combines access to sensitive Windows authentication data with the ability to run commands under SYSTEM, the highest local privilege level on a Windows endpoint. The SAM database contains information associated with local Windows accounts, including password hash data that attackers may attempt to crack offline or reuse during lateral movement. Access to SYSTEM can also enable a threat actor to disable protections, alter security settings, create persistence mechanisms, tamper with logs, and access data normally restricted from standard users. MSNightmare claims the PoC is compatible with “any version” of Avast Antivirus and was tested against a fully patched Avast deployment running on a patched Windows 11 25H2
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update from gbhackers.com
Avast Antivirus Zero-Day PoC Lets Attackers Dump SAM Database and Gain SYSTEM Shell
gbhackers.com · 40d ago · September 3rd, 2026
The researcher behind the repository, known as MSNightmare, claims that the issue affects fully patched installations […] The post Avast Antivirus Zero-Day PoC Lets Attackers Dump SAM Database and Gain SYSTEM Shell appeared first on GBHackers Security | #1 Globally Trusted Cyber Security News Platform .