Avast deactivated an element in its suite that, ironically, posed a significant security risk.
The software developer disabled the JavaScript interpreter in its toolbox when Tavis Ormandy of Google Project Zero and his associates alerted the company to "pick up" imperfections in the code.
According to Avast, Ormandy discovered a vulnerability that allowed remote code execution in the software, the details of which had not been made public.
Five days later, Google released a shell that could provide more information about Avast's JavaScript vulnerability to those interested in evaluating the suite protectionfrom viruses.
It also revealed that if attackers were able to exploit any holes in Avast's JS in computer of the victim, they could run malicious applications on that computer with system-admin privileges.
It should be noted that Ormandy did not reveal specific errors.
A few days after the launch of the analysis tool, the company chose to catslowentirely within the JavaScript emulator. According to the company, its removal will not significantly affect the suite's ability to detect malware programs. The company's quick action was applauded by Ormandy.
A praise from the security community for Avast has been something very difficult lately. After the data sale scandal, the company found itself in the spotlight again when it was revealed that the AntiTrack tool contained errors which could allow man-in-the-middle attacks to monitor supposedly secure connections.