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Defender-Pretender: When Windows Defender Updates Become a Security Risk
Learn about the "Defender-Pretender" vulnerability, where Windows Defender updates can become a security risk due to design flaws and exploitable validation mechanisms, and how a custom update package can be created to bypass security controls.
- The Windows Defender update process has design flaws that can be exploited to bypass its security mechanisms.
- The update process relies on validation mechanisms to ensure the integrity of the update package, but these mechanisms can be bypassed by modifying the update package’s signature.
- The Defender Pretender tool was created to test the vulnerability and demonstrate how to exploit it.
- The tool allows for the creation of a fake update package that can be used to update Defender with a custom database, even without admin privileges or a valid certificate.
- The update package can be modified to include a custom database that contains signature definitions for known malware, allowing an attacker to mark previously unknown malware as benign.
- Microsoft’s friendly file implementation can be bypassed, enabling the creation of a custom update package that can be used to evade Defender’s security controls.
- The vulnerability can be exploited to gain persistence on a target system.
- Microsoft has assigned a CV ID and released a patch to fix the vulnerability.