Avira Free Antivirus through 15.0.2005.1866 allows local users to discover user credentials. The functions of the executable file Avira.PWM.NativeMessaging.exe are aimed at collecting credentials stored in Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Edge. The executable does not verify the calling program and thus a request such as fetchChromePasswords or fetchCredentials will succeed. NOTE: some third parties have stated that this is "not a vulnerability.

An issue was discovered in Avira Free-Antivirus before 15.0.2004.1825. The Self-Protection feature does not prohibit a write operation from an external process. Thus, code injection can be used to turn off this feature. After that, one can construct an event that will modify a file at a specific location, and pass this event to the driver, thereby defeating the anti-virus functionality.