WinRAR’s Web Mark Bypass Blunder: A Comedy of Exploits and Patchwork Fixes
WinRAR’s latest update, version 7.11, patches a vulnerability tracked as CVE-2025-31334 that allowed attackers to bypass the Mark of the Web warning. The flaw enabled execution of arbitrary code when opening a symlink to an executable file on older versions. Time to update and avoid a sticky situation!
Hot Take:
Ah, WinRAR, the software we all forget to pay for because it never stops reminding us it’s free for the next 40 days. But now, it’s not just your conscience that’s nagging you—it’s a vulnerability that could let hackers waltz right past your Windows defenses. Looks like it’s time to finally update WinRAR, or better yet, maybe even pay for it? Nah, let’s not get crazy.
Key Points:
- A vulnerability in WinRAR (CVE-2025-31334) allows bypassing Windows’ Mark of the Web (MotW) security warnings.
- All versions before WinRAR 7.11 are affected by this vulnerability.
- The flaw can be exploited using a symbolic link (symlink) to execute arbitrary code.
- The vulnerability has a medium severity score of 6.8 and has been patched in version 7.11.
- Similar MotW bypasses have been exploited in the past, including by Russian hackers using 7-Zip.
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