Vulnerability-scanner

With the increasing reliance of organizations on digital technologies to carry out communication, data storage, and business operations, the threats to cybersecurity have significantly increased. Given the critical role that endpoint security software plays in securing networks and systems, such software has become a prime target for malicious actors. As such, any vulnerabilities that affect widely deployed endpoint protection software have the potential to affect millions of computers around the world. The goal of this project is to analyze the verified Denial of Service (DoS) vulnerability CVE-2026-45498 in the Microsoft Defender Antimalware Platform, published in the National Vulnerability Database (NVD) on 20 May 2026. The CVSS score for this vulnerability is 4.0 (Medium). After verification of active exploitation by attackers, it was added to the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. Affected are systems, which run the Microsoft Defender Antimalware Platform in versions below 4.18.26040.7. This report elaborates on the problems caused by the vulnerability under study and discusses possible countermeasures, including their effectiveness and applicability. Additionally, I describe and implement a lightweight automated scanner using Python and PowerShell. The developed scanner first tries to determine the version of the Microsoft Defender Antimalware Platform that is installed on the target system, and then it compares this version with the secure version of Microsoft Defender Antimalware Platform (4.18.26040.7). Systems with older versions of Microsoft Defender Antimalware Platform are then reported as being potentially vulnerable, and administrators are provided with sufficient information to take action and fix the problem. The results of the testing were very impressive and the small scanner is very suitable for a quick check on endpoints for possible vulnerabilities. It is able to perform a vulnerability assessment on endpoints within a Windows environment quickly and accurately. The scanner provides administrators with a quick way to test for possible open vulnerabilities left open due to not having the latest updates or security patches installed on their endpoints.