Suspected malicious use of aswhook.dll by malware

Viruses and worms
1

I was analysing a suspected malware through procmon and I noted that it loaded aswhook.dll into image. From what I understand, aswhook.dll is used by Avast to provide powerful hooking functions for the Avast software to provide Avast with valuable information on the user’s device so that it can detect malware

Is it possible for a malware to load aswhook.dll and use its functions for itself to hook the user’s device and fish for information?

2

For an answer look here: https://howtodoninja.com/files/dll/aswhook/fix-aswhook-virus-malware-remove-missing/

polonus

3

Hi Polonus,

I don’t think that provides a very clear idea of what I am looking for. I know that aswhook.dll is a file by Avast and when used by Avast, it is not malware even though it provides Avast with powerful functions.

However, my query relates to the situation where an entity other than Avast that may use the .dll file. In that case, I would like to ask if it is possible for a malware to make use of such functions by Avast.

4

Avast’s files, locations, settings, etc. should all fall under the Avast Self Defence Module.

So I feel that would include misuse, of said files by an outside source.

That is my belief as an Avast User, not Avast Team member.

5

still an ongoing issue not addressed by Avast based on this message: “c:\program files\avast software\avast\aswhook.dll is either not designed to run on Windows or it contains an error. Try installing the program again …” I uninstalled the Avast antivirus via windows 11 and then re installed- same problem. I then downloaded the Avast extraction tool, extracted, restarted and reloaded. Restarted and ran sfc/scannow to get the same message. All indications from my guessing and no answer from the Avast team is the antivirus program is not working. Very unfortunate since I have been with Avast over a decade.
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