WinRAR Can Still Drop Malware Into Your Startup Folder a Year After the Patch

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 11:05:19 +0200

You unzipped a file with WinRAR, the way you always do. Nothing on screen looked wrong. The next morning you logged in and malware was already running, and the only thing you did was open an archive someone emailed you.

In July 2025, ESET researchers spotted a file called msedge.dll sitting inside a RAR archive, in a folder path that made no sense. That odd path turned out to be a brand new flaw in WinRAR, and someone was already using it in attacks while it was still unknown. That was last summer, and it has not stopped since.

Path Traversal on HackingPassion.com : root@HackingPassion.com-[~]

WinRAR Can Still Drop Malware Into Your Startup Folder a Year After the Patch