It's the user's decision to use a product. But let's be clear, suggesting a company shouldn't fix flaws in its own software is a negligent position. When a user grants an application deep access to their computer, they are trusting the developer to maintain it. For a company to ignore that responsibility is a fundamental failure.
That said, I have developed several refined and highly accurate analytical tools that I employ regularly in my research. The following data is an excerpt from a report generated by one of these tools, focusing specifically on verifiable facts identified during a comprehensive review of the findings.
Executive Summary
This report assesses the validity of user claims that Comodo (now Xcitium for its enterprise offerings) fails to properly address Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) and significant usability bugs. Analysis of public vulnerability databases, security journalism, and the company's own user forums reveals a persistent pattern of delayed and inadequate responses. While the company's products, particularly their "auto-containment" technology, are praised by some users for their protective capabilities, evidence indicates significant challenges in vulnerability management and product stability. These shortcomings present a tangible risk to users who may remain exposed to known vulnerabilities for extended periods and face operational friction due to unresolved software flaws. Overall confidence in this assessment is HIGH, based on corroborating evidence from multiple independent sources over several years.
Key Findings (Facts – “The What”)
Finding 1
Multiple CVEs assigned in 2025 for Comodo Internet Security Premium explicitly state the vendor was contacted but did not respond to the disclosure. (Confidence: HIGH)
Finding 2
In July 2019, security research firm Tenable publicly disclosed five vulnerabilities in Comodo Antivirus (including a sandbox escape, CVE-2019-3969) three months after privately reporting them, as patches were not yet available. (Confidence: HIGH)
Finding 3
The official Comodo/Xcitium forums contain a large volume of user-reported bugs, including long-running threads detailing issues like high CPU usage, incompatibility with Windows 11 updates, and networking performance degradation. (Confidence: HIGH)
Finding 4
A curated list of unresolved bugs on the Comodo forum, created by users in January 2021 for version 12.2.2.8012, detailed over 15 significant, confirmed issues that remained unfixed at the time of its posting. (Confidence: MEDIUM)
Finding 5
In September 2019, Comodo's user forums were breached via a known vulnerability in the vBulletin forum software, exposing the data of over 170,000 users. (Confidence: HIGH)
Key Judgments (Analysis – “The So What”)
Judgment 1
It is Highly Likely that Comodo/Xcitium has a systemic issue in its vulnerability management process, characterized by slow patch development and poor communication with security researchers. This increases the risk that users will be exposed to exploitable flaws.
Judgment 2
It is Likely that the volume of usability and compatibility bugs exceeds the company's capacity for timely fixes, leading to a frustrating user experience and potentially causing users to disable security features, undermining the product's effectiveness.
Judgment 3
The company's standard response in its forums, directing users to create private support tickets, Almost Certainly limits public visibility into bug resolution, making it difficult for the user community to track progress and hold the company accountable.
Product Stability and Usability Bugs
The company's official forums paint a clear picture of a user base struggling with persistent usability issues.
High Volume of Complaints
The "Bug Reports" section of the Comodo forums is highly active, with hundreds of topics. Common themes include performance degradation ("CIS Helper hogs CPU"), conflicts with major software (Logitech G Hub, Microsoft Office), broken features ("Wildcards in HIPS rules not working"), and significant compatibility problems with Windows 11 updates.
Lack of Public Resolution
While company moderators do engage in some threads, the standard response is to request that the user run a diagnostic tool and open a private support ticket. This approach prevents other users from seeing the status of a bug, learning of workarounds, or knowing when a fix is implemented, fostering a sense of unresponsiveness in the community. User-created initiatives, such as the "List of current bugs" thread, underscore this frustration and the perceived need for community-driven tracking of unresolved issues.
Analytical Gaps & Limitations
Limitations
This analysis is based entirely on publicly available information. We lack insight into Comodo/Xcitium's internal bug tracking, resource allocation, and patch prioritization processes.
Intelligence Gaps
It is unknown how many vulnerabilities are reported privately and fixed without public disclosure. The exact number of users affected by the reported usability bugs is also unknown.
Source Evaluation
This assessment relies on a combination of highly reliable sources, including the National Vulnerability Database (NVD) (A1), and reporting from established cybersecurity news outlets like Bleeping Computer and PortSwigger (B2). Information from the company's official user forums is also used, while the credibility of individual posts is variable (C3), the collective volume and persistence of complaints provide a reliable indicator of user sentiment and recurring product issues.
Sources
National Vulnerability Database (nvd.nist.gov)
CVE.org (cve.org)
Comodo/Xcitium User Forums (forums.comodo.com / forum.xcitium.com)
"Concern over 'unpatched' Comodo Antivirus flaws," The Daily Swig - PortSwigger, 24 July 2019.
"Comodo Forums Breached, Data of Over 170,000 Users Up for Grabs," Bleeping Computer, 01 October 2019.
"Comodo Internet Security - DLL Preloading and Potential Abuses (CVE-2019-18215)," SafeBreach, 15 November 2019.
Gartner Peer Insights & G2 User Reviews (2022-2024).