mwac.sys BSOD multiple times

[Buzzman25]

It's super rare to see the infamous BSOD these days, but I've had it happen several times now. I have attached the MBST file I've seen requested in other threads.

mbst-grab-results.zip

[Malwarebytes]

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[exile360]

Greetings,

I'm sorry that you are experiencing problems with the software but hopefully the issue will be resolved soon.  In the meantime, if you haven't already seen it, I would recommend taking a look at this topic, in particular this post and the subsequent conversation that follows there.  It appears that the Malwarebytes Developers are aware of the issue and are investigating a fix which will be included in a future release, though unfortunately I have no ETA on when the fix/release will be available.

You have a couple of options to work around the issue, assuming it is the same one being reported in the other thread I linked to, which are covered in the post in the second link I posted above.  With that said, I looked at your logs and you appear to be running Avast AV and I am aware of some recent reports of issues with recent versions of Avast and Malwarebytes on some systems so it may be worth testing to see if disabling or removing Avast resolves the issue, and if it does, try to narrow down the issue to a single module/component of Avast to see if just that single component can be disabled or if exclusions can be created in Avast for Malwarebytes' files and processes to prevent the BSODs from occurring.  The list of items to exclude for Malwarebytes can be found in this support article and it may also prove helpful to exclude Avast's primary program folder (likely located under C:\Program Files and/or C:\Program Files (x86)) along with Avast's primary data folder which is likely located under C:\ProgramData from Malwarebytes using the method described under the Allow a file or folder section of this support article.

Please let us know how it goes and if you are able to successfully determine the cause of the BSODs.

Thanks

[LiquidTension]

Hi @Buzzman25,

Thanks for the report. You've encountered a different bugcheck to the other BSODs reported.

To confirm if your BSOD has the same underlying root cause, could you zip up and provide us with the C:\Windows\MEMORY.dmp file please.

Thank you!

[Buzzman25]

@LiquidTension I was really afraid that you were going to ask for that. I hope you find what you're looking for in that 10 GB file. Oh thank goodness, zipping dropped it down to 2.7 GB! I hope you find what you're looking for in that file.

[Buzzman25]

In Guilty Spark Voice: " I am a Genious!"

Trying to format my last post while the file was uploading I ended up pressing CTRL+Enter and posted the last one. Here is the file:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1rrzs_SuGCalgXYHgNcmDfKocXqk8Y4tX

[LiquidTension]

Thank you for the dump. We're reviewing the data now.

In the meantime, could you provide some additional information:

• How often does the BSOD occur? Are you able to reproduce it on-demand?
• Are there particular triggers of it or is it seemingly random? Any potential correlation with certain activities that result in it occurring?
• When the BSODs occurred previously, were you connected to a VPN?
• When did this first start occurring? Were any significant changes made around this time?

Are you able to temporarily uninstall Avast, reboot and check if the BSOD persists? This is always the best approach to ruling out (or confirming) if third-party Anti-Virus software is involved.

Edited March 6, 2020 by LiquidTension

[Buzzman25]

How often does the BSOD occur? Are you able to reproduce it on-demand?

• Most of my crashes have been when playing Final Fantasy XIV. With how long the crash reporting takes each time it happens, I have not tried different scenarios.

Are there particular triggers of it or is it seemingly random? Any potential correlation with certain activities that result in it occurring?

• The last three times I think it has been when I tab out of FFXIV and open another program.

When the BSODs occurred previously, were you connected to a VPN?

• Nope, no VPN. I have recently started using a Pi-hole.

When did this first start occurring? Were any significant changes made around this time?

• I don't remember the date I started using a Pi-hole, but the first minidump was on 2/12/2020 so that could be around the time I changed my computer's DNS lookup.

[Buzzman25]

@LiquidTension I missed the second part of your request about uninstalling Avast. I just did it, restarted, went to play FFXIV and I still managed to crash with mwac.sys.

[LiquidTension]

Thank you for this information.

The dump file provided indicates the MWAC driver is crashing due to one of its internal data structures being corrupted. Unfortunately, there's not enough information to pinpoint the cause but this is typically indicative of interference from other installed software.

From the logs, we can see you also have GlassWire installed, which is another potential factor involved.

Could you try performing a clean boot and see if the issue is still exhibited.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/929135/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows

When performing it, ensure Malwarebytes Service is left as checked/enabled. Afterwards, please check if the BSOD occurs using the same scenario.

-----

Regarding the changes made to use Pi-hole - would it be possible to temporarily reverse these changes for the purpose of troubleshooting and check if this has any impact on the issue?

Edited March 9, 2020 by LiquidTension

[Buzzman25]

Hi @LiquidTension,

I found the app that was causing all my BSOD's. I've been turning things on and off trying different things and nothing changed what was happening. However, whenever I run my app  with Malwarebytes and Final Fantasy XIV running after a time something triggers in the memory and I get my BSOD. As long as I run my app, do what I need to do, and then close said app, I can avoid the whole system halting. It's not the ideal solution but at least it works.

I tried removing the Pi-hole from the equation as well and nothing changed. The app keeps causing the BSOD.

[LiquidTension]

Hi Buzzman25,

Thanks for the update.

Are you able to provide additional details on this application? We'd like to investigate the issue further ourselves and see if this is something we addresses in Web protection.

[Buzzman25]

Hi LiquidTension,

To avoid breaking a TOS agreement I will send you a PM.

[LiquidTension]

Thank you once again for the information and report.