Symantec and Norton Security Products Contain Critical Vulnerabilities

[mpainesyd]

I just came across this US-CERT alert:
https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/alerts/TA16-187A

Original release date: July 05, 2016
Overview
Symantec and Norton branded antivirus products contain multiple vulnerabilities. Some of these products are in widespread use throughout government and industry. Exploitation of these vulnerabilities could allow a remote attacker to take control of an affected system.

...
A heap overflow vulnerability in the ASPack unpacker could allow an unauthenticated remote attacker to gain root privileges on Linux or OSX platforms. The vulnerability can be triggered remotely using a malicious file (via email or link) with no user interaction.
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How ironic!

This does not seem to have been picked up by Mac news websites.

 

[old-wiz]

I would never install anything from Symantec/Norton on any machine; so I don't worry about this.

 

[maflynn]

This does not seem to have been picked up by Mac news websites.

Maybe because most Mac users hate symantec and avoid it like the plague

 

[997440]

6/28/16 blog entry by Tavis Ormandy regarding Symantec/Norton :

.....These vulnerabilities are as bad as it gets. They don’t require any user interaction, they affect the default configuration, and the software runs at the highest privilege levels possible. In certain cases on Windows, vulnerable code is even loaded into the kernel, resulting in remote kernel memory corruption.


As Symantec use the same core engine across their entire product line, all Symantec and Norton branded antivirus products are affected by these vulnerabilities, including:

• Norton Security, Norton 360, and other legacy Norton products (All Platforms)
• Symantec Endpoint Protection (All Versions, All Platforms)
• Symantec Email Security (All Platforms)
• Symantec Protection Engine (All Platforms)
• Symantec Protection for SharePoint Servers
• And so on.

.....

https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2016/06/how-to-compromise-enterprise-endpoint.html

 

[ProTruckDriver]

Time to look for a new CEO Again for Symantec.