===================================================================== CERT-Renater Note d'Information No. 2005/VULN232 _____________________________________________________________________ DATE : 31/03/2005 HARDWARE PLATFORM(S) : / OPERATING SYSTEM(S) : Systems running Symantec Norton products. ====================================================================== SYM05-006 March 28, 2005 Denial of Service in Symantec Norton AntiVirus AutoProtect Revision History None Risk Impact Low Overview Symantec responded to two denial of service (DoS) issues identified in the AutoProtect functionality of the Symantec Norton AntiVirus consumer product. The Information-Technology Promotion Agency-Japan, IPA, reported one situation where a real time scan of a specific file type can cause a system crash, Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), with both Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2004 and 2005 Windows applications. This type of file, while not malicious on its own, could be maliciously introduced either remotely from outside the system through email or over http, or internally by an authorized user to disrupt service on a targeted system. Scanning specific file modifications using the SmartScan feature of AutoProtect in the Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2005 application can cause the other DoS issue reported by the Japan Computer Emergency Response team, JPCERT. Any malicious use of this DoS would require authorized access to the targeted system to implement. Affected Products Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2004 Symantec Norton Internet Security 2004 (Professional) Symantec Norton System Works 2004 (Professional) Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2005 Symantec Norton Internet Security 2005 Symantec Norton System Works 2005 (Premier) Details Issue One: JPCERT reported a DoS, impacting Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2004 and 2005 products, that occurs when the Auto-Protect module of Symantec Norton AntiVirus scans a specific file type. Symantec Auto-Protect module loads in Windows as a virtual device driver. Running in the background, Auto-Protect scans files for viruses, Trojan, and worms. Auto-Protect scans any files that are received from any source, such as the Internet, removable disks, or email attachments and scans any time that files are accessed, such as when a file is copied, moved, run, or opened. Auto-Protect intercepts any run, open, or create activity and scans the file before allowing the action to continue. In the issue, when Auto-Protect was invoked to scan a particular file type, e.g. introduced on a CD, copied and pasted into the system, etc., the resultant scan caused the system to hang and generate a general protection fault error, or BSOD requiring a system reboot to clear. Issue Two: IPA reported a DoS problem that impacts Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2005 products and only when the SmartScan feature of AutoProtect is enabled. SmartScan was developed as an alternative to the "scan all files" feature of NAV Auto-Protect and Manual Scan. SmartScan scans a specific group of file extensions as well as all .exe and .doc files. SmartScan will scan .exe and .doc files even if the file extensions for the .exe and .doc files have been changed. In this instance, under certain circumstances with SmartScan enabled, renaming a file stored on a network share can induce a system crash when the modification kicks off SmartScan. Based on the file write for the name change, SmartScan will be invoked to scan the file, which can result in excess CPU consumption and ultimately a system crash. Symantec Response Symantec product engineers confirmed both issues impacting Symantecs Auto-Protect feature in Symantec Norton AntiVirus and have developed and released a patch for all impacted products through Symantec LiveUpdate. Customers running Automatic LiveUpdate should already be updated. To manually update via Symantec LiveUpdate, users should: * Open any installed Symantec product * Click on LiveUpdate in the toolbar * Run LiveUpdate until all available Symantec product updates are downloaded and installed Symantec is unaware of any adverse customer impact from either of these issues CVE A CVE candidate number will be requested from The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) initiative. This advisory will be revised as required once the CVE candidate number has been assigned. This issue is a candidate for inclusion in the CVE list (http://cve.mitre.org), which standardizes names for security problems. Credit Symantec would like to thank Mr. Isamu Noguchi for working with both the Information-Technology Promotion Agency-Japan and JPCERT in identifying these issues and IPA and JPCERT for notifying Symantec and providing the coordination while Symantec resolved the issues. Symantec takes the security and proper functionality of its products very seriously. As founding members of the Organization for Internet Safety (OISafety), Symantec follows the principles of responsible disclosure. Symantec also subscribes to the vulnerability guidelines outlined by the National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC). Please contact secure@symantec.com if you feel you have discovered a potential or actual security issue with a Symantec product. A Symantec Product Security team member will contact you regarding your submission. Symantec has developed a Product Vulnerability Handling Process document outlining the process we follow in addressing suspected vulnerabilities in our products. We support responsible disclosure of all vulnerability information in a timely manner to protect Symantec customers and the security of the Internet as a result of vulnerability. This document is available from the location provided below. Symantec strongly recommends using encrypted email for reporting vulnerability information to secure@symantec.com. The Symantec Product Security PGP key can be obtained from the location provided below. Symantec-Product-Vulnerability-Response Symantec Vulnerability Response Policy Symantec Product Vulnerability Response PGP Key Symantec Product Vulnerability Response PGP Key Copyright (c) 2005 by Symantec Corp. Permission to redistribute this alert electronically is granted as long as it is not edited in any way unless authorized by Symantec Security Response. Reprinting the whole or part of this alert in any medium other than electronically requires permission from secure@symantec.com. Disclaimer The information in the advisory is believed to be accurate at the time of publishing based on currently available information. Use of the information constitutes acceptance for use in an AS IS condition. There are no warranties with regard to this information. Neither the author nor the publisher accepts any liability for any direct, indirect, or consequential loss or damage arising from use of, or reliance on, this information. Symantec, Symantec products, Symantec Security Response, and SymSecurity are registered trademarks of Symantec Corp. and/or affiliated companies in the United States and other countries. All other registered and unregistered trademarks represented in this document are the sole property of their respective companies/owners. ====================================================================== ========================================================= Les serveurs de référence du CERT-Renater http://www.urec.fr/securite http://www.cru.fr/securite http://www.renater.fr ========================================================= + CERT-RENATER | tel : 01-53-94-20-44 + + 151 bd de l'Hopital | fax : 01-53-94-20-41 + + 75013 Paris | email: certsvp@renater.fr + =========================================================