Symantec pcAnywhere Format String Denial of Service

SYMSA1171
Last Updated March 17, 2009
Initial Publication Date March 17, 2009
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  • Status: Closed
  • Severity: Medium
  • CVSS Base Score: 4.6

Symantec pcAnywhere is susceptible to a format string vulnerability. An authorized local user may potentially leverage this to crash the pcAnywhere application, leading to a denial of service. 

Product

Version

Build

Solution

Symantec pcAnywhere

12.0, 12.1, 12.5

All

Upgrade to 12.5 SP1

Note: Only the versions listed above are supported. Customers running non-supported versions should upgrade to the above mentioned non-vulnerable version.

Severity

Medium

Remote Access (adjacent network)

No

Local Access

Yes

Authentication Required

No

Exploit available

No

Details

  Layered Defense informed Symantec of a format string vulnerability in Symantec pcAnywhere. This issue can be exploited by a malicious user to crash the application causing a denial of service. Successful exploitation requires local machine access. 

Symantec Response

Symantec engineers verified this issue exists on those supported products identified above. Product updates are available for supported affected products. 

Symantec is not aware of any customers impacted by this issue, or of any attempts to exploit it. 

Information on downloading and applying the upgrade is available from the following locations: 

For Enterprise, Small & Mid-Sized Business (SMB) - Download the update from your normal support location 

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/on-technology.nsf/docid/2009030207022460?Open&seg=ent 

or, use the LiveUpdate option, if authorized, to install this update 

Home and Home Office - 

pcAnywhere users who regularly run LiveUpdate should automatically receive an updated (non-vulnerable) version. To ensure all available updates have been applied, users can run a manual LiveUpdate as follows:

  • Open the Symantec pcAnywhere application
  • Click LiveUpdate
  • Run LiveUpdate until all available product updates are downloaded and installed
  • A system reboot may be required before the update takes affect

 

Best Practices

 As part of normal best practices, Symantec strongly recommends: 

  • Restrict access to administration or management systems to privileged users.
  • Restrict remote access, if required, to trusted/authorized systems only.
  • Run under the principle of least privilege where possible to limit the impact of exploit by threats.
  • Keep all operating systems and applications updated with the latest vendor patches.
  • Follow a multi-layered approach to security. Run both firewall and anti-malware applications, at a minimum, to provide multiple points of detection and protection to both inbound and outbound threats.
  • Deploy network and host-based intrusion detection systems to monitor network traffic for signs of anomalous or suspicious activity. This may aid in detection of attacks or malicious activity related to exploitation of latent vulnerabilities

Symantec would like to thank Deral Heiland with Layered Defense for reporting this issue and coordinating with us while Symantec resolved it. 

SecurityFocus, http://www.securityfocus.com, has assigned BID 33845 to this issue. 

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE), http://cve.mitre.org/, initiative has assigned CVE Candidate number CVE-2009-0538 to this issue. 

Legacy ID: SYM09-003

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