Symantec Anti-Virus Engine up to 20151.1.0.32 aspack File SizeOfRawData Kernel resource management

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8.6$0-$5k0.00

A vulnerability was found in Symantec Anti-Virus Engine up to 20151.1.0.32 (Anti-Malware Software). It has been declared as very critical. This vulnerability affects an unknown functionality of the component aspack File Handler. The manipulation of the argument SizeOfRawData with an unknown input leads to a resource management vulnerability (Kernel). The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-399. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

The kernel component in Symantec Anti-Virus Engine (AVE) 20151.1 before 20151.1.1.4 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory access violation and system crash) via a malformed PE header file.

The bug was discovered 05/16/2016. The weakness was shared 05/06/2016 by Tavis Ormandy (taviso) with Google as Issue 820 / SYM16-008 as confirmed advisory (Blogspot). The advisory is shared for download at googleprojectzero.blogspot.com. The vendor cooperated in the coordination of the public release. This vulnerability was named CVE-2016-2208 since 02/02/2016. The attack can be initiated remotely. No form of authentication is required for a successful exploitation. Technical details and also a public exploit are known. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 07/20/2019). This vulnerability has a historic impact due to its background and reception. The advisory points out:

ASPack is commercial packing software that’s been around for a long time, and Symantec has dedicated unpackers for a few older versions. Reviewing Symantec’s unpacker, we noticed a trivial buffer overflow when a section’s SizeOfRawData field is greater than SizeOfImage. When this happens, Symantec will allocate SizeOfImage bytes and then memcpy all available data into the buffer.

A public exploit has been developed by Tavis Ormandy (taviso) in Assembler and been published immediately after the advisory. It is possible to download the exploit at bugs.chromium.org. It is declared as proof-of-concept. As 0-day the estimated underground price was around $25k-$100k. The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 91261 (Symantec Antivirus Engine 20151.1.0.32 Malformed PE Header Parser Memory Access Violation (SYM16-008)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment. It is assigned to the family Windows and running in the context l. The code used by the exploit is:

VirtualAddress      equ 0x10000-0x08    ; VirtualAddress of section data, offset where copy starts.
SizeOfImage         equ 0x12000-0x0C    ; Size you want to allocate.
SectionPadding      equ 0x2000          ; SizeOfImage-VirtualAddress

    ; Section Headers
    db ".data", 0, 0, 0                 ; Name
    dd 0                                ; VirtualSize
    dd VirtualAddress                   ; VirtualAddress
    dd 0xffffffff                       ; SizeOfRawData
    dd __data                           ; PointerToRawData
    dd 0                                ; PointerToRelocations
    dd 0                                ; PointerToLinenumbers
    dw 0                                ; NumberOfRelocations
    dw 0                                ; NumberOfLinenumbers
    dd 0                                ; Characteristics
The advisory illustrates:
On Linux, Mac and other UNIX platforms, this results in a remote heap overflow as root in the Symantec or Norton process. On Windows, this results in kernel memory corruption, as the scan engine is loaded into the kernel (wtf!!!), making this a remote ring0 memory corruption vulnerability - this is about as bad as it can possibly get.

Applying the patch 20151.1.1.4 is able to eliminate this problem. The problem might be mitigated by replacing the product with F-Secure, Kaspersky, McAfee, Panda or Sophos as an alternative. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be patching the affected component. A possible mitigation has been published 2 weeks after the disclosure of the vulnerability. Furthermore it is possible to detect and prevent this kind of attack with TippingPoint and the filter 24993.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (91261) and Exploit-DB (39835). Additional details are provided at theregister.co.uk.

Affected

  • Symantec Cloud/NAS Protection Engine
  • Symantec Email Security
  • Symantec Endpoint (Mac, Windows, Linux, UNIX)
  • Symantec Norton Antivirus (Mac, Windows)
  • Symantec Protection for SharePoint/Exchange/Notes
  • Symantec Scan Engine

Productinfo

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License

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

Video

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CVSSv4info

VulDB CVSS-B Score: 🔍
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CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 9.6
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 9.0

VulDB Base Score: 10.0
VulDB Temp Score: 9.0
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 9.1
NVD Vector: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
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VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
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VulDB Base Score: 🔍
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Exploitinginfo

Name: Kernel
Class: Resource management / Kernel
CWE: CWE-399 / CWE-404
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔍
Access: Public
Status: Proof-of-Concept
Author: Tavis Ormandy (taviso)
Programming Language: 🔍
Download: 🔍

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

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Nessus ID: 91261
Nessus Name: Symantec Antivirus Engine 20151.1.0.32 Malformed PE Header Parser Memory Access Violation (SYM16-008)
Nessus File: 🔍
Nessus Risk: 🔍
Nessus Family: 🔍
Nessus Context: 🔍

OpenVAS ID: 800985
OpenVAS Name: Symantec Antivirus Engine Denial of Service Vulnerability (Windows)
OpenVAS File: 🔍
OpenVAS Family: 🔍

Exploit-DB: 🔍

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
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Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Patch
Status: 🔍

Reaction Time: 🔍
0-Day Time: 🔍
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Exploit Delay Time: 🔍

Patch: 20151.1.1.4
Alternative: F-Secure/Kaspersky/McAfee/Panda/Sophos
TippingPoint: 🔍

McAfee IPS: 🔍
McAfee IPS Version: 🔍

Timelineinfo

02/02/2016 🔍
05/06/2016 +94 days 🔍
05/06/2016 +0 days 🔍
05/16/2016 +10 days 🔍
05/16/2016 +0 days 🔍
05/16/2016 +0 days 🔍
05/16/2016 +0 days 🔍
05/16/2016 +0 days 🔍
05/17/2016 +1 days 🔍
05/17/2016 +0 days 🔍
05/18/2016 +1 days 🔍
05/19/2016 +1 days 🔍
05/19/2016 +0 days 🔍
07/20/2019 +1157 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: symantec.com

Advisory: Issue 820 / SYM16-008
Researcher: Tavis Ormandy (taviso)
Organization: Google
Status: Confirmed
Confirmation: 🔍
Coordinated: 🔍

CVE: CVE-2016-2208 (🔍)
OVAL: 🔍

SecurityTracker: 1035903
Vulnerability Center: 59440 - Symantec Antivirus Engine Remote Code Execution via Malformed Portable-Executable Header Files, Critical
SecurityFocus: 90653 - Symantec Antivirus Engine CVE-2016-2208 Memory Corruption Vulnerability

scip Labs: https://www.scip.ch/en/?labs.20161013
Misc.: 🔍

Entryinfo

Created: 05/18/2016 11:27
Updated: 07/20/2019 10:43
Changes: 05/18/2016 11:27 (113), 07/20/2019 10:43 (6)
Complete: 🔍

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