CVE-2004-0487 in Norton AntiVirus
Summary
by MITRE
A certain ActiveX control in Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2004 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (resource consumption) and possibly execute arbitrary programs.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/12/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2004-0487 represents a critical security flaw within Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2004's ActiveX control implementation that exposes systems to both denial of service and potential arbitrary code execution attacks. This issue specifically targets the way the ActiveX control handles input validation and resource management, creating exploitable conditions that can be leveraged by remote threat actors. The vulnerability stems from inadequate bounds checking and memory management within the control's code structure, allowing attackers to craft malicious input that triggers unexpected behavior in the affected software components.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through the manipulation of the ActiveX control's parameters during runtime execution. When the control receives malformed or specially crafted input data, it fails to properly validate the incoming parameters, leading to resource exhaustion through infinite loops or memory allocation issues. This flaw aligns with CWE-129, which describes improper validation of array indices and buffer overflows that can result in resource consumption and system instability. The vulnerability's remote exploitability means that attackers can trigger the malicious behavior without requiring local system access, making it particularly dangerous in web-based attack scenarios where ActiveX controls are commonly deployed.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability creates significant risk for organizations relying on Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2004 as their primary endpoint protection solution. The denial of service component can cause system crashes, application freezes, and resource exhaustion that disrupt normal business operations while the potential for arbitrary code execution provides attackers with persistent access to compromised systems. This dual nature of the vulnerability makes it particularly attractive to threat actors seeking to establish footholds within target environments. The attack surface is widened by the widespread deployment of Norton AntiVirus 2004, making numerous systems potentially vulnerable across different organizational sectors.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including disabling the vulnerable ActiveX control through group policy settings or browser security configurations, applying available vendor patches and updates, and implementing network segmentation to limit the potential impact of exploitation attempts. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under T1059.007 for execution through ActiveX controls and T1499.004 for denial of service attacks, highlighting the multi-faceted nature of the threat. Security monitoring should focus on detecting unusual resource consumption patterns and unexpected code execution attempts. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing browser isolation techniques and maintaining up-to-date vulnerability management processes to prevent similar issues from affecting other legacy software components. The vulnerability serves as a reminder of the importance of proper input validation and resource management in software development practices, particularly for components that operate with elevated privileges in endpoint environments.