CVE-2007-3699 in Norton AntiVirus
Summary
by MITRE
The Decomposer component in multiple Symantec products allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite loop) via a certain value in the PACK_SIZE field of a RAR archive file header.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/15/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2007-3699 resides within the Decomposer component of various Symantec security products, representing a critical denial of service weakness that can be exploited remotely. This flaw specifically targets the handling of RAR archive files, where an attacker can manipulate the PACK_SIZE field within the archive file header to trigger an infinite loop condition in the decompression process. The affected Symantec products include multiple security solutions that process compressed files, making this vulnerability particularly concerning for organizations relying on these protection mechanisms.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation within the RAR file parsing logic. When the Decomposer component encounters a malformed RAR archive with a specially crafted PACK_SIZE value, it fails to properly validate the field contents before attempting decompression operations. This validation failure creates a condition where the decompression algorithm enters an infinite loop, consuming system resources and rendering the affected Symantec product unavailable for legitimate operations. The vulnerability operates at the file format parsing level, making it difficult to detect through traditional network monitoring since the malicious payload is embedded within the compressed file structure itself.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption, as it can be leveraged to exhaust system resources and potentially cause cascading failures within security infrastructure. Attackers can craft malicious RAR files that, when processed by affected Symantec products, will cause the decompression engine to hang indefinitely, effectively denying service to legitimate users. This vulnerability is particularly dangerous in environments where automated security scanning or file processing is employed, as it can lead to complete system unresponsiveness and may require manual intervention to restore normal operations. The infinite loop condition typically consumes CPU resources at 100% utilization, making the affected system unavailable for other security functions.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on implementing strict input validation and boundary checking within the decompression components of Symantec products. Organizations should ensure immediate patching of affected systems through official Symantec security updates, as the vendor would have released specific fixes addressing the PACK_SIZE field validation issue. Network security controls should include the implementation of file type filtering and content inspection to prevent potentially malicious RAR files from reaching systems with vulnerable decompression components. Additionally, implementing sandboxing mechanisms for processing untrusted compressed files can provide an additional layer of protection. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-129, which describes improper validation of input boundaries, and could be categorized under ATT&CK technique T1499.004 for network denial of service attacks. The remediation approach should also include monitoring for unusual CPU utilization patterns and implementing automated alerting for decompression engine resource consumption anomalies.