CVE-2013-5009 in Endpoint Protection
Summary
by MITRE
The Management Console in Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) 11.x before 11.0.7.4 and 12.x before 12.1.2 RU2 and Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition 12.x before 12.1.2 RU2 does not properly perform authentication, which allows remote authenticated users to gain privileges by leveraging access to a limited-admin account.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/18/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2013-5009 represents a critical authentication flaw within Symantec Endpoint Protection management infrastructure. This issue affects multiple versions of Symantec's enterprise security solutions including SEP 11.x prior to 11.0.7.4, SEP 12.x prior to 12.1.2 RU2, and Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition 12.x prior to 12.1.2 RU2. The flaw resides in the Management Console component which serves as the central administrative interface for configuring and managing endpoint protection policies across enterprise networks. This authentication bypass vulnerability specifically targets the privilege escalation mechanism that should prevent users from accessing elevated administrative functions beyond their assigned permissions.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from improper authentication validation within the management console's access control system. When authenticated users attempt to perform administrative actions, the system fails to properly verify whether the requesting user possesses sufficient privileges for the requested operation. This authentication failure allows authenticated users with limited administrative privileges to exploit the system's authorization checks and gain access to higher-level administrative functions. The vulnerability specifically affects the privilege escalation process rather than the initial authentication mechanism itself, meaning that attackers must first establish legitimate credentials before exploiting this flaw.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability creates significant security risks for organizations utilizing Symantec Endpoint Protection. Attackers who have obtained access to any authenticated user account, even a limited administrative account, can leverage this flaw to escalate their privileges and gain full administrative control over the endpoint protection management console. This elevated access would allow malicious actors to modify security policies, disable protection features, create backdoors, and potentially compromise the entire endpoint protection infrastructure. The impact extends beyond individual compromised accounts since the management console typically controls security policies for thousands of endpoints across an organization, making this a particularly dangerous vulnerability for enterprise environments.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-285, which addresses improper authorization in software systems, and maps to attack techniques within the MITRE ATT&CK framework under privilege escalation and credential access domains. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the vendor-provided patches and updates for affected versions, implementing network segmentation to limit access to management consoles, and conducting thorough privilege reviews to minimize the number of accounts with administrative access. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing multi-factor authentication for management console access and establishing monitoring controls to detect unauthorized privilege escalation attempts. The affected versions represent a critical security gap that requires immediate attention from security administrators to prevent potential exploitation by threat actors seeking to compromise enterprise security infrastructure.
This vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper access control implementation in enterprise security management systems and highlights the potential for authenticated users to cause significant damage when privilege escalation mechanisms fail. The impact is particularly severe because it affects the centralized management interface that controls security policies for entire organizations, making it a prime target for attackers seeking persistent access to enterprise networks. Organizations should conduct comprehensive security assessments to identify all instances of affected software and ensure complete patch deployment across their infrastructure.