CVE-2020-5833 in Endpoint Protection Manager
Summary
by MITRE
Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager, prior to 14.3, may be susceptible to an out of bounds vulnerability, which is a type of issue that results in an existing application reading memory outside of the bounds of the memory that had been allocated to the program.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/12/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-5833 affects Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager versions prior to 14.3, representing a critical out-of-bounds memory access flaw that could potentially compromise system integrity and availability. This type of vulnerability falls under the broader category of memory safety issues that have been extensively documented in cybersecurity literature and are commonly classified as CWE-125: "Out-of-bounds Read" within the Common Weakness Enumeration framework. The vulnerability stems from insufficient bounds checking mechanisms within the application's memory management routines, specifically within the Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager's processing of certain data structures or input parameters.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs when the application processes malformed or specially crafted input data that triggers a memory access operation beyond the allocated buffer boundaries. This flaw allows an attacker to potentially read memory locations that should remain inaccessible to the application, creating opportunities for information disclosure, denial of service, or even remote code execution depending on the specific implementation details. The out-of-bounds read condition typically manifests when the application fails to validate input parameters or buffer sizes before performing memory operations, which is a fundamental security oversight that violates secure coding practices established by industry standards such as the OWASP Secure Coding Practices and the CERT Secure Coding Standards.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risks to enterprise environments that rely on Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager for security operations, as it could enable attackers to extract sensitive information from memory, potentially including authentication credentials, system configurations, or other confidential data. The impact extends beyond simple information disclosure, as the memory corruption could lead to application crashes or instability, resulting in denial of service conditions that would affect endpoint protection capabilities. Organizations using vulnerable versions of the software face potential compromise of their security infrastructure, particularly in environments where the manager serves as a central point for security policy enforcement and threat detection across multiple endpoints.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2020-5833 primarily involve upgrading to Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager version 14.3 or later, which includes patches addressing the out-of-bounds memory access issue through proper bounds checking implementations. Security administrators should also implement network segmentation and access controls to limit exposure of the vulnerable manager to untrusted networks, while monitoring for anomalous behavior that might indicate exploitation attempts. Additionally, organizations should conduct thorough vulnerability assessments to identify other potential memory safety issues within their security infrastructure and implement comprehensive application security testing including static analysis, dynamic analysis, and fuzzing techniques to identify similar vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by malicious actors. The ATT&CK framework categorizes such vulnerabilities under T1210: "Exploitation of Remote Services" and T1005: "Data from Local System" as potential attack vectors that could be leveraged by threat actors to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information and system resources.