SUMMARY

Symantec became aware of a potential Cross-site scripting vulnerability in the Symantec Gateway Security (SGS) 5400 Series products. SGS 5400 Series includes a Web based management console using https. The SGS 5400 product fails to properly check and parse HTML tags in URLs included in error or blocked page messages returned to the client.

An attacker could potentially embed malicious scripts in the URL, which the client would execute in the context of the site specified in the URL, in the event of an error or blocked page message being returned.

AFFECTED PRODUCTS

Symantec Gateway Security 5400 Series 2.0

ISSUES

Details
Cross-site scripting vulnerabilities are Web based attacks that target execution on the browser used to connect to the Web server. SGS 5400 Series includes a Web based management console using https that fails to properly check and parse HTML tags in URLs in error or blocked page messages returned to the requesting client.

This type of attack requires additional input into the data stream by a malicious party such as a trojan horse which resides on the desktop PC. If the desktop is then used to manage the security gateway, a URL may be generated which is outside the bounds of management. For example, it may specify unavailable links or be incorrectly formatted. The security gateway will reject this URL, but in so doing will return the offending URL to the browser without proper validation. The client browser, depending on configuration, may then act on the malicious content embedded in the URL.

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) initiative has assigned the name CAN-2004-0192 to this issue.

This is a candidate for inclusion in the CVE list (http://cve.mitre.org), which standardizes names for security problems.

MITIGATION

Symantec Response
Symantec has released a hotfix to address the matter by properly parsing the return message to exclude the requested, but errant, URL.

Symantec recommends customers apply hotfix bundle SG8000-20040130-00 to address this matter. This hotfix is available through the Symantec Enterprise Support site.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Symantec appreciates the participation of Raytheon in identifying the areas of concern to Symantec. For more information about Raytheon, visit their website at http://www.raytheon.com. If you have information on security issues regarding Symantec products, please contact [email protected].

REVISION

Revision History
03/03/2004 - Add CVE Candidate name