SUMMARY

Three vulnerabilities have been discovered in the Symantec Scan Engine. Symantec Scan Engine is a TCP/IP server and programming interface that enables third parties to incorporate support for Symantec content scanning technologies into their proprietary applications. This gateway-level product should not be confused with Symantec’s desktop product.
 

Risk Impact
Medium

AFFECTED PRODUCTS

ISSUES

The Symantec Scan Engine fails to properly authenticate web-based user logins. Anyone with knowledge of the underlying communication mechanism can control the Scan Engine server.

Symantec Scan Engine uses a static private DSA key for SSL communications. This key cannot be changed by end users and is easily extracted. This opens the product to a potential man-in-the-middle attack.

There is a vulnerability in Symantec Scan Engine that allows unauthenticated remote users to download any file located under the Symantec Scan Engine installation directory. For instance, the configuration file, the scanning logs, and the current virus definitions can all be accessed by any remote user using regular or specially crafted HTTP requests.

MITIGATION

Symantec Response
Symantec Engineers have verified these issues and have added fixes to the latest product update (5.1). Symantec strongly recommends all customers immediately apply the latest updates for their supported product versions to protect against these types of threats. Symantec is unaware of any adverse customer impact from these issues. There are no known publicly available exploits.

Upgrade Information
Symantec Scan Engine updates are available through the Platinum Support Web Site for Platinum customers or through the FileConnect - Electronic Software Distribution web site for all licensed users.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Symantec would like to thank Rapid7 for reporting this issue and for providing coordination while Symantec resolved it