SUMMARY

Symantec products that ship a third-party Autonomy KeyView filter have updated the module to address a vulnerability in the processing of specifically crafted OLE documents reported against the KeyView module.

AFFECTED PRODUCTS

Note: 

The Symantec BrightMail Gateway and Symantec Mail Security for SMTP 5.x.x run the KeyView module out-of-process so there is negligible impact from this issue. However as Symantec Mail Security for SMTP 5.x has reached End-of-Life (EOL), that product will not be updated. Customers still running SMS for SMTP 5.x should transition to the Symantec BrightMail Gateway Appliance and apply all available updates. 

Software update to SBG version 9.0 is ONLY available from systems running SBG version 8.0.3 

Symantec DLP 7.x Enforce/Detection Servers are affected. DLP 7.x Endpoint Agents are NOT affected. 

Symantec DLP customers that need to update Symantec DLP 8.1 Enforce/Detection Servers or Endpoint Agents MUST first update to Symantec DLP v8.1.1. Following application of the v8.1.1 upgrade apply the Symantec DLP 8.1.x hotfixes identified above. 

Symantec IM Manager 2007 customers running versions 8.4.12 and prior (including 8.3.x) should upgrade 8.4.13

ADDITIONAL PRODUCT INFORMATION

Products Not Affected

ISSUES

Severity

Medium 

NOTE: Many of the affected products currently run the Autonomy KeyView module out-of- process with limited privileges further reducing the impact of this issue on most affected Symantec applications

MITIGATION

Details

iDefense Labs notified Symantec of a multi-vendor buffer overflow vulnerability reported against the Autonomy KeyView module shipped and installed with identified Symantec products. The overflow can occur during the processing of incoming specifically formatted OLE documents.

Symantec Response

Symantec product engineers have implemented updates for this issue in all affected product versions. 

In many of the affected Symantec products, the Autonomy KeyView module processes have been separated from the Symantec application processes (handled out-of-process) with very limited privileges on the system. This out-of-process method specifically addresses these types of security concerns. Any attempt to exploit the Autonomy KeyView module results in process termination of the offending thread and an error message generated to and handled by the specific application. 

Symantec knows of no exploitation of or adverse customer impact from these issues.

Update Information

Updates will be available from your normal support/download locations. 

SMS for Domino and Microsoft Exchange updates are available through the Platinum Support Web Site for Platinum customers or through the FileConnect -Electronic Software Distribution web site. 

Symantec DLP updates are available for download through secure file exchange. 

Symantec IM Manager updates are available through the FileConnect -Electronic Software Distribution web site.

Workaround

Temporary Workaround for Symantec Mail Security for Domino 

Installations of SMS for Domino 7.5 and 8.0 that do not utilize the Content Filtering capabilities of the product are not susceptible to this issue. SMS for Domino 7.5 and 8.0 would be susceptible only if the attachment content scanning option is enabled. 

As an interim workaround, administrators unable to upgrade to the recommended solution may disable content filtering rules that contain parameters that specify scanning of attachment content. The rules do not need to be deleted, only disabled until the updated release is installed. 

To disable the content filtering rules for Symantec Mail Security for Domino 

• Select the "Content Filtering" tab to display the list of current enabled rules
• Click on the checkmark to the left of any rules that utilize attachment content filtering, changing it to a red "X", and disabling the rule

Temporary Workaround for Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange 

Installations of SMS for Microsoft Exchange 5.x that do not utilize the Content Filtering capabilities of the product are not susceptible. SMS for Microsoft Exchange 5.x is susceptible only if the attachment content scanning option is enabled. 

As an interim workaround, administrators unable to upgrade to the recommended solution may disable content filtering rules that contain parameters that specify scanning of attachment content. The rules do not need to be deleted, only disabled until the updated release is installed. 

• To disable the content filtering rules for SMS for Microsoft Exchange:
• Select the "Policies" tab and then choose "Content Filtering" to display the list of currently enabled rules
• Ensure that all rules using attachment content are "disabled"

Temporary Workaround for Symantec Mail Security and Symantec Brightmail Gateway 

Risk from this vulnerability is limited on installations of SMS for SMTP and SMS Gateway in which the attachment content scanning option is enabled. However, installations that do not utilize the Content Filtering capabilities of the product are not susceptible to this issue. 

As an interim workaround, administrators unable to upgrade to the recommended solution may disable content filtering rules that contain parameters that specify scanning of attachment content. The rules do not need to be deleted, only disabled until the updated release is installed. 

To disable the content filtering rules for SMS for SMTP and SMS Gateway 5.x: 

• Log into the management console and navigate to:
• Settings >> Email Scanning >> Scanning
• Disable the item "Enable searching of non-plain text attachments for words in dictionaries", by deselecting the checkbox, and saving
• Disable any Compliance policies with a condition "If the Attachment content . . ."
• 
  
  To disable the content filtering rules for SMS/SBM Gateway after 5.x: 
• Log into the management console and navigate to the SMTP Scanning Settings screen
• Disable the item "Enable searching of non-plain text attachments for words in dictionaries", by deselecting the checkbox, and saving
• Disable any Compliance policies with a condition:
  • "If any part of the message matches" (or "does not match") a regular expression, pattern or Record Resource.
  • "If text in Attachment content part of the message . . . "

Temporary Workaround for Symantec IM Manager 

Installations of Symantec IM Manager 2007 which do not use the “Block selected file types” functionality or the entire “File Transfer” functionality are not susceptible to this issue. 

Symantec IM Manager 2007 would be susceptible only if the “Block selected file types” for the File Transfer rule is enabled. 

To disable the “Block selected file types” rules for Symantec IM Manager 2007 

• On the Policies tab, Edit the "File Transfer On/Off” rule to display the various file transfer rules
• Disabled the checkbox against “Block selected file types” and click Submit
• If there are any custom File transfer rules, perform the steps (1) and (2) for each of those rules

Best Practices

As part of normal best practices, Symantec strongly recommends:

• Restrict access to administration or management systems to privileged users.
• Restrict remote access, if required, to trusted/authorized systems only.
• Run under the principle of least privilege where possible to limit the impact of exploit by threats.
• Keep all operating systems and applications updated with the latest vendor patches.
• Follow a multi-layered approach to security. Run both firewall and anti-malware applications, at a minimum, to provide multiple points of detection and protection to both inbound and outbound threats.
• Deploy network and host-based intrusion detection systems to monitor network traffic for signs of anomalous or suspicious activity. This may aid in detection of attacks or malicious activity related to exploitation of latent vulnerabilities

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This issue is credited to Joshua J. Drake with iDefense Labs.

REFERENCES

Security Focus, http://www.securityfocus.com, has assigned a Bugtraq ID (BID) 38468 to this issue for inclusion in the Security Focus vulnerability database. 

This issue is a candidate for inclusion in the CVE list (http://cve.mitre.org), which standardizes names for security problems. CVE-2009-3032 has been assigned to this issue.