SUMMARY

Symantec products that ship with the Verity KeyView Filter have updated the module to address multiple security issues being reported in the content filter processing of specifically crafted document formats. 

 

AFFECTED PRODUCTS

NOTE: Symantec Mail Security for SMTP 5.x has reached End-of-Life (EOL) and will no longer be updated. Customers still running SMS for SMTP 5.x are urged to transition to the Symantec Brightmail Gateway Appliance and apply all available updates. 
 

ADDITIONAL PRODUCT INFORMATION

Products Not Affected

ISSUES

Severity

Low to High (dependent on how specific products utilize the KeyView Filter) 

NOTE: Many affected Symantec products currently run Autonomy’s Verity KeyView Filter out-of-process with limited privileges further reducing the impact of this issue. 

MITIGATION

Details

Secunia Research notified Symantec of multiple vulnerabilities identified in DLLs contained in Autonomy’s Verity KeyView Filter shipped and installed with the identified Symantec products. These vulnerabilities can potentially be targeted during the content filtering process run against incoming specifically formatted files. Attempted exploitation results, depending on the product involved in the processing, range from no impact to a crash of the child process with negligible impact, an application crash or, an attack could potentially result in a compromise of the system. 

 

Symantec Response

Symantec product engineers verified the reported issues. Symantec engineers worked closely with Autonomy to identify any additional areas that could present possible security concerns and obtain updates for all the identified issues. 

In the Symantec Brightmail Gateway, Symantec Mail Security Appliance and Symantec Data Loss Prevention products the Verity KeyView Filter processes have been separated from the Symantec application processes (out-of-process) running with limited privileges. This out-of-process method specifically addresses these types of security concerns so the vulnerabilities cannot be exploited. Any attempt to exploit the Verity KeyView Filter results in process termination of the offending thread and an error message generated to and handled by the specific application(s). However, since the current installed version of the Verity Filter is affected, a non-vulnerable version of the Verity Filter in Symantec DLP is being made available to customers as indicated. An updated version of the Verity Filter will be incorporated into future releases of Symantec Brightmail Gateway, but no action is needed by customers at this time. 

Symantec IM Manager does NOT use the vulnerable content filtering process of the Verity Filter and is not vulnerable to these identified issues. However, Symantec IM Manager currently ships with a vulnerable version of the Verity Filter. An update to the Verity Filter is available to IM Manager customers. 

Symantec Mail Security for Domino runs the Verity Filter out-of-process by default preventing attack attempts from crashing the application. However, the process runs at the same privilege as the application which could potentially allow a privileged compromise in a successful exploit attempt. Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange runs the Verity Filter as part of the application process which could potentially result in a denial of service crashing the application or possibly a privileged compromise in the event of a successful exploit. Customers running SMSDom or SMSME should update to the non-vulnerable versions identified above or implement the workarounds described below until updates can be deployed. 

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 that do not utilize the Content Filtering capabilities of the product are not susceptible to this issue. SMS for Domino 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 that do not utilize the Content Filtering capabilities of the product are not susceptible. SMS for Microsoft Exchange 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 for SMTP 
Risk from this vulnerability is limited to installations of SMS for SMTP (End of Life) prior to SMS for SMTP 5.0.1 patch level 189 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 (End of Life) until customers can update to Symantec Brightmail Gateway: 
 

• 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 . . ." 

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

Symantec credits and thanks Carsten Eiram and Dyon Balding, Secunia Research, for identifying these issues to Symantec and working with us as they were resolved. 

 

REFERENCES

Security Focus, http://www.securityfocus.com, has assigned Bugtraq ID (BID) 41928 to identify these issues for inclusion in the Security Focus vulnerability database. 

REVISION

9 Aug, 2010 – Revised affected/non-affected information for Symantec Brightmail Gateway and Symantec Mail Security for SMTP Appliance