Security Advisories Relating to Symantec Products - Symantec Veritas VRTSweb remote code execution, escalation of privilege

Revision History

02/16/2010 – Updated Storage Foundation platform versions

Severity

High

Remote Access	Yes (Adjacent Network)
Local Access	No
Authentication Required	No
Exploit publicly available	No

Overview

Symantec VRTSweb, a shared component shipped with many Symantec Veritas products, is susceptible to a remote code execution vulnerability.

Affected Products



Product	Version	Platform	Solution
Symantec Backup Exec Continuous Protection Server (CPS)	11d, 12.0, 12.5	All supported platforms	Apply hotfix
Symantec Veritas NetBackup Operations Manager (NOM)	6.0 GA – 6.5.5	All supported platforms	Apply workaround
Symantec Veritas Backup Reporter (VBR)	6.0 GA – 6.6	All supported platforms	Apply workaround
Symantec Veritas Storage Foundation (SF)	4.1 (Linux)5.0 onwards(AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris)	All supported platforms	For 4.1 (Linux): Apply workaround For 5.0 onwards: Apply workaround
Symantec Veritas Storage Foundation for Windows High Availability (SFWHA)	5.0, 5.0RP1a, 5.0RP2, 5.1, 5.1AP1	Windows 2000, Windows 2003, Windows 2008	For 5.0, 5.0RP1a, 5.0RP2: Apply patch   For 5.1, 5.1AP1: Apply patch
Symantec Veritas Storage Foundation for High Availability (SFHA)	4.1 (Linux), 5.0 onwards (AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris)	All supported platforms	For 4.1 (Linux): Apply workaround   For 5.0 onwards: Apply patch
Symantec Veritas Storage Foundation for Oracle (SFO)	4.1 (Linux), 5.0 (AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris) 5.0.1 (HP-UX)	All supported platforms	For 4.1 (Linux): Apply workaround   For 5.0 onwards: Apply patch
Symantec Veritas Storage Foundation for DB2	4.1 (Linux), 5.0 onwards (AIX, Linux, Solaris)	All supported platforms	For 4.1 (Linux): Apply workaround   For 5.0 onwards: Apply patch
Symantec Veritas Storage Foundation for Sybase	5.0	Solaris	Apply patch
Symantec Veritas Storage Foundation for Oracle Real Application Cluster (SFRAC)	4.1 (Linux), 5.0 (AIX, HP -UX,Linux Solaris)	All supported platforms	For 4.1 (Linux): Apply workaround   For 5.0 onwards: Apply patch
Symantec Veritas Storage Foundation Manager (SFM)	1.0, 1.0 MP1, 1.1, 1.1.1Ux, 1.1.1Win, 2.0	Solaris 9, Solaris 10, RHEL 5, Windows Server 2003 Standard Server	Upgrade to 2.1
Symantec Veritas Cluster Server (VCS)	4.1 (Linux), 5.0 onwards (AIX, HP -UX, Linux, Solaris)	All supported platforms	For 4.1 (Linux): Apply workaround   For 5.0 onwards: Apply patch
Symantec Veritas Cluster Server One (VCSOne)	2.0, 2.0.1, 2.0.2	Solaris 9, Solaris 10, RHEL 5	Apply patch
Symantec Veritas Application Director (VAD)	1.1, 1.1 Platform Expansion	Solaris 9, Solaris 10, RHEL 5	Apply patch
Symantec Veritas Cluster Server Management Console (VCSMC)	5.1, 5.5, 5.5.1	Solaris, Linux, Windows	Apply patch
Symantec Veritas Storage Foundation Cluster File System (SFCFS)	4.1 (Linux), 5.0 (AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris)	All supported platforms	For 4.1 (Linux): Apply workaround   For 5.0 onwards: Apply patch
Symantec Veritas Storage Foundation Cluster File System for Oracle RAC (SFCFS RAC)	5.0 (Linux)	Linux	Apply patch
Symantec Veritas Command Central Storage (CCS)	4.3, 5.0, 5.1	All supported platforms	Upgrade to 5.1.1
Symantec Veritas Command Central Enterprise Reporter (CC-ER)	5.0 GA, 5.0 MP1, 5.0 MP1RP1, 5.1	All supported platforms	Apply workaround
Symantec Veritas Command Central Storage Change Manager (CC-SCM)	5.0, 5.1	All supported platforms	Upgrade to 5.1.1
Symantec Veritas MicroMeasure	5.0	All supported platforms	Contact support

NOTE:

• Product versions prior to those listed above are NOT supported. Customers running legacy product versions should upgrade and apply available updates.
• Only the versions listed above are affected.
• Symantec Veritas NetBackup PureDisk is not vulnerable in the default configuration
• Symantec Veritas NetBackup RealTime Protection is not vulnerable in the default configuration

Details

Tipping Point ZDI notified Symantec of a remote code execution vulnerability in the Symantec VERITAS VRTSweb shared component shipped with multiple Symantec products. This vulnerability is caused by failure to properly validate incoming data over port 14300. If successful, an attacker could potentially leverage this issue to execute arbitrary code with administrative privileges on the targeted system.

Symantec Response

Symantec engineers have verified that the vulnerability exists in all currently supported versions of VRTSweb. This vulnerability has been addressed in all supported versions. Symantec engineers did additional reviews and will continue to on-going review of related functionality to further enhance overall security of the VRTSweb module and to eliminate any additional potential concerns.

Symantec is not aware of any attempts to exploit this issue, or of any customers impacted by it.

Symantec recommends that customers update affected products (refer the table above for update details) as soon as possible to protect against potential attempts to exploit this issue.

Update information

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

Symantec Command Central Storage updates are available through the FileConnect -Electronic Software Distribution web site.

Mitigations/Workarounds

• Block all incoming requests on default port 14300 (or the port that has been configured), except the ones that come from localhost/127.0.0.1, to reduce the risk associated with this vulnerability until the recommended fix is applied.
  
  (or)
  
  
• Shutdown VRTSweb (which will disable web-UI functionality that depends on it) using following commands (without the quotes):
  (a) “/opt/VRTSweb/bin/webgui stop” on Unix/Linux
  (b) “service vrtsweb stop” in cmd shell on Windows

Symantec has released an IPS/IDS signature, with id. “23335 TCP VRTSWeb Remote Code Exec”, to detect and block attempts to exploit this vulnerability. Signature is available through normal update channels.

Best Practices

As part of normal best practice, Symantec recommends the following:

• Turn off file-sharing if not needed. If file sharing is required, use ACLs' and password protection to limit file or folder/directory access. Disable anonymous access to shared folders. Grant access only to user accounts with strong passwords to folders that must be shared.
• Keep all systems and applications updated with the latest vendor patches. This is especially important on computers that host public services such as HTTP, FTP, DNS and mail.
• 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

References

SecurityFocus, http://www.securityfocus.com, has assigned BID 37012 to this issue. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE), http://cve.mitre.org/, initiative has assigned CVE Candidate number CVE-2009-3027 to this issue.

Credit

An anonymous finder reported this through TippingPoint’s ZeroDay Initiative. Symantec would like to thank TippingPoint ZDI for reporting this issue and providing co-ordination while Symantec resolved it.