Revision History
Severity
High
| Remote Access |
Yes
|
|
Local Access
|
No
|
| Authentication Required
|
No
|
| Exploit publicly available
|
No
|
Overview
Symantec’s Altiris Deployment Solution, Notification Server and Symantec Management Platform web consoles install a vulnerable ActiveX control. Exploitation of one of the methods used by this control could possibly lead to unauthorized information disclosure, system information corruption or potentially allow arbitrary code execution in the context of the user’s browser. Successful exploitation would require user interaction to download malicious code.Affected Product(s)
| Product |
Version |
Build |
Solution(s) |
| Symantec Altiris Deployment Solution |
6.9.x |
All |
Apply Hotfix |
| Symantec Altiris Notification Server |
6.0.x |
All |
Apply Hotfix |
| Symantec Management Platform |
7.0.x |
All |
Apply Hotfix |
Details
Symantec ships an ActiveX control, AeXNSConsoleUtilities.dll with a vulnerable method in Symantec’s Altiris Notification Server / Symantec Management Platform and with Symantec’s Altiris Deployment Solution 6.9. The vulnerable control is downloaded during the initial connection to the web console on the management server to enable authorized admin access to the management server. While the control is not intended to be called externally, it fails to sufficently validate/filter user input which could potentially allow unauthorized execution of arbitrary code in the context of the user’s browser on a system that has downloaded this control.A successful attempt to exploit this issue would require the system user to be enticed to download malicious content either through browsing to a malicious web site, internal or external to the network, or potentially through a malicious email that contained HTML or script to call the vulnerable control.Symantec Response
Symantec engineers have verified this finding and released an update to resolve this issue. Symantec is not aware of any customer impact from this issue.
Follow instructions and hotfix provided below:
For Symantec Altiris Notification Server and Symantec Management Platform, Altiris Knowledge Base article 50072, available to customers at
https://kb.altiris.com/article.asp?article=50072&p=1
For Symantec Altiris Deployment Solution, Altiris Knowledge Base article 50279, available to customers at
https://kb.altiris.com/article.asp?article=50279&p=1Mitigations
Symantec Security Response has already released IPS signatures,
23486 - HTTP Altiris Console Utilities AX BO
50239 - MSIE Altiris Console Utilities AX BO
that detect and block attempts to exploit this control. Signatures are available through normal update channels.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
Credit
Symantec would like to thank Sebastien Renaud of VUPEN Vulnerability Research Team
http://www.vupen.com, for reporting this issue and coordinating with us while Symantec resolved it.
References:
Security Focus,
http://www.securityfocus.com, has assigned Bugtraq ID (BID) 37092 to this issue for inclusion in the SecurityFocus vulnerability database.
This issue is a candidate for inclusion in the CVE list (
http://cve.mitre.org), which standardizes names for security problems. CVE-2009-3033 has been assigned to this issue.
Symantec takes the security and proper functionality of our products very seriously. As founding members of the Organization for Internet Safety (OISafety), Symantec supports and follows responsible disclosure
guidelines.
Please contact
secure@symantec.com if you feel you have discovered a security issue in a Symantec product. A member of the Symantec Product Security team will contact you regarding your submission to coordinate any required response. Symantec strongly recommends using encrypted email for reporting vulnerability information to
secure@symantec.com. The Symantec Product Security PGP key can be found at the location below.
Symantec has developed a Product Vulnerability Response document outlining the process we follow in addressing suspected vulnerabilities in our products. This document is available below.
Copyright (c) by Symantec Corp.
Permission to redistribute this alert electronically is granted as long as it is not edited in any way unless authorized by Symantec Product Security. Reprinting the whole or part of this alert in any medium other than electronically requires permission from
secure@symantec.comDisclaimer
The information in the advisory is believed to be accurate at the time of publishing based on currently available information. Use of the information constitutes acceptance for use in an AS IS condition. There are no warranties with regard to this information. Neither the author nor the publisher accepts any liability for any direct, indirect, or consequential loss or damage arising from use of, or reliance on, this information.Symantec, Symantec products, Symantec Product Security, and
secure@symantec.com are registered trademarks of Symantec Corp. and/or affiliated companies in the United States and other countries. All other registered and unregistered trademarks represented in this document are the sole property of their respective companies/owners.
Symantec Product Vulnerability Management PGP Key
