Symantec Backup Exec is vulnerable to man-in-the-middle (MiTM) attack due to weakness in communication protocol implementation and lack of validation of identity information exchanged between media server and remote agent.
Affected Products
Product
Version
Build
Solution(s)
Symantec Backup Exec for Windows Servers
11.0, 12.0, 12.5
All
Upgrade to Symantec Backup Exec 2010 R3
Symantec Backup Exec 2010
13.0, 13.0 R2
All
Upgrade to Symantec Backup Exec 2010 R3
Details
Symantec was notified of aMiTM issue in the manner in which communication protocols are implemented between Backup Exec media server and remote agent. The issue is a result of lack of validation of remote agent identity information exchanged between media server and remote agent. Successful exploitation may result in privilege escalation enabling an attacker to execute post authentication NDMP commands. Successful exploitation requires the attacker to be an authorized user on the network or have unauthorized presence on an authorized system on the network.
Symantec Response
Symantec product engineers verified that the vulnerability exists in the versions of Backup Exec indicated above.
Symantec has released Symantec Backup Exec 2010 R3 which establishes trust between Backup Exec remote agent and Backup Exec media server before exchanging any sensitive information. Symantec recommends customers upgrade to this release of Symantec Backup Exec which addresses the concern.
Symantec knows of no exploitation of or adverse customer impact from this issue.
Update Information
Customers may obtain Symantec Backup Exec 2010 R3 from their normal support/download locations.
Best Practices
As a 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 credits Nibin Varghese of iViZ Security, for identifying this issue and working with us while Symantec fixed the issue.
Reference Security Focus,http://www.securityfocus.com, has assigned Bugtraq ID (BID)47824to identify this issue for inclusion in the Security Focus vulnerabilitydatabase.
CVE: This issue is a candidate for inclusion in the CVE list (http://cve.mitre.org), which standardizes names for security problems. CVE-2011-0546 has been assigned to this issue.
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Disclaimer
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.
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