Secure Network Operations, Inc. http://www.secnetops.com/research Strategic Reconnaissance Team research[at]secnetops[.]com Team Lead Contact kf[at]secnetops[.]com Spam Contact `rm -rf /`@snosoft.com Our Mission: ************************************************************************ Secure Network Operations offers expertise in Networking, Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), Software Security Validation, and Corporate/Private Network Security. Our mission is to facilitate a secure and reliable Internet and inter-enterprise communications infrastructure through the products and services we offer. To learn more about our company, products and services or to request a demo of ANVIL FCS please visit our site at http://www.secnetops.com, or call us at: 978-263-3829 Quick Summary: ************************************************************************ Advisory Number : SRT2004-01-09-1022 Product : Symantec LiveUpdate Version : 1.70.x through 1.90.x Vendor : http://symantec.com/techsupp/files/lu/lu.html Class : Local Criticality : High (to users of the below listed products) Products Affected : Symantec LiveUpdate 1.70.x through 1.90.x : Norton SystemWorks 2001-2004 : Norton AntiVirus (and Pro) 2001-2004 : Norton Internet Security (and Pro) 2001-2004 : Symantec AntiVirus for Handhelds v3.0 Operating System(s) : Win32 Notice ************************************************************************ The full technical details of this vulnerability can be found at: http://www.secnetops.com under the research section. Basic Explanation ************************************************************************ High Level Description : LiveUpdate allows local users to become SYSTEM What to do : run LiveUpdate and apply latest patches. Basic Technical Details ************************************************************************ Proof Of Concept Status : SNO has proof of concept. Low Level Description : Symantec, the world leader in Internet security technology, provides a broad range of content and network security software and appliance solutions to individuals, enterprises and service providers. The company is a leading provider of client, gateway and server security solutions for virus protection, firewall and virtual private network, vulnerability management, intrusion detection, Internet content and email filtering, and remote management technologies and security services to enterprises and service providers around the world. Symantec's Norton brand of consumer security products is a leader in worldwide retail sales and industry awards. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Symantec has worldwide operations in 36 countries. Symantec's Norton Internet Security 2004 provides essential protection from viruses, hackers, and privacy threats. During an audit of NIS2004 we uncovered a local privilege escalation issue in LiveUpdate. This issue is similar to the issues that were uncovered in the Windows Help API by both Brett Moore and our SRT team in late 2003. Full details available at: http://www.secnetops.biz/research/SRT2004-01-09-1022.txt and http://www.secnetops.biz/research/SRT2004-01-09-1022.jpg Vendor Status : Symantec promptly attended to the issue and was very responsive during all phases of discovery / research and patching. Fixes are now available via LiveUpdate. Bugtraq URL : To be assigned. CVE candidate CAN-2003-0994. Disclaimer ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This advisory was released by Secure Network Operations,Inc. as a matter of notification to help administrators protect their networks against the described vulnerability. Exploit source code is no longer released in our advisories but can be obtained under contract.. Contact our sales department at sales[at]secnetops[.]com for further information on how to obtain proof of concept code. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Secure Network Operations, Inc. || http://www.secnetops.com "Embracing the future of technology, protecting you." From symsecurity@symantec.com Tue Jan 13 15:51:27 2004 From: Sym Security To: bugtraq@securityfocus.com Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 13:05:19 -0600 Subject: Re: SRT2004-01-9-1022 - Symantec LiveUpdate allows local users to become SYSTEM In response to SnoSoft's, SRT2004-01-9-1022 - Symantec LiveUpdate allows local users to become SYSTEM, 01/12/2004 06:22AM: Quick Summary: ************************************************************************ Advisory Number : SRT2004-01-09-1022 Product : Symantec LiveUpdate Version : 1.70.x through 1.90.x Vendor : http://symantec.com/techsupp/files/lu/lu.html Class : Local Criticality : High (to users of the below listed products) Products Affected : Symantec LiveUpdate 1.70.x through 1.90.x : Norton SystemWorks 2001-2004 : Norton AntiVirus (and Pro) 2001-2004 : Norton Internet Security (and Pro) 2001-2004 : Symantec AntiVirus for Handhelds v3.0 Operating System(s) : Win32 -------------------------------snip---------------------------- Symantec Security Response Advisory SYM04-001 12 January 2004 Symantec Automatic LiveUpdate Local User Elevation of Privilege Revision History None Risk Impact Medium Local access required. Automatic LiveUpdate launches as a scheduled task if so configured and only on systems running retail versions of Symantec products. Impact of this issue would result in elevated privilege on the host system only and is highly dependent on system configuration and environment. Overview Security analysts from Secure Network Operations notified Symantec of a potential issue with the Automatic LiveUpdate feature, available with retail versions of some Symantec products, when running as a scheduled task. If the system is configured as a multi-user system with privileged and non-privileged user access, a non-privileged user could potentially access and manipulate the Symantec Automatic LiveUpdate GUI functionality to gain privileged system access. Affected Components Symantec Windows LiveUpdate 1.70.x through 1.90.x Symantec Norton SystemWorks 2001-2004 Symantec Norton AntiVirus and Norton AntiVirus Pro 2001-2004 Symantec Norton Internet Security and Norton Internet Security Pro 2001-2004 Symantec AntiVirus for Handhelds v3.0 Not Affected Symantec Windows LiveUpdate v2.x Symantec Java LiveUpdate (all versions) Symantec Enterprise products (Symantec Enterprise products do not support the Automatic LiveUpdate functionality) Details Symantec Automatic LiveUpdate, a functionality included with many Symantec retail products, is launched by the system scheduler on system startup and then periodically after startup. Symantec Automatic LiveUpdate checks for available updates to any supported Symantec products installed on the system. Symantec Automatic LiveUpdate can be configured to notify the user when Symantec product updates are available for download. Symantec Automatic LiveUpdate does this via a LiveUpdate icon displayed in the system taskbar. At this prompt, the user may choose to open an interactive LiveUpdate session to retrieve any available updates. When a vulnerable version of Symantec Automatic LiveUpdate is initially launched at startup it is assigned Local System privileges. During the time when an interactive LiveUpdate session is available, and only during this session, a non-privileged user could potentially manipulate the LiveUpdate GUI functionality to gain elevated privilege on the local host. For example, the user could gain privileges to search all system files, assume full permission for directories and files on the host, or add themselves to the local administrative group. Symantec Response Symantec verified this vulnerability does exist in the current supported versions of Automatic LiveUpdate shipped with many Symantec retail products. This issue is fixed in the latest release of Symantec Windows LiveUpdate v2.0. Symantec Windows LiveUpdate 2.0 is available for download from the Symantec technical support site at http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/files/lu/lu.html should you choose not to update via Symantec's LiveUpdate capability. Symantec Windows LiveUpdate 2.0 is also available for all supported Symantec products via the Symantec product's LiveUpdate function. To update using LiveUpdate, select the LiveUpdate option within your retail Symantec product and download and install all available updates. In some cases, the update to LiveUpdate 2.0 may required a restart of your system to complete. To determine your version of Symantec LiveUpdate: 1. Open any Symantec retail product installed on your system, e.g., Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2004 2. Click on LiveUpdate in the toolbar 3. Click on the LiveUpdate system menu to see the drop-down selections 4. Click on "About LiveUpdate" to see the version of LiveUpdate you are running If you are running a version of Symantec LiveUpdate prior to v2.0, Symantec recommends running LiveUpdate or downloading Symantec Windows LiveUpdate v2.0 from the support site indicated above to upgrade your system to the latest version of Symantec LiveUpdate. Mitigating Circumstances While effectively exploiting this issue would permit a non-privileged user to gain privileged access on the local host, there are mitigating circumstances that greatly reduce the risk of exploitation in Symantec's Automatic LiveUpdate: * Symantec Automatic LiveUpdate is implemented in retail versions of Symantec products ONLY. * The system is vulnerable only if the interactive LiveUpdate capability is available to the user o Automatic LiveUpdate must be configured with the option enabled to notify the user when updates are available o If the system is a single-user system, this issue would not have an impact o If the system IS configured as a multi-user system with privileged and non-privileged user access to the host system, the non-privileged user would require an authorized user account on the host system and must be logged on interactively to exploit this issue * Elevated privileges can be gained only on the local system, which normally limits any impact Credit Symantec takes the security and proper functionality of its products very seriously. Symantec appreciates the efforts of KF and the Security Network Operations security team in identifying this issue and coordinating with Symantec during the verification and fix process to properly update and protect Symantec customers. Information on this and other security issues can be found at the Secure Network Operations Inc., web site, http://www.secnetops.com/ CVE The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposure (CVE) initiative has assigned the name CAN-2003-0994 to this issue. This is a candidate for inclusion in the CVE list (http://cve.mitre.org), which standardizes names for security problems. Anyone with information on security issues with Symantec products should contact symsecurity@symantec.com. This advisory is posted on the Symantec Security Response page. Encryption Symantec strongly recommends using encrypted email for reporting vulnerability information to symsecurity@symantec.com. The SymSecurity PGP key may be obtained here. Copyright (c) 2004 by Symantec Corp. Permission to redistribute this Advisory electronically is granted as long as it is not edited in any way unless authorized by Symantec Security Response. Reprinting the whole or part of this Advisory in a medium other than electronically requires permission from symsecurity@symantec.com. Disclaimer: The information in the advisory is believed to be accurate at the time of printing 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 Security Response, Symantec product names and Sym Security 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.