Symantec Security Advisory

SYM08-005

20 February, 2008
Veritas Storage Foundation by Symantec:  Veritas Enterprise Administrator, Heap Overflow

Revision History
None

Severity
High (very configuration-dependent)

Remote Access:               Network access or authorized user interaction required in normal configuration
Local Access:                  No
Authentication Required:   Authorized network access in normal configuration
Exploit publicly available:   No

Overview
A Heap Overflow vulnerability has been identified and resolved in the Veritas Enterprise Administrator (VEA) component, specifically in the administrative service.  Symantec's VEA is the management GUI component of Veritas Storage Foundation. Successful exploitation of this issue can result in a crash of the service in both the 5.0 Windows (SFW) and Unix (SF) versions.  The potential for possible remote code execution in the 5.0 Windows version has been confirmed.

Product(s) Affected

Product      Platform                            Solution(s)

Note:  Only those platforms and versions indicated are known to be affected by this issue.

Details

3Com ZDI notified Symantec of a heap overflow vulnerability identified in the Symantec VEA administrative service.   The vulnerability was caused by a failure to properly validate incoming data passed to the administrative service resulting in a heap overflow.  A specifically crafted packet passed to the vulnerable service could result in the administrative services terminating unexpectedly in the affected Windows and Unix versions.  The potential to permit arbitrary code was verified in the affected Veritas Storage Foundation for Windows version.  Successful exploitation could potentially result in a privileged-level compromise of the targeted system.

This vulnerability, if successfully exploited, would normally be the result of an internal attack by a malicious but authorized user or an individual who was able to leverage unauthorized access to a specific network segment.  In Symantec's recommended installation the affected service should have limited or no exposure to the general internal network and no exposure outside of the corporate network as this greatly reduces the risk from unauthorized remote access through external, unauthenticated vectors.

Symantec Response
Symantec takes the security of our products and our customers very seriously. Symantec engineers have verified and corrected these issues in all currently supported vulnerable versions of Symantec's Veritas Enterprise Administrator.

Updates are available for all supported products. Symantec recommends customers apply the latest product update available for their supported product versions to enhance their security posture and protect against potential security threats of this nature.

Symantec knows of no exploitation of or adverse customer impact from this issue.

Best Practices

Credit
Symantec credits Sebastian Apelt working through 3Com ZDI for reporting this issue and for providing full coordination while Symantec resolved it.

References
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) initiative has assigned CVE Candidate
CVE- 2008-0638 to this issue.
This issue is a candidate for inclusion in the CVE list (http://cve.mitre.org), which standardizes names for security problems.

SecurityFocus has assigned BID 25778 to this vulnerability.