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Experts: Symantec Security Flaw Is 'as Bad as it Gets'

It allows remote kernel access, which could let hackers corrupt system memory.

By Tom Brant
June 29, 2016
Symantec Norton Security

Newly discovered vulnerabilities in Symantec's antivirus software include a flaw that could allow an attacker to remotely corrupt a computer's memory, security researchers announced this week.

The vulnerabilities affect several Symantec products, including Norton antivirus software for consumers as well as enterprise solutions like Endpoint Protection and Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange. Symantec said it was not aware of the vulnerabilities being exploited, and has issued software updates that correct the flaws.

Google's Project Zero security team published an analysis of the flaws on its blog, explaining that they are particularly serious in part because they affect the entire Symantec product line.

"These vulnerabilities are as bad as it gets," they wrote. "They don't require any user interaction, they affect the default configuration, and the software runs at the highest privilege levels possible. In certain cases on Windows, vulnerable code is even loaded into the kernel, resulting in remote kernel memory corruption."

Unlike many computer viruses sent via email, which require the recipient to open an attachment in order to affect the system, the Symantec kernel vulnerability requires no user action.

That means that "just emailing a file to a victim or sending them a link to an exploit is enough to trigger it - the victim does not need to open the file or interact with it in anyway," the Project Zero team wrote. "Because no interaction is necessary to exploit it, this is a wormable vulnerability with potentially devastating consequences to Norton and Symantec customers."

Symantec's Norton family of antivirus software is otherwise robust; PCMag's security analyst Neil Rubenking finds that Norton Security Deluxe offers "comprehensive, effective security." Still, the company is no stranger to security flaws, including a serious vulnerability in its pcAnywhere software discovered in 2012.

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About Tom Brant

Deputy Managing Editor

I’m the deputy managing editor of the hardware team at PCMag.com. Reading this during the day? Then you've caught me testing gear and editing reviews of laptops, desktop PCs, and tons of other personal tech. (Reading this at night? Then I’m probably dreaming about all those cool products.) I’ve covered the consumer tech world as an editor, reporter, and analyst since 2015.

I’ve evaluated the performance, value, and features of hundreds of personal tech devices and services, from laptops to Wi-Fi hotspots and everything in between. I’ve also covered the launches of dozens of groundbreaking technologies, from hyperloop test tracks in the desert to the latest silicon from Apple and Intel.

I've appeared on CBS News, in USA Today, and at many other outlets to offer analysis on breaking technology news.

Before I joined the tech-journalism ranks, I wrote on topics as diverse as Borneo's rain forests, Middle Eastern airlines, and Big Data's role in presidential elections. A graduate of Middlebury College, I also have a master's degree in journalism and French Studies from New York University.

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