Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2018-12238


Norton prior to 22.15; Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) prior to 12.1.7454.7000 & 14.2; Symantec Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition (SEP SBE) prior to NIS-22.15.1.8 & SEP-12.1.7454.7000; and Symantec Endpoint Protection Cloud (SEP Cloud) prior to 22.15.1 may be susceptible to an AV bypass issue, which is a type of exploit that works to circumvent one of the virus detection engines to avoid a specific type of virus protection. One of the antivirus engines depends on a signature pattern from a database to identify malicious files and viruses; the antivirus bypass exploit looks to alter the file being scanned so it is not detected.


Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a HIGH severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.8, requiring local system access to exploit with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction requiring only low-level privileges . The vulnerability impacts confidentiality (data exposure), integrity (unauthorized modifications), and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 3 products from symantec, from symantec, from symantec organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

First disclosed in 2018, this vulnerability was reported during a period defined by widespread IoT adoption challenges, mobile security concerns, and the emergence of advanced persistent threat (APT) techniques. Contemporary mitigation strategies focused on secure development practices and third-party component vetting.


Published

2018-11-29T14:29:00.250

Last Modified

2024-11-21T03:44:50.323

Status

Modified

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.0: 7.8 (HIGH)

CVSSv2 Vector

AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

  • Access Vector: LOCAL
  • Access Complexity: LOW
  • Authentication: NONE
  • Confidentiality Impact: PARTIAL
  • Integrity Impact: PARTIAL
  • Availability Impact: PARTIAL
Exploitability Score

3.9

Impact Score

6.4

Weaknesses
  • Type: Primary
    NVD-CWE-noinfo

Affected Vendors & Products
Type Vendor Product Version/Range Vulnerable?
Application symantec endpoint_protection < 12.1.7454.7000 Yes
Application symantec endpoint_protection ≤ 14.2 Yes
Application symantec endpoint_protection_cloud < 22.15.1 Yes
Application symantec norton_antivirus < 22.15 Yes

References

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For symantec's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.