Norton Utilities (prior to 16.0.3.44) may be susceptible to a DLL Preloading vulnerability, which is a type of issue that can occur when an application looks to call a DLL for execution and an attacker provides a malicious DLL to use instead. Depending on how the application is configured, it will generally follow a specific search path to locate the DLL. The vulnerability can be exploited by a simple file write (or potentially an over-write) which results in a foreign DLL running under the context of the application.
This vulnerability carries a MEDIUM severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 6.0, but requires specific conditions to be met though user interaction is required . The vulnerability impacts confidentiality (data exposure), integrity (unauthorized modifications), and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 1 product from symantec organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.
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.
2018-08-22T17:29:00.710
2024-11-21T04:08:23.797
Modified
CVSSv3.0: 6.0 (MEDIUM)
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
3.4
6.4
| Type | Vendor | Product | Version/Range | Vulnerable? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Application | symantec | norton_utilities | < 16.0.3.44 | Yes |
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.