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Full vulnerability report · 2018
CVE-2018-12245High confidence

Symantec Corporation Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP): Untrusted Search Path

Symantec Corporation · Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP)

7.8HighCVSS 3.0
Recommended action
Within 7 days

High technical severity; prioritise exposed affected systems while verifying vendor guidance.

Fix not verified
R
Operational reassessment

Published severity in operational context

Open reassessment dashboard →
Published severityHighOperational priority:High, unchanged from published severity.unchanged

Evidence used

  • No CISA KEV confirmation is currently recorded.
  • EPSS is 1.08% for the current model date.

Compensating controls

  • Restrict local access and enforce least privilege on affected hosts.
  • Monitor vendor guidance and exploitation sources for a material change.

Verification

  1. Confirm that the asset runs Symantec Corporation Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) and falls inside the recorded affected range.
  2. Recheck the vendor advisory before scheduling a change because no verified fixed version is currently retained.
  3. Validate exposure, authentication requirements and compensating controls in the actual environment.
  4. Reopen this reassessment when CVSS, KEV, EPSS, exploit evidence or remediation changes.
Mitigation target: Within 30 daysRemediation target: Within 180 days

This automated reassessment organises public evidence. It does not know asset exposure, business impact or control effectiveness and does not replace CVSS or a human risk decision.

Optional official sources

National CERT insights
?CERT means Computer Emergency Response Team; CSIRT is the closely related term Computer Security Incident Response Team.

Choose official national sources for this report. Each advisory shows its original language. Your selection is remembered on this device and included in shared links.

Official European source

ENISA European Vulnerability Database

Official EUVD identifiers, advisory evidence and known-exploited context. Missing fields are not treated as evidence of low risk.

1 current
ENISA EUVD identifier

EUVD-2018-4223

No EUVD known-exploited evidence

ENISA has published the identifier mapping but no EUVD description has been stored yet.

EUVD state
Present in the current official mapping
Known exploitation
Not present in the current ENISA EUVD known-exploited dataset. This is not proof of no exploitation.
ENISA score
Not supplied in the stored EUVD record
Advisory evidence
No linked advisory details stored yet
Recommended actionWithin 7 days

High technical severity; prioritise exposed affected systems while verifying vendor guidance.

Fix not verified
01

What, why and how

Symantec Endpoint Protection prior to 14.2 MP1 may be susceptible to a DLL Preloading vulnerability, which in this case is an issue that can occur when an application being installed unintentionally loads a DLL provided by a potential attacker. Note that this particular type of exploit only manifests at install time; no remediation is required for software that has already been installed. This issue only impacted the Trialware media for Symantec Endpoint Protection, which has since been updated.

What

Symantec Endpoint Protection prior to 14.2 MP1 may be susceptible to a DLL Preloading vulnerability, which in this case is an issue that can occur when an application being installed unintentionally loads a DLL provided by a potential attacker. Note that this particular type of exploit only manifests at install time; no remediation is required for software that has already been installed. This issue only impacted the Trialware media for Symantec Endpoint Protection, which has since been updated.

Why

The product searches for critical resources using an externally-supplied search path that can point to resources that are not under the product's direct control.

How

An attacker operating through local access may attempt exploitation without authentication after a user interaction. If successful, the issue may cause the confidentiality, integrity or availability impact described by the vendor.

What

Symantec Endpoint Protection prior to 14.2 MP1 may be susceptible to a DLL Preloading vulnerability, which in this case is an issue that can occur when an application being installed unintentionally loads a DLL provided by a potential attacker. Note that this particular type of exploit only manifests at install time; no remediation is required for software that has already been installed. This issue only impacted the Trialware media for Symantec Endpoint Protection, which has since been updated.

Why

The product searches for critical resources using an externally-supplied search path that can point to resources that are not under the product's direct control.

How

An attacker operating through local access may attempt exploitation without authentication after a user interaction. If successful, the issue may cause the confidentiality, integrity or availability impact described by the vendor.

02

Exploit reality and attack path

CVSS severity, EPSS forecast probability, public exploit material and CISA-confirmed exploitation are separate signals.

Observed exploitation
?Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.
No confirmed evidence

No CISA KEV match was present at the last successful refresh. This means no confirmation from that source, not proof of no exploitation.

Public PoC / exploit material
?Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.
None recorded

No exploit-tagged reference or CISA SSVC proof-of-concept state is currently recorded. Research may still exist outside the structured feeds.

Likely attack path
local access → Untrusted Search Path → cause the confidentiality, integrity or availability impact described by the vendor
Attack surface
Local
Privileges required
None: unauthenticated exploitation is possible
User interaction
Required interaction required
Attack complexity
Low: no specialised conditions are recorded
Security boundary
Unchanged: impact remains within the vulnerable component's security authority
Weakness
?CWE means Common Weakness Enumeration: a standard category for the underlying weakness.
CWE-426 ↗

CWE-426: Untrusted Search Path. The product searches for critical resources using an externally-supplied search path that can point to resources that are not under the product's direct control.

CVSS vector
?CVSS means Common Vulnerability Scoring System. The vector records the metric values used to calculate technical severity.
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Common Vulnerability Scoring System 3.0: the compact vector below is decoded into plain language.

AVLocalAttack vector: The attacker needs local access to the vulnerable system.ACLowAttack complexity: No specialised conditions are required beyond attacker-controlled input.PRNonePrivileges required: The attacker does not need an account or existing privileges.UIRequiredUser interaction: Another user must perform an action for exploitation to succeed.SUnchangedScope: The security impact remains within the vulnerable component's authority.CHighConfidentiality impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.IHighIntegrity impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.AHighAvailability impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.
Post-exploitation / living off the land
The issue can support a local privilege or sandbox boundary transition; normal system utilities may then be available in the gained context.
UnauthenticatedCWE-426
A

Official authority intelligence

Only matched European and national findings are included. Language selectors and unavailable sources are omitted.

CERT-FR · French · CERTFR-2018-AVI-576Multiples vulnérabilités dans Symantec Norton et SEP

De multiples vulnérabilités ont été découvertes dans Symantec Norton et SEP. Elles permettent à un attaquant de provoquer un contournement de la politique de sécurité.

Official advisory ↗
JVN iPedia · Japanese · JVNDB-2018-011300Symantec Endpoint Protection における信頼性のない検索パスに関する脆弱性

Symantec Endpoint Protection には、信頼性のない検索パスに関する脆弱性が存在します。

Official advisory ↗
03

Patch and workaround

Operational remediation based on structured source evidence.

Status
?Patch availability is based on structured fixed-version fields and authoritative update references. If no fix is verified, check the vendor advisory before making a change.
Fix not verified
Affected
Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP): Prior to 14.2 MP1
Fixed
No fixed version is explicitly recorded in the structured CVE data.
Action
No verified patch reference is present in the current structured sources. Check the vendor advisory before making a change.
Workaround
No verified workaround is recorded. Limit untrusted access and use least privilege until authoritative guidance is available.
04

Evidence and provenance

Published 29 Nov 2018 · Last source change 5 Aug 2024, 08:30 UTC · CWE-426 · Untrusted Search Path

CVE recordCVE.org · 5.1
CVSS sourceNIST NVD
EPSS source
?The date BlackTree first stored a score for this CVE from the daily FIRST EPSS feed.
FIRST · tracked since 2026-09-01
European sourceENISA EUVD · EUVD-2018-4223
Product sourceCNA
Remediation sourceCVE/CNA references
CWE sourceNIST NVD
NVD statusNVD modified after enrichment

Core structured fields are present and their contributing authorities are shown above.

Material change intelligence

What changed after publication

View recent updates ↗
  1. ENISA EUVD mappingEUVD-2018-4223 was added to the official ENISA EUVD mapping for this CVE.
    Before
    not recorded
    After
    {"euvdId":"EUVD-2018-4223"}
    ENISA EUVD ↗
  2. Vendor guidanceAuthoritative vendor guidance changed: added vendor advisory: support.symantec.com/article.SYMSA1468.html.
    Before
    no authoritative guidance recorded
    After
    vendor advisory: support.symantec.com/article.SYMSA1468.html
    support.symantec.com ↗
  3. SeveritySeverity changed from Unknown to High.
    Before
    Unknown
    After
    High
    NIST NVD ↗
  4. CVSS scoreCVSS score changed from not recorded to 7.8 (CVSS 3.0 · NIST NVD · CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).
    Before
    not recorded
    After
    7.8 (CVSS 3.0 · NIST NVD · CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)
    NIST NVD ↗
  5. Catalogue recordCVE added to the BlackTree catalogue.
    CNA ↗
Material fields only · duplicate refreshes suppressed · history retained for the configured operational retention period
CVE published
ENISA EUVD · EUVD-2018-4223↗Vendor advisory↗CVE authority or vendor reference↗Official CVE record (CNA and ADP data)↗NVD record↗
Technical terms and abbreviations used in this report
CVE
Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures: the public identifier for one disclosed vulnerability.
CVSS
Common Vulnerability Scoring System: a technical severity framework; it is not patching priority by itself.
EPSS
Exploit Prediction Scoring System: FIRST's estimate of the probability that exploitation activity will be observed in the next 30 days; it is a forecast, not confirmation.
CWE
Common Weakness Enumeration: the standard category describing the underlying software or hardware weakness.
CNA
CVE Numbering Authority: an organisation authorised to assign and publish CVE records.
CISA ADP
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Authorized Data Publisher: structured enrichment added to a CVE record.
NVD
National Vulnerability Database: NIST's enrichment service for CVE records.
CERT / CSIRT
A computer security incident response team that publishes warnings or coordinates incident response.
PoC
Proof of concept: public material that demonstrates or helps reproduce exploitation.
CSAF
Common Security Advisory Framework: a machine-readable format for security advisories.
LoTL
Living off the land: abuse of legitimate tools or system functions during an attack.
Free version - for non-commercial use only.CVE-2018-12245 · cve.blacktree.nl