Symantec Acknowledges Bug In Enterprise AV Edition

Symantec has acknowledged that its enterprise anti-virus product line has an unpatched, “zero-day” vulnerability that can be used by attackers to hijack systems. “Symantec Antivirus is susceptible to a remote code-execution vulnerability. This issue allows remote attackers to execute code with SYSTEM-level privileges, facilitating the complete compromise of affected computers,” the company said in an alert Friday. The news about the bug was first heard about last Thursday, when security vendor eEye Digital released a preliminary alert that said Symantec Antivirus 10.x and Symantec Client Security 3.x included a remotely-exploitable vulnerability that could be attacked via a network-style worm which wouldn’t require any user interaction to compromise a computer. In an advisory posted to its own Web site, however, Symantec claimed that none of its Norton-labeled consumer-grade anti-virus titles were at risk. Those products include Norton Antivirus and Norton Internet Security. The spokesman, however, would not comment on a timeline to patch the vulnerability nor on any results of its investigation. “Specific details are being withheld by Symantec and the researchers that found this vulnerability, eEye Digital Security, until updates are available,” Symantec said.