Symantec Confirms AV Library Flaw, Promises Patch

the_flyswatter writes "Anti-virus vendor Symantec Corp. has publicly acknowledged that a high-risk buffer overflow vulnerability in its AntiVirus Library could lead to code execution attacks when RAR archive files are scanned. The company confirmed the issue was a buffer overflow in the AntiVirus component used to decompose RAR (Roshal Archive) files. 'A specially crafted RAR file could potentially cause this buffer overflow to occur and execute hostile content from the RAR file,' the advisory read. The bug also affects 15 consumer products, including the widely deployed Symantec Norton AntiVirus, Symantec Norton Internet Security Professional, Norton Personal Firewall and Symantec Norton Internet Security for Macintosh."

Comments

You know what this means -

[mtrisk]

Installing Symantec on your Mac makes it LESS secure than it was before.

How ironic...

Re:You know what this means -

[Scarblac]

Actually, anti-virus software is nothing but snake oil and a money grab these days.

Why?

Once you get pwned, your system has been compromised. It's time for vetting any data, a thorough purge and reinstall.

Gee, that sounds serious, and these viruses don't tell you that they've just installed themselves. What someone should make then is some sort of software that scans your system for viruses and warns you if your system has been compromised...

Wait wait wait...

[Spazholio]

Fuck this "buffer overflow" crap. You mean to tell me RAR actually stands for something?