# CVE-2002-1540: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can escalate privileges by exploiting the Norton AntiVirus client's execution of winhlp32 with elevated rights.

- **Severity:** High 7.2 (`AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 1 Sep 2004
- **Updated:** 8 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-9r86-74vm-r67j

## What is CVE-2002-1540?

CVE-2002-1540 is a high-severity vulnerability in Symantec Norton Antivirus, published on 1 Sep 2004. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The client for Symantec Norton AntiVirus Corporate Edition 7.5.x before 7.5.1 Build 62 and 7.6.x before 7.6.1 Build 35a runs winhlp32 with raised privileges, which allows local users to gain privileges by using certain features of winhlp32.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2002-1540?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Symantec Norton Antivirus.

## How do I fix CVE-2002-1540?

No fix has been published for CVE-2002-1540 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2002-1540 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2002-1540 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Symantec Norton Antivirus

- [CVE-2005-2017](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2005-2017/): Privilege escalation in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2004-0487](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2004-0487/): Other in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2006-3456](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2006-3456/): Code injection in n/a (high 8.5)
- [CVE-2002-2206](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2002-2206/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2002-1774](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2002-1774/): Security feature bypass in n/a (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2002-1540 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2002-1540 is a high-severity vulnerability in Symantec Norton Antivirus, published on 1 Sep 2004. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2002-1540 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Symantec Norton Antivirus. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2002-1540/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2002-1540/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2002-1540
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2002-1540
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2002-1540

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2002-1540/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.