CVE-2016-9093 Privilege escalation in Endpoint Protection

High 7.0 Published 16 Apr 2018 Updated 16 Sep 2024

A local non-admin user can exploit a Symantec Endpoint Protection driver flaw to crash the system or execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Any signed-in user
Attackable: Local or same network only
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: None listed

What is CVE-2016-9093?

CVE-2016-9093 is a high-severity vulnerability in Symantec Endpoint Protection, published on 16 Apr 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

A version of the SymEvent Driver that shipped with Symantec Endpoint Protection 12.1 RU6 MP6 and earlier fails to properly sanitize logged-in user input. SEP 14.0 and later are not impacted by this issue. A non-admin user would need to be able to save an executable file to disk and then be able to successfully run that file. If properly constructed, the file could access the driver interface and potentially manipulate certain system calls. On all 32-bit systems and in most cases on 64-bit systems, this will result in a denial of service that will crash the system. In very narrow circumstances, and on 64-bit systems only, this could allow the user to run arbitrary code on the local machine with kernel-level privileges. This could result in a non-privileged user gaining privileged access on the local machine.

Weakness: CWE-20

Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-9093?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Symantec Endpoint Protection.

How do I fix CVE-2016-9093?

No fix has been published for CVE-2016-9093 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Is CVE-2016-9093 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-9093 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Symantec Endpoint Protection vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as GHSA-x9r7-96pf-frgq.