# CVE-2018-12239: Security feature bypass in Norton; Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP); Symantec Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition (SEP SBE); Symantec Endpoint Protection Cloud (SEP Cloud)

> Attackers can bypass antivirus detection by altering files to evade signature-based scanning in Symantec security products.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 29 Nov 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-chxg-x965-g9w9

## What is CVE-2018-12239?

CVE-2018-12239 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Symantec Endpoint Protection, published on 29 Nov 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Norton prior to 22.15; Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) prior to 12.1.7454.7000 & 14.2; Symantec Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition (SEP SBE) prior to NIS-22.15.1.8 & SEP-12.1.7454.7000; and Symantec Endpoint Protection Cloud (SEP Cloud) prior to 22.15.1 may be susceptible to an AV bypass issue, which is a type of exploit that works to circumvent one of the virus detection engines to avoid a specific type of virus protection. One of the antivirus engines depends on a signature pattern from a database to identify malicious files and viruses; the antivirus bypass exploit looks to alter the file being scanned so it is not detected.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-12239?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Symantec Endpoint Protection, Symantec Endpoint Protection Cloud, Symantec Norton Antivirus.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-12239?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-12239 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-12239 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-12239 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Symantec Endpoint Protection

- [CVE-2012-0295](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-0295/): Code injection in n/a (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2018-5237](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-5237/): Privilege escalation in Symantec Endpoint Protection (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2020-5836](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-5836/): Privilege escalation in Symantec Endpoint Protection (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2020-5837](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-5837/): Path traversal in Symantec Endpoint Protection (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2020-5820](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-5820/): Privilege escalation in Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) and Symantec Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition (SEP SBE) (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-12239 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-12239 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Symantec Endpoint Protection, published on 29 Nov 2018. 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-2018-12239 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Symantec Endpoint Protection. 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-2018-12239/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-12239/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-12239
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-12239
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-12239

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-12239/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.