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    Home Cybersecurity
    • Cybersecurity

    McAfee Says It Unwittingly Fixed Software Loophole

    Written by

    Chris Preimesberger
    Published July 14, 2006
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      Software security provider McAfee revealed July 14 that it fixed a serious flaw in its enterprise security package Common Management Agent in January 2006 with a regular update (v3.5.5) and didnt even realize it.

      Common Management Agent is McAfees flagship technology for managing protective software in large organizations.

      John Viega, McAfees chief security architect, told eWEEK that a successful exploit of the security flaw would allow an attacker to place arbitrary files on the machine running the indicated software.

      The flaw also could let a hacker seize control of a computer and steal data or delete files, Viega said.

      “When the problem existed, a hacker could basically use an agent on the same network to write to virtually any kind of file he wanted, even full applications, like Microsoft Word,” Viega said. “Someone could have replaced a file with a Trojan horse, for example.”

      However, Viega said, no customers reported any problems, and the problem went unknown until the week of July 3, when a consultancy, eEye Digital Security in Aliso Viejo, Calif., called McAfee to report what it had found in the older software, Viega said.

      eEye Digital Security decided to post an advisory on its finding July 13, Viega said, and so McAfee, based in Santa Clara, Calif., followed with its revelation July 14.

      “The flaw only affected the client side of the application, not the server side,” Viega told eWEEK.

      McAfees engineering team had inadvertently closed the vulnerability loophole in January 2006 when his team released one of its regular program updates, Common Management Agent Update 3.5.5.

      /zimages/4/28571.gifMcAfee makes upgrades to appliances and online testing tools. Click here to read more.

      The new version included new code for a component called EPO (e-Policy Orchestrator), which is the remote security management software for the McAfee enterprise product suite.

      EPO allows security managers to configure and enforce protection policies, deploy and configure agents and monitor security status from a centralized console.

      It is used in tens of thousands of computers in large companies and government agencies.

      McAfee issued an apology and urged customers immediately to install updated versions of its software.

      When McAfee released the update in January, it positioned it as an enhancement, not a critical fix, since the company wasnt aware of the flaw at that time.

      Since many companies wont update software unless necessary, the concern is that many computers were left vulnerable.

      Viega said that no consumer versions of its software were affected.

      /zimages/4/28571.gifCheck out eWEEK.coms for the latest security news, reviews and analysis. And for insights on security coverage around the Web, take a look at eWEEK.com Security Center Editor Larry Seltzers Weblog.

      Chris Preimesberger
      Chris Preimesberger
      https://www.eweek.com/author/cpreimesberger/
      Chris J. Preimesberger is Editor Emeritus of eWEEK. In his 16 years and more than 5,000 articles at eWEEK, he distinguished himself in reporting and analysis of the business use of new-gen IT in a variety of sectors, including cloud computing, data center systems, storage, edge systems, security and others. In February 2017 and September 2018, Chris was named among the 250 most influential business journalists in the world (https://richtopia.com/inspirational-people/top-250-business-journalists/) by Richtopia, a UK research firm that used analytics to compile the ranking. He has won several national and regional awards for his work, including a 2011 Folio Award for a profile (https://www.eweek.com/cloud/marc-benioff-trend-seer-and-business-socialist/) of Salesforce founder/CEO Marc Benioff--the only time he has entered the competition. Previously, Chris was a founding editor of both IT Manager's Journal and DevX.com and was managing editor of Software Development magazine. He has been a stringer for the Associated Press since 1983 and resides in Silicon Valley.
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