Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Cybersecurity
    • Cybersecurity

    Security Researcher Finds Critical Flaws in Sophos Anti-Virus Engine

    By
    Brian Prince
    -
    November 7, 2012
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Security vendor Sophos has plugged a series of security holes in its antivirus product that were uncovered by a security researcher. In some cases, these security holes could have been exploited to cause crashes or to remotely execute code, according to the researcher.

      The bugs in Sophos Anti-Virus were uncovered by Tavis Ormandy, who posted a message about his findings on the Full Disclosure mailing list on Nov. 5 and detailed the vulnerabilities in a paper available here.

      Sophos says it has already patched most of flaws discovered by Ormandy and will release patches for additional issues Nov. 28.

      “Sophos claims that their products are deployed throughout health care, government, finance, and even the military,” wrote Ormandy, a security engineer at Google. “The chaos a motivated attacker could cause to these systems is a realistic global threat. For this reason, Sophos products should only ever be considered for low-value, noncritical systems and never deployed on networks or environments where a complete compromise by adversaries would be inconvenient.”

      “The paper includes a working pre-authentication remote root exploit that requires zero-iteration, and could be wormed within the next few days,” he explained. “I would suggest administrators deploying Sophos products study my results urgently, and implement the recommendations.”

      “A working exploit for Sophos 8.0.6 on Mac is available; however, the techniques used in the exploit easily transfer to Windows and Linux, due to multiple critical implementation flaws described in the paper,” he added.

      Ormandy wrote that the report and his comments were his opinion and did not reflect the opinion of Google. So far, Sophos has not seen any of the vulnerabilities exploited in the wild.

      The vulnerabilities include: a remote-code-execution vulnerability discovered in how the Sophos Anti-Virus engine scans malformed Visual Basic 6 compiled files; the Sophos Web protection and Web control Layered Service Provider (LSP) block page contained a cross-site scripting vulnerability; an issue with the buffer overflow protection system (BOPS) technology in Sophos Anti-Virus for Windows.

      Ormandy also identified problems with how the Sophos engine interacted with address space layout randomization (ASLR) on Windows Vista and later OSes; an issue with how Sophos protection interacts with Internet Explorer’s Protected Mode; and vulnerabilities tied to how Sophos’ antivirus engine handles malformed Microsoft Windows CAB (Cabinet) files and Roshal ARchive (RAR) files.

      Ormandy also uncovered a remote-code-execution vulnerability in the way Sophos’ antivirus engine scans malformed PDF files. He also provided examples of other malformed files that can cause the Sophos antivirus engine to halt that are being examined by Sophos experts.

      On Nov. 28, Sophos is will roll out a fix for the files that are being examined.

      Sophos on its Naked Security blog thanked Ormandy for his work and for disclosing the bugs to the company before releasing details publicly.

      “As a security company, keeping customers safe is [Sophos’] primary responsibility,” the company stated. “As a result, Sophos experts investigate all vulnerability reports and implement the best course of action in the tightest time period possible.”

      “The work of Tavis Ormandy, and others like him in the research community, who choose to work alongside security companies, can significantly strengthen software products,” according to Sophos. “On behalf of its partners and customers, Sophos appreciates Tavis Ormandy’s efforts and responsible approach.”

      Brian Prince
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Applications

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Applications

      Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

      James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×