CVE-2018-12238
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedNorton 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.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThis is an antivirus bypass vulnerability affecting multiple Norton and Symantec Endpoint Protection products. The vulnerability allows malware to evade signature-based detection by altering files during scanning so they are not identified as malicious by the antivirus engine's pattern database.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data>= 11.0, < 12.1.7454.7000>= 14.0, <= 14.2< 22.15.1< 22.15CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed Norton or Symantec productOpen the product UI and look for the product name and version in About/Help section, or check Programs and Features for 'Norton', 'Symantec Endpoint Protection', or related entriesAffected if The installed product is Norton Antivirus, Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP), or SEP Cloud and the version is below the fixed releases
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Determine exact product versionIn the antivirus UI, navigate to Help > About or Settings > About to view the full version number (for example, 14.0.x.x or 12.1.x.x)Affected if Version is less than 12.1.7454.7000 (for SEP 11.x-12.1), or between 14.0 and 14.2 inclusive (for SEP 14.x), or less than 22.15 (for Norton), or less than 22.15.1 (for SEP Cloud)
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Verify real-time scanning is enabledOpen the antivirus settings and check if 'Real-time Protection', 'Auto-Protect', or 'File System Auto-Protect' is turned onAffected if Real-time scanning is enabled AND the product version falls within the affected ranges listed above
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Confirm vulnerability is exploitable in your environmentThis vulnerability allows malware to alter files during scanning to evade detection. If your environment processes untrusted files (email attachments, downloads, shared drives) through the antivirus, the bypass could be used against youAffected if The product is vulnerable based on version AND the scanning engine processes incoming files
You are affected if you run Norton Antivirus below 22.15, Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.x-12.1 below 12.1.7454.7000, SEP 14.0-14.2, or SEP Cloud below 22.15.1, with real-time scanning enabled.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor data12.1.7454.700022.1522.15.1
Update affected Norton and Symantec Endpoint Protection installations to the fixed versions (Norton 22.15+, SEP 12.1.7454.7000+/14.2+, SEP SBE NIS-22.15.1.8+/SEP-12.1.7454.7000+, SEP Cloud 22.15.1+) to receive updated signature definitions that detect the bypass technique.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-12238 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-12238 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data