CVE-2018-12245
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 · uneditedSymantec Endpoint Protection prior to 14.2 MP1 may be susceptible to a DLL Preloading vulnerability, which in this case is an issue that can occur when an application being installed unintentionally loads a DLL provided by a potential attacker. Note that this particular type of exploit only manifests at install time; no remediation is required for software that has already been installed. This issue only impacted the Trialware media for Symantec Endpoint Protection, which has since been updated.
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 confidenceDLL Preloading vulnerability in Symantec Endpoint Protection Trialware installer prior to version 14.2 MP1. During installation, the application may inadvertently load a malicious DLL from an attacker-controlled location due to unsafe DLL search path handling. This is an install-time-only issue affecting specifically the Trialware distribution media.
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, <= 14.2.0.1CVSS 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
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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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Confirm you are using Trialware distribution mediaIdentify whether the installer media or image you are using is the Trialware (evaluation) distribution of Symantec Endpoint Protection, as opposed to a full production license media. Check the media label, filename, or download source.Affected if The media is confirmed as Trialware distribution.
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Determine the installer versionLocate version information in the installer files, such as the setup executable, autorun, or version.txt file included with the media. Compare the version number to the affected range 11.0 through 14.2.0.1.Affected if The installer version falls within >= 11.0 and <= 14.2.0.1.
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Verify installation statusDetermine whether the installation is currently in progress or has not yet started. This vulnerability only manifests during the installation process, not on already-completed installations.Affected if The installation is currently being performed or is about to be performed using the vulnerable media.
You are affected only if you are actively installing or about to install using Symantec Endpoint Protection Trialware media with version 14.2.0.1 or earlier.
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 dataObtain and use the updated Symantec Endpoint Protection Trialware media (version 14.2 MP1 or later). No remediation is required for installations that have already completed successfully.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-12245 — 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-2018-12245 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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- 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