dbcve.org
Endpoint ProtectionApplication · Symantec

CVE-2018-18369

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-04-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.00.31.2817 / 22.16.3 or later.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges

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 · unedited
Norton Security (Windows client) prior to 22.16.3 and SEP SBE (Windows client) prior to Cloud Agent 3.00.31.2817, NIS-22.15.2.22 & SEP-12.1.7484.7002, may be susceptible to a DLL Preloading vulnerability, which is a type of issue that can occur when an application looks to call a DLL for execution and an attacker provides a malicious DLL to use instead.

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 confidence

This is a DLL preloading (DLL hijacking) vulnerability in Norton Security for Windows and Symantec Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition. The applications load DLLs without fully qualifying the path, allowing an attacker to place a malicious DLL in a location where the application will load it instead of the legitimate system DLL, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution.

MitigationUpdate to the patched versions: Norton Security 22.16.3 or later, SEP SBE Cloud Agent 3.00.31.2817 or later, NIS-22.15.2.22 or later, and SEP-12.1.7484.7002 or later.

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
Endpoint ProtectionApplication
Affected:= nis-22.15.2.22= sep-12.1.7484.7002
Endpoint Protection CloudApplication
Affected:< 22.16.3
Endpoint Protection Cloud AgentApplication
Affected:< 3.00.31.2817
Norton SecurityApplication
Affected:< 22.16.3

CVSS 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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed Norton or Symantec product
    Open Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run 'Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion' to list installed software and look for Norton Security, Symantec Endpoint Protection, or related products
    Affected if Norton Security, Symantec Endpoint Protection, or Symantec Endpoint Protection Cloud/Cloud Agent is listed as installed
  2. Determine exact installed version
    For the identified product, check its version through the About/Help section in the application UI, or check the registry key under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\CurrentVersion\public-opts or the product's specific registry location
    Affected if Version matches or falls within: Norton Security < 22.16.3, SEP Cloud < 22.16.3, SEP Cloud Agent < 3.00.31.2817, nis-22.15.2.22, or sep-12.1.7484.7002
  3. Verify application process loads DLLs from current directory
    While the Norton/Symantec application is running, use Process Explorer or run 'tasklist /m' to list loaded DLLs. Use Process Monitor (procmon.exe) from Sysinternals to filter by the product's process name and check if DLLs are being loaded from paths that are not fully qualified (e.g., relative paths or the application directory instead of system directories)
    Affected if The application loads DLLs from the application directory or other user-writable locations without using fully qualified paths (e.g., loading "foo.dll" instead of "C:\Windows\System32\foo.dll")

If Norton Security or Symantec Endpoint Protection/Cloud/Cloud Agent is installed with a version below the thresholds listed above AND the application loads DLLs from non-qualified paths, the environment is affected by CVE-2018-18369.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 3.00.31.2817 / 22.16.3 or later
Fixed in 3.00.31.281722.16.3
Interim mitigation

Update to the patched versions: Norton Security 22.16.3 or later, SEP SBE Cloud Agent 3.00.31.2817 or later, NIS-22.15.2.22 or later, and SEP-12.1.7484.7002 or later.

Fix this in Endpoint Protection Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,060
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,696.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-18369 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-18369 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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