CVE-2018-5238
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 Power Eraser (prior to 5.3.0.24) and SymDiag (prior to 2.1.242) 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. Depending on how the application is configured, it will generally follow a specific search path to locate the DLL. The vulnerability can be exploited by a simple file write (or potentially an over-write) which results in a foreign DLL running under the context of the application.
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 confidenceNorton Power Eraser (prior to 5.3.0.24) and SymDiag (prior to 2.1.242) are vulnerable to DLL Preloading (DLL Hijacking). The applications load dynamic-link libraries without specifying full paths, causing them to search a predictable path hierarchy. An attacker with file write access can place a malicious DLL in a location the application searches before the legitimate DLL, achieving code execution under the application's context.
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< 5.3.0.24< 2.1.242CVSS 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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Identify Norton Power Eraser installation path and versionLocate the Norton Power Eraser executable (commonly in Program Files or a Norton subfolder). Right-click the executable, select Properties, and view the Details tab to find the Product Version. Alternatively, run 'wmic product get name,version' or check the executable's version via command line.Affected if The Product Version is less than 5.3.0.24
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Identify SymDiag installation path and versionLocate the SymDiag executable (commonly in Program Files or a Symantec subfolder). Right-click the executable, select Properties, and view the Details tab to find the Product Version. Alternatively, check via command line or registry under HKLM\Software\Symantec\SymDiag.Affected if The Product Version is less than 2.1.242
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Check if Norton Power Eraser directory is writable by non-admin usersRight-click the folder containing Norton Power Eraser, select Properties, go to the Security tab, and review write permissions for standard users or the Users group. Or run 'icacls "<path_to_folder>"' to list permissions.Affected if Users or low-privileged accounts have Write or Write+Execute permissions to the application directory
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Check if SymDiag directory is writable by non-admin usersRight-click the folder containing SymDiag, select Properties, go to the Security tab, and review write permissions for standard users or the Users group. Or run 'icacls "<path_to_folder>"' to list permissions.Affected if Users or low-privileged accounts have Write or Write+Execute permissions to the application directory
You are affected if Norton Power Eraser is below version 5.3.0.24 or SymDiag is below version 2.1.242, and either application is stored in a directory writable by lower-privileged users, enabling DLL hijacking.
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 data2.1.2425.3.0.24
Upgrade Norton Power Eraser to version 5.3.0.24 or later, and SymDiag to version 2.1.242 or later. If upgrading is not immediately feasible, ensure these applications are not run from directories writable by lower-privileged users, and consider restricting file system permissions around the application directories.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-5238 — 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-2018-5238 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