Certain encryption applications permit compression directly in the message body of an encrypted email file. Symantec Encryption Desktop will attempt decompression and decryption of these specifically formatted incoming email files without properly limiting maximum file size during the decompression process. Decryption of an excessively large compressed message could cause high memory and CPU usage resulting in a denial-of-service (DoS) as the system becomes unresponsive during the decompression attempt.
Product
|
Version
|
Build
|
Solution
—|—|—|—
Symantec PGP Desktop
|
10.0.x
10.1.x
10.2.x
|
All
|
Symantec Encryption Desktop 10.3.2 Maintenance Pack 3
Symantec Encryption Desktop
|
10.3.0
10.3.1
10.3.2
|
All
|
Symantec Encryption Desktop 10.3.2 Maintenance Pack 3
CVSS2
Base Score
|
Impact
|
Exploitability
|
CVSS2 Vector
—|—|—|—
Symantec Encryption Desktop Compressed Mail File Denial-of-Service - Medium
5.0
|
2.9
|
9.9
|
AV:N/AC:L/AU:N/C:N/I:N/A:P
CVE
|
BID
|
Description
—|—|—
CVE-2014-3436
|
BID 69259
|
Symantec Encryption Desktop Compressed Mail File Denial-of-Service
Details
Symantec was notified that Symantec Encryption Desktop is susceptible to creating a DoS condition on a client system when decrypting a specifically formatted/compressed incoming encrypted email message. Symantec Encryption Desktop fails to properly limit decompressed file size during the decryption process. Certain encryption applications allow compression directly in the encrypted mail file which is decrypted and decompressed by Symantec Encrypted Desktop on receipt by the mail client. A malicious individual can encrypt a specifically formatted and encrypted email message and send it to a targeted user. Depending on the option setting for the mail client, Symantec Encryption Desktop will attempt the decryption process upon receipt of the malformed email without user intervention. By not properly restricting size limitations during the decompression portion of the decryption, this could result in excessive CPU and memory usage. Successful exploitation of this issue could cause a system to become unresponsive and potentially crash.
Symantec Response
Symantec engineers verified this issue and have released an update in Symantec Encryption Desktop 10.3.2 MP3.
Update information
Customers may obtain Symantec Desktop Encryption maintenance updates through their normal Symantec support locations.
Best Practices
As part of normal best practices, Symantec strongly recommends:
Symantec would like to thank Alexander Klink, n.runs professionals GmbH, for reporting the issue and working with Symantec as it was addressed.
BID: Security Focus, http://www.securityfocus.com, has assigned a Bugtraq ID (BID) to this issue for inclusion in the Security Focus vulnerability database.
CVE: This issue is a candidate for inclusion in the CVE list (http://cve.mitre.org), which standardizes names for security problems.