CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2017-13681 — Symantec Endpoint Protection security vulnerability

High CVSS 7.8

Symantec Endpoint Protection prior to SEP 12.1 RU6 MP9 could be susceptible to a privilege escalation vulnerability, which is a type of issue that allows a user to gain elevated access to resources that are normally protected at lower access levels. In the circumstances of this issue, the capability of exploit is limited by the need to perform multiple file and directory writes to the local filesystem and as such, is not feasible in a standard drive-by type attack.

Severity
High
CVSS
7.8 (3.0)
Published
2017-11-06
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application

Affected products

  • symantec / endpoint_protection

Matched remediation archetype

Privilege escalation and unsafe privilege management

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Map service accounts, operating-system identities, roles, capabilities, impersonation, set-user transitions, and administrative helper paths.
  • Determine whether untrusted users or lower-privilege processes can reach the affected transition or modify inputs it trusts.
  • Review file, socket, registry, device, job, container, and cloud-role permissions used before and after privilege changes.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the supported fix and redesign privileged operations as a minimal, authenticated, allowlisted interface.
  • Drop privileges before processing untrusted input, verify the drop succeeds, and remove unnecessary roles, capabilities, and write permissions.
  • Validate ownership and permissions at time of use and add explicit lower-to-higher privilege boundary tests.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

The detailed catalog view below loads this exact record, its source evidence, and the full seven-phase agentic change plan.