Security hole found in Symantec anti-virus software

A new security hole in Symantec’s Anti-virus program involves the decompressing of RAR files by creating “heap overflows”.

To create a heap overflow, a malicious hacker sends large amounts of data that overwhelm a buffer, an area used for temporary data storage. This attack, similar to a buffer overflow, lets attackers overwrite portions of a system’s memory in order to run their own malicious code.

Symantec users are vulnerable to the attack when their anti-virus software scans the RAR files for viruses or worms, Wheeler wrote. The attack can be launched via e-mail without the user having to open the message or click on an attachment, he said

Source: TechWorld

To avoid this security hole for now you can disable the scanning of RAR files. A fix should be out shortly.