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Symantec Endpoint Protection versions prior to 14.3 do not properly validate file permissions when writing to log files. If a log file is replaced by a symbolic link, the application may follow the symlink and write log data to an unintended file, potentially allowing an attacker to overwrite arbitrary files with elevated privileges.
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1 valid exploit after Mallory filtered fakes, detection scripts, and README-only repos.
This repository contains a proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit for CVE-2020-5837, a local privilege escalation vulnerability in Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) 14.2 on Windows. The exploit abuses the way SEP's DoScan.exe creates log files in the user's AppData directory. By deleting the log directory and creating a symlink with the same name pointing to an arbitrary file, the attacker can cause SEP to write to a file of their choosing with elevated privileges. The main exploit logic is implemented in 'src/Exploit/Exploit.cpp', which constructs the log file path, removes the legitimate log directory, creates a symlink to the target file, and then triggers a scan via DoScan.exe. The repository includes utility code for creating symlinks, hardlinks, and manipulating reparse points and registry symlinks, much of which is adapted from James Forshaw's symboliclink-testing-tools. The exploit is not weaponized but provides a clear PoC for arbitrary file write, which can be leveraged for privilege escalation. No network endpoints are involved; the attack vector is local file system manipulation.
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