Format string vulnerability in Symantec pcAnywhere before 12.5 SP1 allows local users to read and modify arbitrary memory locations, and cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact, via format string specifiers in the pathname of a remote control file (aka .CHF file).
The product uses a function that accepts a format string as an argument, but the format string originates from an external source.
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pcanywhere | Symantec | * | 12.5 (including) |
| Pcanywhere | Symantec | 10.0 (including) | 10.0 (including) |
| Pcanywhere | Symantec | 10.5 (including) | 10.5 (including) |
| Pcanywhere | Symantec | 11.0 (including) | 11.0 (including) |
| Pcanywhere | Symantec | 11.0.1 (including) | 11.0.1 (including) |
| Pcanywhere | Symantec | 11.5 (including) | 11.5 (including) |
| Pcanywhere | Symantec | 11.5.1 (including) | 11.5.1 (including) |
| Pcanywhere | Symantec | 12.0 (including) | 12.0 (including) |
| Pcanywhere | Symantec | 12.1 (including) | 12.1 (including) |
When an attacker can modify an externally-controlled format string, this can lead to buffer overflows, denial of service, or data representation problems. It should be noted that in some circumstances, such as internationalization, the set of format strings is externally controlled by design. If the source of these format strings is trusted (e.g. only contained in library files that are only modifiable by the system administrator), then the external control might not itself pose a vulnerability.