Symantec issues patch for flaw in backup software

Security specialist Symantec issued a critical update on Tuesday for its Veritas NetBackup 6.0 PureDisk Remote Office Edition, whose vulnerabilities could allow attackers to gain remote control over a user's system.

Symantec issued the security update to address buffer overflow vulnerabilities found in the HTML-embedded scripting language PHP, which is used in its PureDisk software, according to Symantec's security advisory.

Symantec encountered similar buffer overflow vulnerabilities with its NetBackup software earlier this year. The concerns surrounding that problem were compounded when a security organization publicly released computer code that could exploit the flaws.

In this latest case with PureDisk, however, Symantec says it is not aware of any publicly available exploit code.

[law_hog]

Not Symantec's only problem

As an IT professional, I'm tired of cleaning PC's that are "protected" by Norton branded products.

Viruses and serious spyware seem to operate with ostensible immunity under the nose of the products that users imagine is protecting them. I fouind one piece of spyware that was actually able to disable Norton completely.

Symantec has more than a backup flaw to deal with.

[wbenton]

At least they're starting to learn

They've successfully weaned themselves from Microsoft as they're not waiting for Patch Tuesday to patch. (* GRIN *)

Walt

[SamMapson]

Veritas customers abandoning Symantec

Many Veritas customers, like myself, are fed up with Symantec. Previous support from Veritas was decent. Now under Symantec, it is totally impossible to get support. A sna-fu in the licensing process in BackupExec 11d has caused a flood of calls into their support lines.

I tried twice to call their 800 number and was disconnected both times after a 40 minute wait. The line is now unreachable and you get a busy tone. An open ticket on their customercare support site has been unanswered/unassigned for over 2 weeks.

Their support forums are filled to dissatisfied customers like this one http://forums.symantec.com/discussions/thread.jspa?threadID=69331&tstart=0

I am also abandoning Symantec and going to EMC/Dantz/Retrospect. I called them and got a solution within a minute.