CVE-2018-5238
Norton Power Eraser (prior to 5.3.0.24) and SymDiag (prior to 2.1.242) may be susceptible to a...
Norton Power Eraser (prior to 5.3.0.24) and SymDiag (prior to 2.1.242) may be susceptible to a DLL Preloading vulnerability, which is a type of issue that can occur when an application looks to call a DLL for execution and an attacker provides a malicious DLL to use instead. Depending on how the application is configured, it will generally follow a specific search path to locate the DLL. The vulnerability can be exploited by a simple file write (or potentially an over-write) which results in a foreign DLL running under the context of the application.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- Required
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
NVD Score used
Norton Power Eraser (prior to 5.3.0.24) and SymDiag (prior to 2.1.242) may be susceptible to a DLL Preloading vulnerability, which is a type of issue that can occur when an application looks to call a DLL for execution and an attacker provides a malicious DLL to use instead. Depending on how the application is configured, it will generally follow a specific search path to locate the DLL. The vulnerability can be exploited by a simple file write (or potentially an over-write) which results in a foreign DLL running under the context of the application.
- Record
CVE-2018-5238- CVSS 3.0
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - CVSS 2.0
- 6.8 Medium
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P - Weakness
- CWE-427
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
CVE List No score
Norton Power Eraser (prior to 5.3.0.24) and SymDiag (prior to 2.1.242) may be susceptible to a DLL Preloading vulnerability, which is a type of issue that can occur when an application looks to call a DLL for execution and an attacker provides a malicious DLL to use instead. Depending on how the application is configured, it will generally follow a specific search path to locate the DLL. The vulnerability can be exploited by a simple file write (or potentially an over-write) which results in a foreign DLL running under the context of the application.
- Record
CVE-2018-5238- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2018-17020 No score
Norton Power Eraser (prior to 5.3.0.24) and SymDiag (prior to 2.1.242) may be susceptible to a DLL Preloading vulnerability, which is a type of issue that can occur when an application looks to call a DLL for execution and an attacker provides a malicious DLL to use instead. Depending on how the application is configured, it will generally follow a specific search path to locate the DLL. The vulnerability can be exploited by a simple file write (or potentially an over-write) which results in a foreign DLL running under the context of the application.
- Record
EUVD-2018-17020- Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-cf5f-pw2j-32gg
Norton Power Eraser (prior to 5.3.0.24) and SymDiag (prior to 2.1.242) may be susceptible to a...
Norton Power Eraser (prior to 5.3.0.24) and SymDiag (prior to 2.1.242) may be susceptible to a DLL Preloading vulnerability, which is a type of issue that can occur when an application looks to call a DLL for execution and an attacker provides a malicious DLL to use instead. Depending on how the application is configured, it will generally follow a specific search path to locate the DLL. The vulnerability can be exploited by a simple file write (or potentially an over-write) which results in a foreign DLL running under the context of the application.
- Record
GHSA-cf5f-pw2j-32gg- CVSS 3.0
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-427
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases, products | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2018-5238 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.8) in Symantec Norton Power Eraser, published August 22, 2018. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.57%, the 75th percentile. No source names a fixed version.