Anti-virus Software: The Next Big Worm Target?

[mandy]

Finnish anti-virus specialist F-Secure Corp. has pushed out patches for multiple code execution vulnerabilities in its security software suite, prompting a new round of warnings that flaws in security products present a lucrative target for malicious hackers.

The updates from F-Secure, rated "highly critical" because the vulnerabilities put users at risk of security bypass and system access attacks, come just weeks after rival Symantec Corp. publicly acknowledged that a high-risk buffer overflow in its AntiVirus Library could allow the execution of malicious code...

In its most recent annual report on the Top 20 vulnerabilities, the SANS institute warned that an increase in the number of flaws in client-side applications—including anti-virus and backup software—is giving attackers easy access to sensitive systems, including government and military networks...

full article: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1913701,00.asp