Security company Symantec, developer of the popular Norton AntiVirus software, fixed a problem in its Live Update feature last week - a vulnerability that could allow malicious users to gain unauthorised administrator access rights to an affected PC.
Live Update is a feature Symantec's customers use in order to keep their virus signatures and security applications up to date. It can be set to automatically connect to the Internet and check Symantec's servers for a newer version. If one is found, the software can either prompt the user or automatically download and install the update, which is the recommended setting.
According to Symantec, the problem only affects Windows versions of its software and is rather obscure, requiring "a number of conditions" to be in place before it can be exploited. If an application has been set up in multi-user mode, with privileged and non-privileged access rights, it is possible for a non-privileged user to access and manipulate the Automatic Live Update interface in order to gain privileged access to the host computer.
The vulnerability, which was discovered by US-based consultants Secure Network Operations, was published on Tuesday, by which time Symantec had already fixed the problem by making a new version (2.0) of its Live Update feature available to download.
Symantec said the latest version of the update engine will be "automatically installed on a user's machine as soon as the computer connects to the Internet." If automatic live update has been disabled, users can use still Live Update to download and install the 4MB patch as soon as possible.
This is the second embarrassing episode for Symantec in a matter of days. Last Friday, Symantec's support forums were flooded with Norton AntiVirus users complaining of slow and unstable computers after the latest signature updates.
Talkback
Why does my iMac with 10.2.8 keep coming up with major errors after I run the most recent Norton Disc Doctor. This is very disconcerting. Disc Doctor tells me to boot with the Nortor disc to fix these "major problems". I do this, go through the process of repairing these so called "major errors", and the next time I run Disc Doctor from my normal start up disc, I have more "major errors". How can this be?
Signed,
Losing faith in Norton System Works for Mac.
Why does my ME windows have trouble connecting with the Internet, and I cannot access Norton to get a "LIVE UPDATE" unless I first disable the Norton Firewall ?? According to the latest "Symantec slams the door on Live Update flaw" this should be corrected...
What is wrong ???
Symantec has more than one Live Update flaw, in my opinion. It is not unusual to find that my NAV 2003 is somehow shut off and I cannot turn it back on (WinXp) unless I completely uninstall NAV and re-install it. Then it will not download Client Update info that is reported to be available. After several on line discussions with their tech support, I was told to ignore that download....it does not effect the virus protection features. And to try to get through their chain of links to get help is monstrous!!! No more Norton for me when my current year is up.
I deleted Norton antivirus software from my PC and am currently using McAfee. However, a year later, the Symantec LiveUpdate software is now causing my McAfee to be disabled. I cannot figure how to turn it off, I'm not sure what all this tool operates on my PC and need to contact Symantec for a solution.
I have Norton however, I don't know how run on-line
Talk about a program getting worse with time instead of improving this once pretty dam good antivirus is a freaking nightmare and dont even try to contact symantec every freaking support link takes you to a search engine that has nothiing to do with your prob or getting in touch with a tec.not to mention that they only support this shittier product with a shittier definitions subscription 1 year only it use to be unlimited . this being said norton is becomming the little program that coulden't but decided to charge you more anyway . I am in search of a viable alternate
why can't I get this thing to print the memo about being up to date on my firewall security. It is suppose to be in effect until 5-19-04 and I would like to renew it if possible. Please tell me how I can do this automatically.
I cannot get a liveupdate from symantec after downloading norton's 2004 anti virus. I can't even complete registration. I get a notice that there is not a catalog file available to complete the live update. What do I do?
I cannot get a liveupdate from symantec after downloading norton's 2004 anti virus. I can't even complete registration. I get a notice that there is not a catalog file available to complete the live update. What do I do?
I have waisted a lot of time going through the suggested remedies and now realize its not me.
I have been trying to update my norton antivirus system but I can not connect to them and I can not talk to anyone at their support system either. I am recieving an error message "LU1814:Live update could not retrieve the update list". Their computer generated supprt system is not working on my system. I do not know what to do or who to call. I purchased their system in March this year and I have a valid subscription.
Could you help me?
I cannot get Live Update to run either. After trying all of the remedies listed, including the uninstall/reinstall option, I am now without virus protection. My requests for help from Symantec remain unanswered.
I too can not get the symantec live update to work. I have had Norton virus protection for the last four years and have never had a problem like this. can someone come up with a remidy for this problem?
You have a virus on your computer. Do your windows updates and this won't happen again.
I have the same problem which started when I switched from dial-up to broadband access; I had previously had no problems with Live Update. Now I cannot access the www.symantec.com site at all to get any help. I assume there must be some set up which will allow access via broadband, can anyone help, please?
This is becoming a serious issue lately. After 2 days of exausting troubleshooting I can only assume that at some point a trojan virus has changed a setting somewhere on my computer. I have Norton 2005 anti-virus and scanned the computer and removed all viruses and trojans. I have SpySweeper remove adware and look for other trojan problems. I reinstalled and updated Live Updae and Norton. Problem continues. Live update giving a LU1814: error message.
Norton Has No Phone Support. I have tried everything. My internet explorer works fine and I am not running a firewall.
I heard somone who say to edit the C:\windows\system32\Drivers\Ect\HOST file and make sure there is no IP address AFTER the 127.0.0.1 IP address. When I checked I just had the 127.0.0.1 IP address at the bottom of the page but no other IP addresses after that which means that the file was fine.
Wish I had more to offer.
I had exactly the same problem! I am not impressed at all with Symantec and now am considering buying another product which is a real pain (not to mention expense).
I never had problems with liveupdate UNTIL I DOWNLOADED A CRITICAL UPDATE SERVICE PK 2 (FOR VM)...THATS WHAT SCREWED UP MY LIVEUPDATE AND EVEN tho I deleted and or uninstalled the windows update service pack 2 I still gt error msgs when trying to update virus or firewall definitions.. I ran a free virus scan from www.trendmicro.com and it detected 3 trojans which NORTON never picked up even tho on symantecs site those trojans would be caught if the virus def were updated in oct 2003...DUH..I am so updated until last week, SO WHY DID I GET THOSE TROJANS?..and to make matters worse norton CANNOT delete or quarantine them at all!!!..TRENDMICRO instead did thatg for me on their free online pc virus scan@.. thanks.. I know now which antivirus im going to renew subscription to!
I cant update since I renewed my subscription a month ago. No help from technical section of website. I have sent them several emails but no response. Can anyone help?
Sometimes you have to use special Symantec tools to completely remove Norton Antivirus and Norton Internet Security from the Windows Registry, even after you did add/remove of all Norton products. For NAV/NIS 2004 and 2005, you can download a .REG file that when run removes most of the Registry entries left by add/remove. For versions 2003 and before, they have other files. They also recommend reinstalling Microsoft scripting and provide a link to Microsoft to get the download. I have resolved Norton problems many times following their procedures. Go to Norton Support, Home User, Knowledgebase, and search for "Remove completely". Article is "Removing LiveUpdate after Add/Remove Programs does not work". I usually note problems with Norton after a failed live update, or sometimes with a Windows update. Never failed to get Norton back running okay after complete install procedures, reinstall, and refresh of live updates.
I am so happy to find out that I am not the only one who cannot run live update after installing symantec. I cannot even get through to any one on the phone when I ring and I keep getting this life update popup. I know my computer may be at risk but is there any solution to this or do I just change software.
We have got 'LU1814 Live Update could not retrieve the update list'. Could not access any of the help Symantec website pages. Wrote to Head Office - ignored. Wrote to company we bought Norton Antivirus from - they gave address of Symantec in Enland - wrote to Managing Director - ignored. Wrote to Managing Director of company purchased Norton from - gave some possible tips which did not work and said had been assured that the web pages were in full working order - still cannot obtain. Have had friends and a relative with same problems and are changing to Macafee like them of which they speak highly. Cannot contact Symantec on the telephone.
I am another user that cannot get Live update to run after renewing.
Symantec do not seem to want to know.
Does anybody have any advice?
I guess I am not alone error # 1814. I have printed all there help and still will not work.
It is cheaper to go to a diff. antivirus co. then call to speak to some one.I have been a long time customer since ver: # 5.0 this may be my last time with Norton
Purchased renewal for subscription service for Norton Internet Security. Followed all directions to enter reg. key. Program gives error message LU1814 which does not allow for subscription key to be entered. Am running in interactive mode as instructed. Program is flawed. I wasted $$30. Have subcribed successfully in the past. AVOID SYMANTEC PRODUCTS.
Had problems with LU1814 last year. Tried all suggested remedies. Phone Co. replaced phone lines-no help. Many days wasted on this finally reinstalled OS, all of 2 days to reinstall and reset network and "wala" back on the internet. Well here we are 1 month later and now I have 2 different machines both with the same error. I figure by the time I pay (again) to have this fixed I could buy Macafee(sp?) and it wouldn't cost me a dime. It lloks as if I'm not alone...
In my opinion Norton is generally a great antivirus system... My company uses it, so there for I support it on about a 1000 machines. I've recently started having the LU1814 error, which is exactly what you spoke of. None of the online knowledge bases seem to work. THE ONLY FIXES I have had actually WORK, where to as you suggested, rebuild the machine... Or just keep uninstalling and reinstalling. If you installed Live update as Norton suggested, make sure you uninstall that as well. After about a dozen or so times of uninstalling and reinstalling it does tend to come back...
>Never failed to get Norton back running
>okay after complete install procedures,
> reinstall, and refresh of live updates.
i don't want to get it running okay. i want to remove every last trace of it, but it's harder to get rid of than some of the vireuses they claim to protect against!
every time i think i've found a way to rip it out cleanly the computer crashes on reboot - and it seems to be keeping AVG from running properly.
LiveUpdate claims "programs are registered" but it won't tell you which ones. i think it is lying...
I am having problems with Norton Antivirus Live update since I have had updates downloaded from Symantec
Here is a solution that worked for me:
go to http://www.softwarepatch.com/internet/liveupdate.html
download the patch. It will delete the old live update file and replace it with the new working version. Just follow the reccomended instructions and your update should function again.
Mark
Have you tried this update:
http://www.softwarepatch.com/internet/liveupdate.html
Download and it will delete the nonfunctional version and replace with one that works again, at least this worked for me.
Google is great for these problems as well.
I tried the update and it did not help.
After many attemps to resolve the LU1814 problem in a variety of ways I tried the download as well -- NOTHING! Even Our office IT cannot work it out. Norton is almost as bad as AOL!!!
OK. I take it back. GO TO...
"Step 5: Rename a file
For many customers, simply renaming a file that is not used by our products fixes the problem."
(NOTE: I had three copies of the file .dll file under scrutiny)
AT the following address and try it!
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/sharedtech.nsf/docid/2002082616293813?OpenDocument&src=_mi&product=LU&version=2.6&language=english&module=LU&error=1814&build=Symantec
(NOTE: I did follow the Symantec pathway to this point (I could swear that I've done this all before), and in step 4 I'd found that I had numerous settings for LiveUpdate --hmm)
There are one or two more options after Step 5 but I did not need to go there...
Good Luck
hello i am from holland enschede. I get the same problem. That i cannot get the live update from symantec norton antivirus.
Does anyone have a solution for me?
mail to foverbeek@hotmail.com
thanks
Title: 'Error: "LU1814: LiveUpdate could not retrieve the update list"'
Document ID: 2002082616293813
> Web URL: http://service1.symantec.com/support/sharedtech.nsf/docid/2002082616293813?Open&src=w
I think one problem that some people may be encountering is that if you try running Symantec Live Update on one profile in Win XP then reboot and change to another profile, particularly if you delete the one you started the Live Update on, things get FUBARed in SLU land.
LU1814 on Norton AntiVirus2005 has been installed and uninstalled more times then I can count. Originally, I was told my Norton/Symantec tech support that this was caused by the fact that my new computer came to me with McAfee installed (even though I did a clean uninstall), including Windows uninstaller! I was told that this was not a known issue. Also, I found that my Customer ID changes several times in every 24 hour period -- again, I was told this is not a known issue; however, I have alerted a few perople of this and now they too notice same thing (How many people look at their Cust. ID? including Windows uninstaller! After returning 4 computers and having. Norton/Symantec had me thinking this McAfee thing was real and I returned 3 computers and on the 4th I had it sent clean of any other AV program or firewall. After all of thier lies I now find myself going thru the uninstall, reinstall process with about 4 downloads in between each of the uninstall and reinstall. To HECK with Norton/Symantec. I am about ready to sue thier a_ _'s for making me think it was an issue that only I have. Seems that almost everytime I run LU I have a problem and my skills of the "process" have become all too famliar. Tonight even the support site has not resolved the issue. Time to move on from this company who does not value a customer of 14 years!
Norton Anti Virus 2005. Not only are the many of us coming up with errors that LU cannot connect (when the connection is fine), or that it is the fault of our firewall (when that has already been disabled) but check out your Customert ID! I noticed that the Customer ID changes about 6 times in every 24 hour period. My friends have now checked thier Customer ID's and notice the same thing happening!
WHERE ARE YOU NORTON/SYMANTEC?
I had purchased a brand new computer, installed NAV2005 on it and was told by N/S that it was my computer or the fact that there had been another AV software loaded at factory - despite the fact I did a clean uninstall. I am on my fourth computer in as many weeks -- and I think it is about time that Norton/Symantec pay up. I will engage the company which exchanged my computer 3 times and went to the ends of the earth to please me by sending me a 4th with no AV preinstalled. Now I find out that these problems are known issues and I have it in writing from them that these problems were not known issues. I have a stack of documents between me and N/S about an inch thick of troubleshooting and thier constant insults to my intelligence by telling me always that I had a virus causing this problem -- screenshots of in depth security/virus scanning did not seem to stop the insults.
I have every intention of suing them for the inconvenience of my having incurred expenses for the constant new computers being sent to me; not to mention a VERY large company that also lost money in configuring and shipping 4 computers because of this lying process of Norton/Symantec. Good luck to all of you who chose to stay with a loser.
Mary
The solution posted by Mark Hendrixson
to download the new LiveUpdate from http://www.softwarepatch.com/internet/liveupdate.html fixed my LU1814 problem. Thanks Mark!
I updated to Internet 2005 last November. Ten days ago a series of error warnings began telling me my Virus definitions are out of date and that I should run Live Update for the latest protection updates. (This is set to be done automaticully) However I did it manually several times a day but it did not resolve the problem. It is driving me mad. Please can someone advise me what to do ?
This worked for me.
1. Open the following folder:
C:\Program Files\Symantec\LiveUpdate
2. Re-name the following file
S32LUHL1.DLL
to
S32LUHL1.old
3. Close the windows.
4. Try LiveUpdate again.
5. If that fails, look here for S32LUHL1.DLL and re-name to S32LUHL1.old.
C:\Program Files\Symantec_Client_Security_Symantec AntiVirus
6. Try LiveUpdate again.
I had the same problem.
A solution appeared in the Daily Telegraph's Boot up / Connected Column Tuesday 17-05-05.
Go to Start-Run-Type: regsvr32 actxprxy.dll
Tick OK in the box that appears.
Repeat with regsvr32 shdocvw.dll
Tick Ok in Box.
Reboot computer. This worked for me after a month of trying other ways - none of which worked!
Frank.
I've had the same issue - I've been through all the advice and none of it fixes the problem. Their own diagnostics helpfully tell me to update the software using, guess what, liveupdate, well that's a marvellous circle of uselessness - if that worked I wouldn;t have the problem. I've had loads of problems with Norton and have discovered that various "utilities" should definitely be disabled, e.g. ghost as they screw everything else up. Anyway I may well be going McAfee again which I used to have before one of the banks aI used to owkr for screwed that up for me putting their remote access software on my PC!! I'm pretty sure the problem is adware spyware blockers but I just can't find what exactly - to disable it.
This worked for me.
I had successfully cleaned W32.MTOB, but I connect to the Liveupdate server or other antivirus websites. Other than that, I could browse the web normally. My brower was hijacked.
This link describes how to fix the problem.
http://www.techsupportforum.com/computer/topic/50747-1.html
So it wasn't Symantec's fault after all.
Here is what worked for me:
http://tinyurl.com/877jb
your file rename worked for me. thanks so much for your help. i have been trying for a few weekds to fix this problem. nothing worked but your file rename.
I have the same problem as everyone else, Norton don't seem to give a toss about their products or good customer service.
Why should we, the customer, have to jump through hoops to try and fix THEIR problems? Especially when the so called "FIXES" seem to be about as good as their customer service. I have corporate clients who have started getting this crap on their desktops know and surprise surprise their service from Norton is crap too, even though they're paying a lot of cash for the pleasure.
So it's goodby Norton hello Mcafee for me.
I am dumping Symantec products completely. The inability to run Live Update and the attitude of Symantec is the last straw. McAfee, here I come!
USA
Ok people, this resolved the LU1814 error for me on 3 differant systems running XP and 2K. Go to \Program Files\Symantec\Liveupdate and rename or delete the file 'S32luhl1.dll'. for some reason this file is either corrupt or it doesn't get updated. Now try running Live update again.
if this doesn't work, then try renaming or deleting the 'Settings' file located in \Documents and Settings\All
Users\Application Data\Symantec\Liveupdate.
Thanks to whomever suggested to rename or delete s32luis1.dll. That was genious... I was about to send a $500 10 user license copy back to symantec! This is the kind of shit that makes you ditch the whole software after working on it for hours...
Thanks again,
Craig...