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Virex on-access scanning unreliable



Vulnerability:
The on-access scanner of McAfee Virex 7.7 for Mac is unreliable and fails the 
EICAR test. 

Using any webbrowser to download the EICAR testvirus from 
http://www.eicar.org/anti_virus_test_file.htm will not trigger the Virex 
on-access scanner and will not be noticed in most cases. If Virex does notice 
and report it, it will never prevent it from being saved to disk, even if the 
user tells Virex to delete the infected file.

Other scenarios where Virex on-access scanner fails might be possible.

Severity:
Moderate as long as Mac is not targeted by real viruses.
Fatal as soon as the first true virus epidemic for OS X appears.

McAfee notified 2006/02/17, denied responsability for the product and referred 
to Apple.
Apple notified 2006/02/17, denied responsability for the issue and referred to 
McAfee.
Published 2006/02/28 on Bugtraq.