Oracle fixes database, application server flaws

By Joris Evers, IDG News Service

February 18, 2003 12:00 PM ET

IDG News Service - Oracle Corp. is patching four security flaws in its database software and two in its application server, the most serious of which could allow an attacker to take complete control of a system running the software, experts warned.

Most dangerous is a buffer overrun flaw in the Oracle.exe binary of Oracle's database 9i Release 2, 9i Release 1, 8i Version 8.1.7 and 8 Version 8.0.6, according to Mark Litchfield, a security researcher at Next Generation Security Software Ltd. (NGS) in Sutton, England. Litchfield is credited by Oracle with discovering the flaw.

The flaw lies in the authentication process for the database. By supplying an overly long user name, an attacker can overflow a stack-based buffer and load arbitrary code onto the system, allowing for a complete compromise, Litchfield wrote in a security advisory distributed yesterday via the BugTraq mailing list.

An exploit can be successful only if a client application doesn't properly limit the data sent to the database, Oracle said in its security alert released last week (download PDF). Litchfield, in an interview today, agreed but said "it is fairly simple to write your own Oracle authenticator."

The other three flaws affecting the same versions of Oracle's database product are also buffer overruns but can be exploited only by a user who can log onto the database, which mitigates the risk.

Oracle introduced two vulnerabilities in its 9i Application Server when it added to Version 9.0.2 a feature called Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) that turns the Web into a file-sharing system, according to another alert from NGS that was also distributed yesterday.

The WebDAV feature is turned on by default, allowing attackers to anonymously upload files to the server. Furthermore, a flaw in a logging function of the feature is flawed. An attacker could take over the server by sending it a specially formatted string, according to NGS.

Oracle has patches available to fix all of the flaws in its database software for most operating systems, while patches for some platforms are still in the works. Application Server users are urged to turn off WebDAV or upgrade to Version 9.0.3 and apply a patch.

More information on all flaws and patch availability can be found on Oracle's security Web site.

Additional Resources

WHITE PAPER

Forrester Consulting - Optimizing Users and Applications in a Mobile World

Solving application issues over the WAN requires careful consideration. Based on their independent research, Forrester Consulting offers recommendations on how to tackle application performance issues, insufficient bandwidth and the inability to quickly restore users in a disaster.

Read now.

WHITE PAPER

Enter the Security KnowledgeVault

Security is not an option. This KnowledgeVault Series offers professional advice how to be proactive in the fight against cybercrimes and multi-layered security threats; how to adopt a holistic approach to protecting and managing data; and how to hire a qualified security assessor. Make security your Number 1 priority.

Read now.

WHITE PAPER

Cut Communications Costs Once and for All

New IP-based communications systems are being deployed by small and midsized businesses at a rapid rate. Learn how these organizations are enabling faster responsiveness, creating better customer experiences, speeding office or mobile interactions, and dramatically reducing existing communications costs.

Read now.

Top Stories

Free Insider Guide

Excel 2010 Cheat Sheet: Register for this Computerworld Insider Cheat Sheet and gain access to hundreds of premium content articles, guides, product reviews and more.

Security White Papers

Overcome Top 7 Admin Challenges of Active Directory: As Active Directory's role in the enterprise has drastically increased, so has the need to secure the data. Gain insight on creating repeatable,...
Insiders Can Ruin Your Company. Take Action.: Did you know that 80 percent of threats to an organization come from the inside? The threat from insiders is often overlooked in...
Top Solutions and Tools to Prevent Devastating Malware: Custom malware frequently goes undetected. According to Forrester Research, the best way to reduce risk of breach is to deploy file integrity monitoring...
X-Ray of the PCI Process-4 Proactive Steps: This white paper from Forrester Research Inc., helps break PCI into understandable components. Security and risk professionals will gain knowledge and insight into...
Identity Governance: The Business Imperatives: This white paper describes the business challenges and opportunities that are driving interest in Identity Governance while discussing considerations your organization should make...

Security Webcasts

Live Webcast Playing Defense: Staying on Top of Your Disaster Recovery Game: When it comes to disaster recovery, rapidly growing data volumes, distributed computing models, and new technologies all combine to present an ever-changing playing...
Introduction to VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5: Traditional disaster recovery solutions are often too expensive, complex and unreliable to meet business requirements. As a result, IT departments are hesitant to...
The Top Ten Secrets to Avoiding SAN Performance Problems: Maintaining peak performance while simultaneously addressing the root cause of SAN errors is challenging. Learn the most common SAN problems and explore new...
Deduplication Without Compromise: Go inside Quantum's scalable, high-performance, multi-protocol new DXi deduplication appliances, designed to make backup much more effective. Discover how the new future-proof DXi6700...
Director of Disk Products Discusses DXi6700: Discover how the new DXi 6700 series of deduplication appliances provide investment protection and a future-proof feature set, all while delivering fast, scalable,...
Playing Defense: Staying on Top of Your Disaster Recovery Game: When it comes to disaster recovery, rapidly growing data volumes, distributed computing models, and new technologies all combine to present an ever-changing playing...