Security Advisories and Notifications

Security Advisory: (BEA04-49.00)

From: Oracle Corporation

Minor Subject: Upgrade available to protect Administrative permissions

Product(s) Affected: WebLogic Server and Express

Threat level: Low
Only an Operator can exploit it.

Severity: High
The user can acquire some administrative permissions.

A problem was identified that could potentially cause a security vulnerability in certain versions of WebLogic Server and Express. An upgrade is available to correct this problem (see section II below). Oracle treats such possibilities with the highest degree of urgency and does everything possible to ensure the security of all customer assets. As a result, we strongly suggest the following action:

I. Read the following advisory.
II. Apply the suggested action.
III. If you know of any additional users interested in future security advisories, please forward them the registration instructions below.

I. Advisory

Due to a coding error, users in the Operator role are incorrectly given access to certain sensitive MOraclen attributes containing passwords. This is incorrect as users in the Operator role are supposed to be able to perform server lifecycle operations but are not supposed to have access to passwords. The attributes that the Operator incorrectly has access to include the ServerStartMOraclen.Password and the NodeManagerMOraclen.CertificatePassword. Once obtaining these passwords, it may be possible for the Operator to obtain full administrative control of the server.

This vulnerability affects sites with users who are in the Operator role and not in the Admin role.

The following versions of WebLogic Server and Express are affected by this vulnerability

WebLogic Server and Express 8.1, released and Service Pack 1, all platforms

II. SUGGESTED ACTION

Oracle strongly recommends the following course of actions:

For WebLogic Server and Express 8.1

Upgrade to Service Pack 2.

SECURITY COMMUNICATIONS

Oracle strongly suggests that customers apply the remedies recommended in all our security advisories. Oracle also urges customers to apply every Service/Maintenance Pack as they are released. Service/Maintenance Packs include a roll-up of all bug fixes for each version of the product, as well as each of the prior Service/Maintenance Packs. Service/Maintenance Packs and information about them can be found at: http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/ias/bea_main.html

Note: Information about securing WebLogic Server and WebLogic Express can be found at http://edocs.bea.com/wls/docs103/security.html. Specific lockdown information is provided at http://e-docs.bea.com/wls/docs103/lockdown/index.html. We strongly encourage you to review this documentation to ensure your server deployment is securely configured.

As a policy, if there are any security-related issues with any Oracle product, Oracle will distribute an advisory and instructions with the appropriate course of action. Because the security of your site, data, and code is our highest priority, we are committed to communicating all security-related issues clearly and openly.

All previous advisories can be viewed at: http://www.oracle.com/technology/deploy/security/wls-security.

Additional users who wish to register for product advisory distribution should follow the registration directions at: http://www.oracle.com/technology/deploy/security/alerts.htm.

Security issues can be reported to Oracle by following the directions at: http://www.oracle.com/technology/deploy/security/alerts.htm.

Thank you,
Oracle Corporation