Security Advisories and Notifications

Security Advisory: (BEA03-43.00)

From: Oracle Corporation

Minor Subject: Workaround available to prevent Mbean exposure

Product(s) Affected: WebLogic Server and Express

Threat level: Low

This vulnerability requires RMI access to exploit.

Severity: Low

This vulnerability results in the leaking of non-confidential configuration data to anonymous users.

Recently a problem was identified that could potentially cause a security vulnerability in certain versions of WebLogic Server and Express. Patches are available to correct this problem (see section II below). BEA 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

By default, the MBeanHome for a site can be gotten by an anonymous user from JNDI. From the MBeanHome, many configuration MBeans can be obtained and examined. Although this does not introduce any known security vulnerabilities, Oracle considers it best security practices to deny any potential attackers access to as much configuration data as possible.

This vulnerability affects sites running a WebLogic Server unless they have previously disabled anonymous admin lookup. To exploit this vulnerability, a user must have RMI access to the site.

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

  • WebLogic Server and Express 6.1, 7.0, and 8.1, on all platforms

II. SUGGESTED ACTION

Oracle strongly recommends the following course of actions:

There are three courses of action that can be taken to alleviate the risk presented here:

  1. 1. Protect portions of the JNDI tree that contain sensitive data using the console. The "weblogic.management.adminhome", "weblogic.management.home.localhome" and "weblogic.management.home" entries are the ones that must be protected.
  2. On WebLogic Server 7.0 and greater, anonymous access can be disabled by setting the Anonymous Admin Lookup Enabled attribute to false.
  3. Denying RMI access to clients. This vulnerability requires RMI to access JNDI. If RMI access can be denied (e.g.: via a firewall) then this vulnerability cannot be exploited.

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.

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.

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

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

Thank you,

Oracle Corporation