Security Advisories and Notifications

From: Oracle Corporation

Minor Subject: Patches available to prevent operators from gaining administrative access

Product(s) Affected: WebLogic Server and Express

Threat level: low

Severity: high

Recently a BEA consultant identified a problem 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

This vulnerability can occur when there are users in the Operator role who are not also in the Admin role and the NodeManager is used to start servers. The users in the Operator role unintentionally have read and write access to the username and password used for remote starting each server. If these usernames and passwords belong to Admin users, the Operator can potentially discover them and use them to impersonate Admin users.

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

• WebLogic Server and Express 8.1 on all platforms
• WebLogic Server and Express 7.0 and 7.0.0.1 on all platforms

II. SUGGESTED ACTION

Oracle strongly recommends the following course of actions:

• WebLogic Server and Express 8.1
  • Download and apply the patch #7823305 from OracleMetaLink as per the instructions below:
    • Select the Patches and Updates tab after logging in to OracleMetaLink.
    • Click Simple Search.
    • In the Search By field, select Patch Number from the list.
    • Enter the patch number. The patch number may be different for different product releases and platforms.
    • Select the platform (or choose generic as applicable)
    • Click Go.
    • Click Download to download the patch.
  • When Service Pack 1 becomes available, you can use that Service Pack instead of this patch.

• WebLogic Server and Express 7.0 and 7.0.0.1
  • Upgrade to Service Pack 2 and download and apply the patch #7823292 from OracleMetaLink as per the instructions below:
    • Select the Patches and Updates tab after logging in to OracleMetaLink.
    • Click Simple Search.
    • In the Search By field, select Patch Number from the list.
    • Enter the patch number. The patch number may be different for different product releases and platforms.
    • Select the platform (or choose generic as applicable)
    • Click Go.
    • Click Download to download the patch.
  • When Service Pack 3 becomes available, you can use that Service Pack instead of Service Pack 2 and this patch.

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