Security Advisories and Notifications

Security Advisory: (BEA04-71.00)

From: Oracle Corporation

Minor Subject: Upgrade and patch are available to ensure complete security role and policy deployment

Product(s) Affected: WebLogic Server and WebLogic Express

Threat level: Low

Only certain internal errors in the security providers can cause the vulnerability.

Severity: Medium

Application security can be seriously compromised.

A problem was identified that could potentially cause a security vulnerability in certain versions of WebLogic Server and WebLogic Express. Patches are available to correct this problem (see Section II). Oracle treats potential security problems with the highest degree of urgency and does everything possible to ensure the security of all customer assets. As a result, Oracle strongly suggests the following actions:

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

This vulnerability occurs in both WebLogic Server and WebLogic Express. Throughout the rest of this advisory, references to WebLogic Server apply to both products.

I. ADVISORY

This vulnerability can occur when security roles and policies are being read from the deployment descriptors during deployment and an internal error occurs in one of the security providers during deployment. Some errors will not be reported and the application might deploy with incomplete security.

This vulnerability typically will cause an application to be left with incomplete security roles and policies. The exact form the problem takes is highly dependent on the security settings of the application and the type of error(s) that occurred in the security provider during deployment.

This advisory resolves the issue by ensuring that all errors are reported and causing the application does not deploy until those errors are resolved.

The following versions of WebLogic Server are affected by this vulnerability

  • WebLogic Server 8.1, released through Service Pack 2, on all platforms
  • WebLogic Server 7.0, released through Service Pack 5, on all platforms

II. SUGGESTED ACTION

Oracle strongly recommends the following course of actions.

  • For WebLogic Server 8.1: Upgrade to WebLogic 8.1 Service Pack 3.
  • For WebLogic Server 7.0 perform the following steps:
    • Upgrade to WebLogic Server 7.0 Service Pack 5
    • Download and apply the patch #7824740 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.
    • WebLogic Server 7.0 Service Pack 6 will include the functionality in 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