Subject: Security Advisory (BEA07-171.00)
From: BEA Systems Inc.
Minor Subject: Non-trusted Applets may be able to exploit serialization condition to elevate privileges
Product(s) Affected: BEA JRockit and BEA Products using BEA JRockit
Threat level: High
A malicious applet may be able to exploit a serialization condition in the Java Runtime Environment
Severity: High
An unauthenticated attacker may be able to grant itself privileges to read and write local files or execute local applications.
A problem was identified that could potentially cause a security vulnerability in certain versions of JRockit. Upgrades are available to correct this problem (see Section II). BEA Systems treats potential security problems with a high degree of urgency and endeavors to take appropriate steps to help ensure the security of our customers' systems. As a result, BEA Systems strongly suggests the following actions:
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 included in this advisory.
I. Advisory
The Sun Java Runtime Environment contains vulnerabilities that can allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system.
Sun Microsystems advised of two vulnerabilities related to serialization in the Java Runtime Environment. These vulnerabilities would allow a malicious applet or application to elevate its privileges. Earlier BEA JRockit releases supporting applets may be affected by this issue. The latest version of BEA JRockit cannot be used to run applets, so it is not affected by this issue. For more information, please see the following advisory from Sun Microsystems:
http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-26-102731-1
Impact and CVSS Ratings:
CVSS Severity Score: 8.0 (High)
Attack Range (AV): Remote
Attack Complexity (AC): High
Authentication Level (Au): Not Required
Impact Type: Elevation of privilege. Complete confidentiality, integrity, and availability violation
Vulnerability Type: Elevation of Privilege, Buffer Overflow
CVSS Base Score Vector: (AV:R/AC:H/Au:NR/C:C/I:C/A:C/B:N)
Complete CVSS Guide: http://www.first.org/cvss/cvss-guide.html
Online Calculator: http://nvd.nist.gov/cvss.cfm?calculator
The following versions of BEA JRockit are affected by this vulnerability:
- Releases prior to BEA JRockit R26.0.0 1.4.2_07 and BEA JRockit R26.0.0 1.5.0_04
This vulnerability does not affect JRockit 7.0 SP6 RP1 JDK 1.3.1_20.
BEA JRockit version R26.0.0 or later cannot be used to run applets within a browser since it is primarily a server oriented JVM. If you upgrade to JRockit R27.2.0, this will prevent you from accidentally running applets with JRockit.
II. SUGGESTED ACTION
BEA Systems strongly recommends the following course of actions.
If you want to prevent applets from running on your client applications upgrade to the latest BEA JRockit. You can also upgrade to any other JVM that support applets with the appropriate security patches installed. JRockit versions can be found at:
http://commerce.bea.com/products/weblogicjrockit/jrockit_prod_fam.jsp
For releases prior to R26.0, please contact BEA Technical Support at support@bea.com for the appropriate patch.
You can verify your version of BEA JRockit by running “java -version".
BEA strongly suggests that customers apply the remedies recommended in all our security advisories. BEA 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:
BEA JRockit: http://commerce.bea.com/products/weblogicjrockit/jrockit_prod_fam.jsp
WebLogic Server: http://commerce.bea.com/showallversions.jsp?family=WLS
WebLogic Platform: http://commerce.bea.com/showallversions.jsp?family=WLP
Note: Information about securing WebLogic Server and WebLogic Express can be found at http://edocs.bea.com/wls/docs81/security.html. Specific lockdown information is provided at http://edocs.bea.com/wls/docs81/lockdown/index.html. We strongly encourage you to review this documentation to ensure your server deployment is securely configured.
III. FUTURE SECURITY COMMUNICATIONS
If there are security-related issues with BEA product, BEA Systems generally distributes an advisory and instructions with a recommended course of action. Because the security of your site, data, and code is a high priority, we are committed to generally communicating security-related issues to our customers and partners.
All previous advisories can be viewed at http://dev2dev.bea.com/advisoriesnotifications/
BEA Systems has established an opt-in emailing list specifically targeted for product security advisories and notifications. As a policy, if a user has opted-in to our emailing list and there is a relevant security issue with the BEA product(s) he/she is using, BEA generally distributes an advisory and instructions via email with a recommended course of action.
ADDITIONAL USERS WHO WISH TO REGISTER FOR ADVISORY DISTRIBUTION SHOULD FOLLOW THE REGISTRATION DIRECTIONS AT http://dev2dev.bea.com/advisoriesnotifications/
IV. REPORTING SECURITY ISSUES
Security issues can be reported to BEA Systems by sending email to secalert@bea.com or by following the directions at http://dev2dev.bea.com/advisoriesnotifications/. If BEA has validated a reported security issue, we will endeavor to assess the severity of the impact of the security issue and the likelihood of the exploitation of the vulnerability. Based on these assessments and other factors, BEA will endeavor to develop and appropriately prioritize a workaround or patch designed to reduce or eliminate the risk of the vulnerability.
If you have any questions or care to verify the authenticity of this advisory, please contact BEA Technical Support at support@bea.com
Thank you,
BEA Systems, Inc.
