Subject: Security Advisory (BEA08-185.00)
From: BEA Systems Inc.
Minor Subject: Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in Web applications using WebLogic Workshop NetUI page flows
Product(s) Affected: WebLogic Workshop

Threat level: High
Although this requires careful orchestration, this method of attack has been publicly documented.

Severity: High
An attacker may be able to trick another user into divulging their credentials or executing malicious code on behalf of the attacker.

A problem was identified that could potentially cause a security vulnerability in certain versions of WebLogic Workshop. An upgrade is 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

Background: Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities are well documented in the industry. An XSS vulnerability requires three parties:

• 1. A susceptible Web site.
• 2. A valid user of the Web site.
• 3. An attacker.

The attacker tricks the user (usually via misleading links on web pages or within emails) to exploit the XSS vulnerability in the Web site. This allows the attacker to run arbitrary client-side (i.e. browser) scripts that execute as the identity of the valid user. Typically this is used to steal session cookies thereby allowing the attacker to impersonate the valid user. XSS vulnerabilities can arise due to bugs in the Web server or in applications running on it.

Applications implemented using the WebLogic Workshop NetUI framework and page flows may be vulnerable to XSS because of a URI encoding error when displaying an invalid action URI.

This advisory resolves an issue with the WebLogic Workshop NetUI framework that makes Web applications using page flows susceptible to cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks.

Impact and CVSS Ratings:

CVSS Severity Score: 7.6 (High)
Attack Range (AV): Network
Attack Complexity (AC): High
Authentication Level (Au): None
Impact Type: Complete confidentiality, integrity and availability violation
Vulnerability Type: Elevation of Privilege
CVSS Base Score Vector: (AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C)

Complete CVSS Guide: http://www.first.org/cvss/cvss-guide.html
Online Calculator: http://nvd.nist.gov/cvss.cfm?calculator&version=2

The following versions of WebLogic Workshop are affected by this vulnerability

• WebLogic Workshop 8.1 released through Service Pack 5, on all platforms.

II. SUGGESTED ACTION

BEA Systems strongly recommends the following course of actions.

WebLogic Workshop 8.1

Upgrade to WebLogic Workshop 8.1 Service Pack 6.

BEA strongly suggests that customers apply the remedies recommended in all our security advisories. BEA also urges customers to apply every Service Pack as they are released. Service Packs include a roll-up of all bug fixes for each version of the product, as well as each of the prior Service Packs. Service Packs and information about them can be found at:

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/docs100/security.html. Specific lockdown information is provided at http://edocs.bea.com/wls/docs100/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 and notifications can be viewed at http://dev2dev.bea.com/advisories/

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/advisories

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/advisories. 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.