Subject: Security Advisory (BEA08-196.00)
From: BEA Systems Inc.
Minor Subject: A session fixation exploit could result in elevated privileges
Product(s) Affected: WebLogic Server and WebLogic Express
Threat level: Low
There is a potential for a session fixation attack allowing an unprivileged user access to another user’s session.
Severity: High
An attacker may be able to gain access to protected resources.
A problem was identified that could potentially cause a security vulnerability in certain versions of WebLogic Server. Patch and 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
In order to exploit this vulnerability, an attacker must have access to the server’s console login page and have a non-administrator user account on that server. A session fixation vulnerability exists which can result in elevation of the attacker’s privileges. For more information about Session Fixation attacks, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Session_fixationThis advisory corrects this issue by always regenerating an auth cookie on login.
Impact and CVSS Ratings:
CVSS Severity Score: 6.8 (High)
Attack Range (AV): Network
Attack Complexity (AC): Medium
Authentication Level (Au): None
Impact Type: Partial confidentiality, partial integrity and partial
availability violation
Vulnerability Type: Elevation of Privilege
CVSS Base Score Vector: (AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P)
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 Server and WebLogic Express are affected by this vulnerability
- WebLogic Server 10.0, on all platforms
- WebLogic Server 9.2 released through Maintenance Pack 1, on all platforms
- WebLogic Server 8.1 Service Pack 4 through Service Pack 6, on all platforms
II. SUGGESTED ACTION
BEA Systems strongly recommends the following course of actions.
WebLogic Server 10.0
WebLogic Server 9.2
WebLogic Server 8.1
Upgrade to WebLogic Server and WebLogic Express 8.1 Service Pack 6
Install the patch from:
ftp://anonymous:dev2dev%40bea.com@ftpna.bea.com/pub/releases/security/CR326566_81sp6.jarPlace the jar for the patch in the CLASSPATH before the weblogic.jar file.
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=WLPNote: 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. REFERENCES
BEA Systems recognizes the contributions from the following professional organizations for their assistance in investigating this matter:
Mitja Kolsek (mitja.kolsek@acrossecurity.com), of ACROS Security , www.acrossecurity.com
IV. 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
V. 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.
