Subject: Security Advisory (BEA08-199.00)
From: BEA Systems Inc.
Minor Subject: A carefully constructed URL may cause the Sun, IIS or Apache web-server to crash
Product(s) Affected: WebLogic Server and WebLogic Express

Threat level: High
A remote attacker may cause BEA’s web server plugin to crash the Sun, IIS or Apache web server.

Severity: High
This denial of service attack may result in a service outage.

A problem was identified that could potentially cause a security vulnerability in certain versions of WebLogic Server. An updated plug-in 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

An attacker can use a carefully constructed URL to cause BEA’s proxy plugin to crash the Sun, IIS or Apache web server process. On re-start, this may cause in-flight requests to be lost. This can cause a temporary denial of service. This attack can be exploited remotely, and the attacker does not need any authentication.

This advisory resolves the issue in the plugin by correctly handling URLs.

Impact and CVSS Ratings:

CVSS Severity Score: 5.0 (Medium)
Attack Range (AV): Network
Attack Complexity (AC): Low
Authentication Level (Au): None
Impact Type: Partial availability impact
Vulnerability Type: Denial of service
CVSS Base Score Vector: (AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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

• Plug-ins dated prior to November 2007

II. SUGGESTED ACTION

BEA Systems strongly recommends the following course of actions.

WebLogic Server plug-in for supported Sun, IIS and Apache web servers:

1. Download the latest web server plug-in from the following location:
   ftp://anonymous:dev2dev%40bea.com@ftpna.bea.com/pub/releases/security/WLSWebServerPlugins1.0.1014998.zip

2. Save a copy of your old plug-in and install the appropriate plug-in on your Web Server.

3. Restart your Web Server

Note: The WebLogic plug-in is compatible with all versions of WebLogic Server.

WebLogic Server 9.2 Maintenance Pack 3, WebLogic Server 10.0 Maintenance Pack 2 and WebLogic Server 10.3 will include this fix.

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:

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.