Do not connect Oracle DB to the Internet. Oracle Alert #59

The exploit involves passing a large argv[1] argument to the oracle or oracle0 binary. Credit for discovering the vulnerability goes to cOntex_at_hushmail.com <mailto:cOntex_at_hushmail.com> . The error was first discovered on a LINUX box but I have seen notes that AIX is vulnerable as well. What is not published in North America yet, is the Oracle alert you mention. The first security note I saw on this was published on 19 October. Yes there are people who know how to exploit the vulnerability. The vulnerability was shown to Oracle over a month ago, according to the comments in a proof of concept exploit.  

One workaround is to take off the setuid bit from the Oracle binary Is it really necessary to set this. How many places still have users log into the database server? Oracle has recommended putting its databases behind firewalls for some time.  

Ian MacGregor
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
ian_at_slac.stanford.edu <mailto:ian_at_slac.stanford.edu>

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2003 6:25 AM To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L

Important: Please read the following Oracle Alert.

We strongly recommend that you do not connect the Oracle Database directly to the Internet.

Got your attention? That is what is in the Alert. These alerts are beginning to come all too often. Sounds just like Microsoft's software, yeah?

Buffer Overflow in Oracle Database Server Binaries This is with the Oracle kernel/binary itself ie 'oracle' or 'oracleO' file in $ORACLE_HOME/bin.

Description
A potential buffer overflow has been discovered in the "oracle" and "oracleO" (the letter O) binaries of the Oracle Database. A knowledgeable and malicious local user can exploit this buffer overflow to execute code on the operating system hosting the Oracle Database server. Products Affected
* Oracle 9i Database Release 2, Version 9.2.x

• Oracle 9i Database Release 1, Version 9.0.x Platforms Affected All supported UNIX and Linux operating system variants.

Patch only available for Linux right now.

So who found out this vulnerability? David Litchfield? Aaron Newman? I know it is a bit silly to ask but does anyone know how to exploit this vulnerability? Send it to me directly if you dont want to reply publicly

ta
tony

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Author: MacGregor, Ian A.
  INET: ian_at_SLAC.Stanford.EDU

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