Security Advisory: (BEA04-64.00)

From: BEA Systems Inc.

Minor Subject: Patches available to protect Web Applications

Product(s) Affected: WebLogic Server and WebLogic Express

Threat level: Low - Relies on the use of a relatively obscure portion of the Servlet 2.3 specification in the Web application’s deployment descriptor.

Severity: Low - A successful exploitation can result in some application security being bypassed.

Recently a problem was identified that could potentially cause a security vulnerability in certain versions of WebLogic Server and WebLogic Express. Patches are available to correct this problem (see Section II). BEA System treats potential security problems with the highest degree of urgency and does everything possible to ensure the security of all customer assets. 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 below.

I. Advisory

This vulnerability can occur when a Web application has specified a role of name * in a &LTrole-name> tag contained within a &LTsecurity-constraint> tag. The following code text from a web.xml file exhibits the problematic use of *:

    &LTsecurity-constraint>
        &LTweb-resource-collection>
            &LTweb-resource-name>myProtectedResourec</web-resource-name>
            &LTurl-pattern>/my/secure/urls</url-pattern> 
        </web-resource-collection>
        &LTauth-constraint>
           &LTrole-name>*</role-name>
        </auth-constraint>
    </security-constraint>

The Servlet 2.3 specification (section SRV.13.3) specifies that a role name of * “is a compact syntax for indicating all roles in the web application”. However, WebLogic Server implements it as a compact syntax for any user. This difference means that users who have no defined roles in a Web application can still access resources protected with a role name of *.

The provided patch alters the default behavior of the Web container so that it now interprets * as defined in the Servlet specification.

The following versions of WebLogic Server and WebLogic Express are affected by this vulnerability

WebLogic Server and WebLogic Express 8.1, released through Service Pack 2, on all platforms
WebLogic Server and WebLogic Express 7.0, released through Service Pack 5, on all platforms

II. SUGGESTED ACTION

BEA Systems strongly recommends the following course of actions.

For WebLogic Server and WebLogic Express version 8.1 or WebLogic Server and WebLogic Express version 7.0

Remove the * role name from all web.xml files where the intended meaning of * was to restrict users who are not in roles defined in the current Web application. Replace this with a &LTrole-name> tag for each role defined in the web.xml file.

Or

For WebLogic Server and WebLogic Express version 8.1

Upgrade to Service Pack 2 and apply the patch available from:
ftp://ftpna.beasys.com/pub/releases/security/CR175310_810sp2.jar

WebLogic Server version 8.1 Service Pack 3 will include the functionality in this patch.

For WebLogic Server and WebLogic Express version 7.0

Upgrade to Service Pack 5 and apply the patch available from:
ftp://ftpna.beasys.com/pub/releases/security/CR175310_700sp5.jar

WebLogic Server version 7.0 Service Pack 6 will include the functionality in this patch.

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:

http://commerce.beasys.com/downloads/weblogic_server.jsp#wls

Note: Information about securing WebLogic Server and WebLogic Express can be found at http://e-docs.bea.com/wls/docs81/security.html, Specific lockdown information is provided at http://e-docs.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

As a corporate policy, if there are any security-related issues with any BEA product, BEA Systems will distribute an advisory and instructions with the appropriate course of action. Because the security of your site, data, and code is our highest priority, we are committed to communicating all security-related issues clearly and openly.

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 are any security issues with the BEA product(s) he/she is using, BEA will distribute an advisory and instructions via email with the appropriate 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 by sending email to secalert@bea.com or by following the directions at http://dev2dev.bea.com/advisories/. All reports of security issues will be promptly reviewed and all necessary actions taken to ensure the continued security of all customer assets.

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.