CERT^® Advisory CA-2001-16 Oracle 8i contains buffer overflow in TNS listener

A complete revision history is at the end of this file.

Systems Affected

The COVERT labs at PGP Security have discovered a buffer overflow vulnerability in Oracle 8i that allows intruders to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the TNS listener process. The vulnerability occurs in a section of code that is executed prior to authentication, so an intruder does not require a username or password.

For more information, see the COVERT Labs Security Advisory, available at

http://www.pgp.com/research/covert/advisories/050.asp

In either case, the attacker can gain control of the database server on the victim machine. On Windows systems, the intruder can also gain administrative control of the operating system.

III. Solutions

Install a patch from Oracle. More information is available in Appendix A.

Appendix A

http://otn.oracle.com/deploy/security/pdf/nai_net8_bof.pdf

Oracle has fixed this potential security vulnerability in the Oracle9i database server. Oracle is in the process of backporting the fix to supported Oracle8i database server Releases 8.1.7 and 8.1.6 and Oracle8 Release 8.0.6 on all platforms. The Oracle bug number for the patch is 1489683.

Download the patch for your platform from Oracle's Worldwide Support web site, Metalink:

http://metalink.oracle.com