Revision: Multiple Critical and High Vulnerabilities in Oracle Database Server

["David Litchfield" <davidl () ngssoftware com>]

Having downloaded and given the Oracle October patch a cursory examination, 
some of the flaws Oracle told me were being fixed, remain exploitable. Once 
again the patch is not sufficient. I will conduct a full investigation of 
the patch over the coming few days and post some recommendations once 
complete. Incidently, it's good to see that the NGS Disclosure policy of not 
publicly releasing details of the flaws "fixed" seems to work as a useful 
fail safe mechanism.

More to follow...
Cheers,
David Litchfield
NGSSoftware Ltd
http://www.ngssoftware.com/

> David Litchfield of NGSSoftware has discovered discovered multiple 
> critical and high risk vulnerabilities in the Oracle Database Server. 
> These vulnerabilities can be exploited by an attacker to gain complete 
> control of the database server. Versions affected include
>
> Oracle Database 10g - All Releases
> Oracle9i Database Server - All Releases
>
> The vulnerabilities include a buffer overflow vulnerability and seventeen 
> PL/SQL injection vulnerabilities and Oracle has released a patch set to 
> deal with these issues. It is understood that this patch set fixes a 
> number of other flaws found by seven other security researchers. Oracle 
> database administrators are urged to download, test and install the patch 
> set as soon as possible. See 
> http://www.oracle.com/technology/deploy/security/pdf/cpuoct2005.html for 
> more details.
>
> NGSSQuirreL for Oracle, NGSSoftware's advanced vulnerability assessment 
> scanner and security manager for Oracle, has been updated to check for and 
> positively identify these flaws in Oracle database servers on the network. 
> More information about NGSSQuirreL for Oracle can be found at 
> http://www.ngssoftware.com/squirrelora.htm.
>
> NGSSoftware are going to withhold details about these flaws for three 
> months. Full details will be published on the 18th of January 2006. This 
> three month window will allow Oracle database administrators the time 
> needed to test and apply the patch set before the details are released to 
> the general public. This reflects NGSSoftware's new approach to 
> responsible disclosure.
>
> NGSSoftware Insight Security Research
> http://www.ngssoftware.com/
> +44(0)208 401 0070