Sun Web Server Hit with Multiple Security Vulnerabilities -- Visual Studio Magazine

Sun Web Server Hit with Multiple Security Vulnerabilities

By Joab Jackson
06/04/2008

A security research firm has found multiple flaws in Web server software from Sun Microsystems that would collectively allow attackers to log on, gain root access, peruse and delete files, and execute malicious commands.

All the vulnerabilities, investigated by iDefense, appear in versions 4.2 and earlier of Sun Java System Active Server Pages, software that allows creation of Active Server Pages across different operating systems and production environments.

Sun has issued an update to the software along with workarounds for administrators who want to keep their original configurations.

The six vulnerabilities are:

An authorization bypass vulnerability through port 5102 that allows an attacker to bypass the log-in process entirely.

An information disclosure vulnerability that allows attackers to read sensitive information from a Web server.

A directory traversal vulnerability that allows an attacker who has logged on to browse directories and obtain the contents of sensitive system files or even delete them.

A file-creation vulnerability that allows attackers to create, or append to, arbitrary files with root privileges.

A buffer overflow vulnerability that allows attackers to execute arbitrary code on the server.

A set of command injection vulnerabilities that allow attackers to execute sensitive commands by the software's shell interface.

The individual who found the vulnerabilities wishes to remain anonymous, according to iDefense. The security company reported the vulnerabilities to Sun on April 4, and the two companies coordinated the public disclosure of the hole yesterday.

The vulnerabilities have been submitted for inclusion to the CVE list of standardized names of security problems.

About the Author

Joab Jackson is the chief technology editor of Government Computing News (GCN.com).

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