[ISN] DoS risk from Oracle9i debugging bug

From: InfoSec News (isnat_private)
Date: Thu Aug 15 2002 - 04:10:55 PDT

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    http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/26678.html
    
    By John Leyden
    Posted: 14/08/2002 at 12:56 GMT
    
    A flaw in the debugging mechanism of Oracle9i supplies a mechanism for
    crackers to crash vulnerable servers.
    
    All Oracle9i installations are vulnerable to this attack, according to
    security tools firm ISS, which discovered the problem. The flaw could
    be used to launch denial of service attacks, it warns.
    
    Oracle9i has a debugging facility (enabled by default) which lets
    database administrators collect additional information about the
    operation of the server.
    
    But the Oracle9i SQL*NET listener does not correctly handle certain
    types of debug requests that are submitted over the network. If
    Oracle9i encounters such a request, it will crash and no longer field
    SQL requests from authorised servers or clients.
    
    Functionality can only be restored after a manual restart, according
    to an alert on the problem by ISS.
    
    Oracle has issued a patch to address the issue, which can be obtained
    through its Worldwide Support Services Web site.
    
    Admins are also advised to consider filtering SQL*NET port TCP/1521 at
    all border gateways to limit access to the Oracle listener and
    mitigate the risk of the vulnerability.
    
    
    
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