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Dangerous Java Flaw Threatens 'Virtually Everything'
Posted by
Zonk
on Fri Jul 13, 2007 10:02 AM
from the let-it-cool-down-first dept.
from the let-it-cool-down-first dept.
Marc Nathoni writes with a ZDet article about a critically dangerous hole in the Java Runtime Environment. Due to the ubiquitousness of Java, this could prove a serious security problem. "Australia's Computer Emergency Response Team (AusCERT) analyst, Robert Lowe, warned that anyone using the Java Runtime Environment or Java Development Kit is at risk. 'Delivery of exploits in this manner is attractive to attackers because even though the browser may be fully patched, some people neglect to also patch programs invoked by browsers to render specific types of content,' said Lowe."
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Dangerous Java Flaw Threatens 'Virtually Everything'
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And people called me paranoid (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://creceveur.smartboxllc.com/)
To quote Harry Dresden... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:And people called me paranoid (Score:5, Informative)
(http://creceveur.smartboxllc.com/)
Re:And people called me paranoid (Score:4, Informative)
How...useful. :/ (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.infinities-within.net/)
Okay, so which versions are vulnerable?
Re:How...useful. :/ (Score:4, Funny)
The article sadly has little more information than the summary. It doesn't say which VMs, only that "exploit is browser independent, as long as it invokes a vulnerable Java Runtime Environment". In other words, the vulnerable VMs are vulnerable.
Original AusCERT (Score:5, Informative)
(http://fleur.hk/)
Quoted from
AL-2007.0071 -- [Win][Linux][Solaris] -- Sun Java Runtime Environment vulnerability allows remote compromise [auscert.org.au]
1. Impact
A buffer overflow vulnerability in the image parsing code in the Java
Runtime Environment may allow an untrusted applet or application to
elevate its privileges. For example, an applet may grant itself
permissions to read and write local files or execute local
applications that are accessible to the user running the untrusted
applet.
A second vulnerability may allow an untrusted applet or application to
cause the Java Virtual Machine to hang.
Sun acknowledges, with thanks, Chris Evans of the Google Security
Team, for bringing these issues to our attention.
These issues are also referenced in the following documents:
CVE-2007-2788 at
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE
CVE-2007-2789 at
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE
Re:Original AusCERT (Score:5, Informative)
(http://www.intelligentblogger.com/ | Last Journal: Monday August 27, @11:47AM)
Bunch of FUD-spreading fear-mongers. Hrumph.
Oh, and Sun wouldn't have had this problem if they'd used pure Java code rather than relying on an existing library.
Re:Original AusCERT (Score:5, Informative)
(http://www.intelligentblogger.com/ | Last Journal: Monday August 27, @11:47AM)
No, it doesn't. First off, I guarantee you that J2ME implementations do NOT use the same parsing library as the desktop JVM. It's far too heavyweight. Add to that fact that the embedded implementations are written by the phone vendor, significantly decreasing the risk.
Secondly, J2ME does not support JPEGs or BMPs. The standard only supports PNGs. If you want to open JPEGs, you have to use a pure-Java decoder. (Which would not be vulnerable.)
Thirdly, Java applet support is extremely limited in Symbian devices; the only devices I'm aware of that support applets. It's basically Java ME + a few extra APIs to bring it up to Java 1.1 standards. It's doubtful that these VMs even contain the APIs that are being exploited here.
Oh dear, where are my manners? I'd also like to thank the poster for finding the relevant AusCERT article. Without it, we'd still be at the FUD level.
Re:Original AusCERT (Score:4, Funny)
(http://www.emacswiki...iki/ChristopherSmith | Last Journal: Wednesday November 07, @07:35AM)
I mean, C is just portable Assembler, right? If C is the source of all them evil buffer overflows, I reckon that means Assembler's got 'em, too?
Heck: me an' Jethro wuz wonderin' how these here computers ever got far enough along for the Sun to 'shine and the Java to perk.
Yep. I reckon only them city slickers with all their fancy talk do anything but Java anymore, buncha used car salesmen.
JVM in Java (Score:4, Informative)
(http://gathman.org/ | Last Journal: Friday January 20 2006, @01:41PM)
So if your JVM includes a JIT, it is not so farfetched for it to be "pure" Java. (The privileged bytecodes are an extension to the Java standard.) Such a design eliminates whole classes of common bugs. Unfortunately, there are infinitely many additional classes of bugs to take their place. One reason why production JVMs are still coded in C is that the code generation of mature C compilers is so much better than a first generation JIT.
Re:not FUD (Score:4, Interesting)
(http://www.intelligentblogger.com/ | Last Journal: Monday August 27, @11:47AM)
Of course it's serious. That doesn't mean that it affects everything from mobile devices to servers! That was just plain FUD on the part of the article. They made it sound like every implementation of Java ever was now vulnerable and there is nothing we can do about it. In reality, it's a serious problem, but far less so than advertised. In fact, nearly all desktops should be updated by now thanks to the Java autoupdater.
Oh, don't start. I've written plenty of image and datafile loading routines in Java. You don't get nice "struct" features* for memory management, but that doesn't materially impact the ability to load and parse the data. The biggest thing to remember is that some formats use endians in something other than network order. (I'm looking at you Ronald Rivest! Do you know how much it would have saved me if MD5 used the same byte order as every other RFC under the sun? Grr...)
* I did write a proof-of-concept "struct" pre-processor once in an attempt to make a colleague happier. It basically added a new form of class type other than "class" and "interface". When parsed, it would be transformed into a ByteBuffer object with getX()/setX() accessors/mutators that accessed the correct locations of the buffer.
Re:Original AusCERT (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.intelligentblogger.com/ | Last Journal: Monday August 27, @11:47AM)
The problem in this case is that Sun used a native library to do the image parsing rather than writing a pure-Java equivalent. This shortcut ended up being a costly mistake that has resulted in a variety of holes caused by that library. If Sun simply rewrote the code in Java (which wouldn't be hard; only time consuming), the problems would go away.
Re:Original AusCERT (Score:4, Informative)
(http://www.suppressingfire.org/~burner/ | Last Journal: Saturday February 17 2007, @01:36AM)
And how? (Score:4, Interesting)
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
Wouldn't you just roll it out the same as with any other patch?
Without any more information and judging from comments such as that, I'm going to say that this "threat" will soon be found to be nothing. Just more Internet hype from someone trying to make a name for himself.
Re:And how? (Score:4, Informative)
(http://www.ajs.com/~ajs/)
Most folks who've worked in small-to-medium businesses or less critical environments (such as education) simply can't comprehend the hell that is trying to coordinate a release to such a large community.
Re:How...useful. :/ (Score:5, Informative)
(http://slashdot.org/)
'Virtually Everything' or 'Everything Virtual'? (Score:5, Funny)
You forget... (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.greenreaper.co.uk/)
Re:You forget... (Score:5, Funny)
(http://slashdot.org/)
Re:You forget... (Score:5, Interesting)
I know. (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://www.greenreaper.co.uk/)
Re:You forget... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:You forget... (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://moonbase.rydia.net/)
Re:You forget... (Score:5, Funny)
Lisp is preferred in high-security installations (such as nuclear generators) because it's an extra layer of security. Even if a hacker can breach the outer defences, no actual human being can comprehend a Lisp program, so there's no danger of the hacker doing any damage.
Re:You forget... (Score:5, Informative)
(http://www.mises.org/rothbard/newliberty.asp | Last Journal: Tuesday August 22 2006, @09:54AM)
Re:You forget... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:You forget... (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.dadhacker.com/)
Those relays are powered by *steam*, and serve only to control arms in the corridor outside the control room which raise and lower colored flags. Mesopotamian runner-slaves note the configuration of the flags and carry messages to more slaves stationed near the reactor core who in turn are responsible for raising and lowering the control rods, who man the coolant pumps, and in a pinch, who sacrifice goats to the altar of O'krap, the God of Reactor Meltdowns.
Speaking tubes were tried once ("Ahoy! More coolant on the starboard pile, and hoist up control rod three!") but finding reactor operators who knew Urdu was too difficult.
The Nuclear Safety Council is considering a move to systems based on "electrics," but the committee responsible for this investigation has been unable to locate the inventors B. Franklin and T. Edison.
Re:'Virtually Everything' or 'Everything Virtual'? (Score:5, Funny)
Speak for yourself, some of us use Java in our coffee mugs. The upcoming patch is supposed to correct a number of leaks.
Re:Are you sure? (Score:5, Funny)
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.intelligentblogger.com/ | Last Journal: Monday August 27, @11:47AM)
No offsense, but that's a rather incredible claim. They're saying that no matter if you're running a JVM on the server, cell phone, applet, desktop, or just about any other environment, you're vulnerable? I'm sorry, I can't accept that without extraordinary proof to back up such extraordinary claims.
Java was designed from the beginning with security in mind. Its security infrastructure has been tested for over a decade now. Any and all exploits have always been a flaw in the specific JVM or interface between the JVM and the OS. (Something which has been plauging browsers and other network-aware applications.) Now some security expert is saying that it doesn't matter what you're doing because Java as a whole is flawed?
It seems more likely to me that they're blowing the whole thing out of proportion and thereby spreading FUD. It's more likely that it's yet another security hole in specific JVMs and someone here is expanding that to all of Java. I'll happily look at the evidence to the contrary as soon as it becomes available.
Oh, and upgrades for Desktops is not too big of a deal. Java currently includes an autoupdater that should take care of the issue. All that's left is to deploy updates to servers, should these fellows actually prove that the language you're using somehow conveys a serious security through port 80.
Re:Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proo (Score:5, Informative)
(http://www.intelligentblogger.com/ | Last Journal: Monday August 27, @11:47AM)
I find it interesting that this team is supposedly reporting a major flaw, yet manually running the Java updater finds no new JVM versions to download. Didn't they contact Sun first? Shouldn't there be a patch already? Meh. The whole thing stinks.
If you want to run the updater yourself, you can either right-click on the Java icon in your taskbar and select "Control Panel", or you can run the "javacpl.exe" file in the "c:\Program Files\Java\jre\bin" directory. Look under the "Update" tab to see the update schedule. Click "Update Now" to check for the lastest release.
Mac users do not need to access a separate updater. Java updates are pushed through the standard system updates, accessible through the control panel. These are also scheduled to run on a regular basis. Only Linux/Unix users should need to manually update their JVMs if and when a patch becomes available. Some of these OSes do have a Java updater, but I don't know the current details about these.
Re:Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proo (Score:5, Informative)
(http://www.intelligentblogger.com/ | Last Journal: Monday August 27, @11:47AM)
No, as others have pointed out it's a flaw in JPEGs and BMP files. PNGs (pretty much the only format used in J2ME in cell phones and PDAs) are safe. Here are the advisories:
http://www.auscert.org.au/render.html?it=7664 [auscert.org.au]
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE
The biggest concern is that arbitrary applets could be pushed to user's machines. This is mitigated by the fact that the latest JVM's have already been repaired. Thanks to the Java autoupdater, there should not be many desktops at risk.
A secondary concern is servers that accept image uploads. BMPs are usually not accepted anyway, but JPEGs could be a concern. So it is best to upgrade these. Which brings us around to your concern...
For one, it is possible to upgrade these JVMs. It's a bit trickier than a standard install, but it can be done, at least inside the same VM version. (e.g. Java 1.4 apps will usually not suffer from an upgrade to 1.4.1, but a Java 5 upgrade would be disasterous.)
Secondly, I *DO* have a solution. Yell at the vendor! If they're going to stupidly integrate the JVM for no reason other than to make your life difficult (ostensibly to make it easier, yeah right) then they can take the burden of getting you a patch. Don't let the vendor off the hook until they get the problem fixed! That's just good practice, nothing to do with Java.
(Of course, a better practice is to find a vendor who doesn't stupidly integrate JVMs, but I digress.)
BTW, are you talking about Oracle AS or Oracle Database? Oracle AS would need to be patched for situations like this just in case you handle or will handle image uploads. Oracle Database would not be at risk since there is almost no chance of the database being made to parse images in its procedural code. Desktop applications are similarly unaffected unless they download arbitrary images from the internet.
Re:Anyone have details? (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.geektownhall.com/ | Last Journal: Friday November 28 2003, @09:26PM)
The only device that isn't vulnerable to this is the Nintendo Wii. The theory is that the swinging of Wiimotes manages to sling the problematic code away from your device.
If you think that your computer might be at risk, pick it up and start spinning in big circles. This might create enough force to dislodge any vicious code.
Re:The sky is falling (Score:5, Informative)
(http://www.knowcasinos.com/)
I see at the top where they mention the Google security team. But the article quotes only someone named Chris Gatford from "penetration testing firm Pure Hacking" and someone from "Australia's Computer Emergency Response Team"
AUSCERT ^ has issued something on this, but there is not many details. They claim the exploit is the ability for applets to escalate privileges.
Also, someone asked, but here are the versions they claim are vulnerable, for windows and solaris.
And a link to the Aussie security alert [auscert.org.au]
TFA is extremely vague (Score:5, Insightful)
here is the security flaw (Score:3, Interesting)
http://groups.google.com/group/ph4nt0m/msg/05b113
One Huge Problem (Score:3, Insightful)
More information (Score:3, Informative)
(http://www.greenreaper.co.uk/)
Ubiquitousness? (Score:4, Funny)
Ah! That would be 'ubiquity' then?
FFS editors!
Sounds like a warning from 'Homeland Security' (Score:3, Insightful)
(http://www.markwatson.com/)
The article has no information what so ever - but, perhaps that is to avoid spreading information on how to exploit this alleged weakness.
Well, since this impacts Java... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Fixed in JRE 5 Update 12? (Score:5, Informative)
* JDK and JRE 6 Update 1 or later
* JDK and JRE 5.0 Update 11 or later
* SDK and JRE 1.4.2_15 and later
From:
http://www.auscert.org.au/render.html?it=7664 [auscert.org.au]
This isn't new (Score:5, Informative)
(http://slashdot.org/)
Re:It's a C/C++ flaw in the Java environment. (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://gamesets.blogspot.com/)
Would you really suggest that it's better to train people to not cut their fingers off using table saws than to get them to switch to table saws with some sort of finger guard? Yeah, it's not that the unprotected ones are at fault if you slip up and slice your pinky off, but it seems perfectly reasonable to avoid the problem altogether with a little prior consideration at the tool level, especially if the extra safety modifications are easy. Though to be fair, in this case I don't know what the "best" alternative to C is, since most of the real popular languages these days are interpreted either entirely or at a byte-code level, so are somewhat slow.
And SuSE has a patch and details. (Score:3, Informative)
(http://www.doofus.org/)
Update Version: 3832-0
Category: Security
Status: Needed
The Sun JAVA JDK 1.5.0 was upgraded to release 12 to fix
various bugs, including the following security bugs:
CVE-2007-2788 / CVE-2007-3004: Integer overflow in the
embedded ICC profile image parser in Sun Java Development
Kit (JDK), allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary
code or cause a denial of service (JVM crash) via a crafted
JPEG or BMP file.
CVE-2007-2789 / CVE-2007-3005: The BMP image parser in Sun
Java Development Kit (JDK), on Unix/Linux systems, allows
remote attackers to trigger the opening of arbitrary local
files via a crafted BMP file, which causes a denial of
service (system hang) in certain cases such as
and has other unspecified impact.
CVE-2007-0243: Buffer overflow in Sun JDK and Java Runtime
Environment (JRE) allows applets to gain privileges via a
GIF image with a block with a 0 width field, which triggers
memory corruption.
Just my luck... (Score:4, Funny)
Lava Flow (Score:4, Funny)
(http://www.kinthelt.com/)
Java version used by your broswer (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.javatester.org/version.html [javatester.org]
According to AusCERT, http://www.auscert.org.au/render.html?it=7664 [auscert.org.au]
you are vulnerable, if your JRE is:
- Sun Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 6
- Sun Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 5.0 Update 10 and prior
- Sun Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.4.2_14 and prior
- Sun Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.3.1_20 and prior
Re:Is Apple affected? (Score:4, Funny)
TFA tells us "Virtually nothing" (Score:3, Interesting)
java updater gives me nothing (Score:3, Funny)
Screw it. I run Windows anyway, it's not like my system isn't already full of holes. What's one more?
Naming and installer (Score:4, Informative)
J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 11
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment 6 Update 1
Java(TM) 6 Update 2
What will the next update be called? J2SE Runtime Environment 6.0 Update 3?
Installer changes every time, too. It is just inconvenient for those that want to do unattended installs.