• Compliance issues regarding PCI, HIPAA, SOX
• Protection of Sensitive Data within the OEBS
• Best Practices of securing the OEBS
• Concern and risk with user privileges, excessive access, insecure access
• Secure external access to Oracle EBS (iStore, iSupplier, iRecruitment, iSupport, etc.

• Database inspection for regulatory compliance.
• Protection of sensitive data (credit card data, social security numbers, payroll data, etc)
• Database appraisal for excessive user privileges, unwarranted access, and access to insecure areas
• Validating internal database security standards – written and implemented.
• Confirming on-going database activity monitoring is implemented to ensure business requirements are satisfied, all attack vectors are covered, and alerting/reporting is active.

• A review of the security vulnerabilities fixed in this CPU,
• An analysis of the required CPU patches,
• A discussion of patching including CPUs vs. PSUs.

• a review of the security vulnerabilities fixed in the CPU,
• an analysis of the required CPU patches,
• a discussion of a high-level patch strategy.

• A review of the security vulnerabilities fixed in this CPU,
• An analysis of the required CPU patches,
• A discussion of patching including CPUs vs. PSUs.

The news reports describing the October 2010 Oracle Critical Patch Update (CPU) are using terms like "giant", "massive", and practically every other known synonym for a really big security patch release.  These news reports must be resonating with CIOs and CSOs as Integrigy has received a number of client calls and a huge response to our upcoming webinars detailing this CPU.

As always a little perspective and analysis is required to quantify what is actually in the CPU and the risk to an organization.  First, lets look at the 85 vulnerabilities patched in the CPU to see how this CPU compares with previous CPUs -

• 75% (63 of 85) of the bugs fixed in this CPU are in products Oracle has acquired since the release of the first CPU in January 2005.

• 40% (36 of 85) of the bugs fixed in this CPU are in products Oracle has owned for less than a year (Sun).
• Only 7 database vulnerabilities are fixed this quarter where the historical average is 16.5 database bugs per quarter.
• Only 6 E-Business Suite vulnerabilities are fixed this quarter where the historical average is 9 bugs per quarter.

A more detailed look at the security bug count and maximum CVSS score by quarter shows this CPU for the Oracle Database and Oracle E-Business Suite is average or slightly below for both bug count and maximum CVSS score.  Integrigy's preliminary analysis of this CPU shows 4 of the 7 database vulnerabilities can be exploited with no database credentials or just CREATE SESSION system privilege, which is consistent with previous CPUs - the other 3 vulnerabilities actually require advanced or infrequently granted privileges or roles like EXECUTE_CATALOG_ROLE.

Clearly for the Oracle Database and Oracle E-Business Suite, this CPU is no different than the previous twenty-three CPUs and should be handled with the same processes and prioritization as previous CPUs.

• Overall, 50 Oracle security vulnerabilities are fixed in this CPU, which is a average number and well within the range of previous CPUs (Jul-10=38, Apr-10=31, Jan-10=24, Oct-09=38, Jul-09=30, Apr-09=43, Jan-09=41, Oct-08=36, Jul-08=45, Apr-08=41, Jan-08=26, Oct-07=51, Jul-07=45, Apr-07=36, Jan-07=51, Oct-06=101, Jul-06=62, Apr-06=34, Jan-06=80).  These numbers have been normalized for Oracle products and excludes any Sun products.
  
• The Oracle product and vulnerability mix appears to be similar to previous CPUs.  All CPU supported Oracle Database and Oracle E-Business Suite versions are included.  The list of supported versions is getting very short and should be carefully reviewed to determine if version upgrades are required prior to applying the CPU security patches -
• Database = 10.1.0.5, 10.2.0.4, 11.1.0.7, and 11.2.0.1 for major platforms
  
• Application Server = 10.1.2.3.0, 10.1.3.5.0, 11.1.1.1.0, 11.1.1.2.0
  
• E-Business Suite = 11.5.10.x, 12.0.x, and 12.1.x
  
• This is the first CPU to exclude 9.2.0.8 as extended support ended July 2010.  The only other major change is the inclusion of Oracle Application Server/Fusion Middleware versions 10.1.3.5.0 and 11.1.1.x.
• The highlight of this CPU is 6 of 8 Oracle Application Server/Fusion Middleware security vulnerabilities are remotely exploitable without authentication.  The vulnerabilities are in BI Publisher, BPEL Console, Cabo/UIX, Forms, OID, and Perl components.
• Integrigy will be presenting more information on this CPU in the following webinars: (1) Oracle October 2010 CPU E-Business Suite Impact Webinar Thursday, October 21, 2pm ET and (2) Oracle October 2010 CPU Oracle Database Impact Webinar Thursday, October 28, 2pm ET.

• There are 7 database vulnerabilities and one is remotely exploitable without authentication.
  
• Since at least one database vulnerability has a CVSS 2.0 metric of 7.5 (practical maximum for a database vulnerability), this is a fairly important CPU.  Most likely, any database account, even a lowly privileged account, will be able to gain full-control of the database by exploiting the vulnerability.
  

• There are 8 new Oracle Application Server vulnerabilities, 6 of which are remotely exploitable without authentication.  All the vulnerabilities appear to be in components not normally exposed externally.
  

• There are 6 new Oracle E-Business Suite 11i and R12 vulnerabilities, 5 of which are remotely exploitable without authentication.
• The vulnerabilities are in the Oracle Applications Manager, Oracle Applications Technology Stack, Oracle E-Business Intelligence, Oracle iRecruitment, and Oracle Territory Management.  Of most interest will be the vulnerabilities in iRecruitment and these might exploitable in externally accessible web pages.  Customers running iRecruitment should prepare to apply the patches immediately.
  

• We anticipate the criticality of this quarter's CPU will be in-line with previous CPUs.  The only exception may be if the remotely exploitable Oracle Database vulnerabilities are more significant than previous vulnerabilities in the networking components.
  
• As with all previous CPUs, this quarter's security patches should be deemed critical and you should adhere to the established procedures and timing used for previous CPUs.
• Oracle E-Business Suite customers with externally facing implementations should carefully review the remotely exploitable vulnerabilities in iRecruitment to determine if these pages are blocked by the URL firewall.  If any of the vulnerable web pages are externally accessible, customers should look to immediately patch these environments.

<Location "^/fcgi-bin/echo.*$">
Order deny,allow
Deny from all
</Location>

• A review of the security vulnerabilities fixed in this CPU,
• An analysis of the required CPU patches,
• A discussion of patching including CPUs vs. PSUs.

• Overall, 38 Oracle security vulnerabilities are fixed in this CPU, which is a below average number but well within the range of previous CPUs (Apr-10=31, Jan-10=24, Oct-09=38, Jul-09=30, Apr-09=43, Jan-09=41, Oct-08=36, Jul-08=45, Apr-08=41, Jan-08=26, Oct-07=51, Jul-07=45, Apr-07=36, Jan-07=51, Oct-06=101, Jul-06=62, Apr-06=34, Jan-06=80).  These numbers have been normalized for Oracle products and excludes any Sun products.
  
• The Oracle product and vulnerability mix appears to be similar to previous CPUs.  All CPU supported Oracle Database and Oracle E-Business Suite versions are included.  The list of supported versions is getting very short and should be carefully reviewed to determine if version upgrades are required prior to applying the CPU security patches -
• Database = 9.2.0.8, 10.1.0.5, 10.2.0.4, 11.1.0.7, and 11.2.0.1 for major platforms
  
• Application Server = 10.1.2.3.0
• E-Business Suite = 11.5.10.x, 12.0.x, and 12.1.x
  
• The highlight of this CPU is 4 of 6 Oracle Database security vulnerabilities are remotely exploitable without authentication.  It is rare to have a single remotely exploitable without authentication vulnerability in the database.  Most likely these 4 vulnerabilities are in the Listener, Net Foundation Layer, Network Layer, and/or APEX Application Builder.  If the remotely exploitable vulnerabilities are in the Listener component, then this could only be a denial of service vulnerabilities.
• There are no major version support changes in for this CPU.
• Integrigy will be presenting more information on this CPU in the following webinars: (1) Oracle July 2010 CPU E-Business Suite Impact Webinar Thursday, July 22, 2pm ET and (2) Oracle July 2010 CPU Oracle Database Impact Webinar Thursday, July 29, 2pm ET.

• There are 6 database vulnerabilities and four are remotely exploitable without authentication.
  
• Since at least one database vulnerability has a CVSS 2.0 metric of 7.8 (practical maximum for a database vulnerability), this is a fairly important CPU.  Most likely, any database account, even a lowly privileged account, will be able to gain full-control of the database by exploiting the vulnerability.
  

• There are seven new Oracle Application Server vulnerabilities, five of which are remotely exploitable without authentication.  For Oracle Application Server implementations, there is only one vulnerability in the Application Server Control.  Usually, vulnerabilities in the control utilities are only locally exploitable and require a local operating system account to exploit.

• There are 7 new Oracle E-Business Suite 11i and R12 vulnerabilities, five of which are remotely exploitable without authentication.
• The vulnerabilities are in the Oracle Advanced Product Catalog, Oracle Applications Framework (OAF), Oracle Applications Manager, and Oracle Knowledge Management.  Of most interest will be the vulnerabilities in the Oracle Applications Framework (OAF) and these might exploitable in externally accessible web pages.

• We anticipate the criticality of this quarter's CPU will be in-line with previous CPUs.  The only exception may be if the remotely exploitable Oracle Database vulnerabilities are more significant than previous vulnerabilities in the networking components.
  
• As with all previous CPUs, this quarter's security patches should be deemed critical and you should adhere to the established procedures and timing used for previous CPUs.
• Oracle E-Business Suite customers with externally facing implementations should carefully review the remotely exploitable vulnerabilities in the Oracle Applications Framework to determine if these pages are blocked by the URL firewall.  If any of the vulnerable web pages are externally accessible, customers should look to immediately patch these environments.

• a review of the security vulnerabilities fixed in the CPU,
• an analysis of the required CPU patches,
• a discussion of a high-level patch strategy.

• A review of the security vulnerabilities fixed in this CPU,
• An analysis of the required CPU patches,
• A discussion of patching including CPUs vs. PSUs.

• Overall, 24 security vulnerabilities are fixed in this CPU, which is a below average number but well within the range of previous CPUs (Oct-09=38, Jul-09=30, Apr-09=43, Jan-09=41, Oct-08=36, Jul-08=45, Apr-08=41, Jan-08=26, Oct-07=51, Jul-07=45, Apr-07=36, Jan-07=51, Oct-06=101, Jul-06=62, Apr-06=34, Jan-06=80).
• The product and vulnerability mix appears to be similar to previous CPUs.  All CPU supported Oracle Database, Oracle Application Server, and Oracle E-Business Suite versions are included.  The list of supported versions is getting very short and should be carefully reviewed to determine if version upgrades are required prior to applying the CPU security patches -
• Database = 9.2.0.8, 10.1.0.5, 10.2.0.3, 10.2.0.4, and 11.1.0.7 for major platforms
  
• Application Server = 9.0.4.3, 10.1.2, and 10.1.3
• E-Business Suite = 11.5.10.x, 12.0.x, and 12.1.x
  
• The highlight of this CPU are 2 remotely exploitable without authentication vulnerabilities in the Oracle Database.  It is rare to have a single remotely exploitable without authentication vulnerability in the database.  Most likely these 2 vulnerabilities are in the Listener, APEX Application Builder, and/or Secure Backup.  If the remotely exploitable vulnerabilities are in the Listener component, then this could be a significant and high priority CPU.
• There are no major version support changes in for this CPU.
  

• There are 10 database vulnerabilities and two are remotely exploitable without authentication.
  
• Since at least one database vulnerability has a CVSS 2.0 metric of 10.0, this is a strong indication there a buffer overflow in the Listener component that is remotely exploitable without authentication.  Most likely, the CVSS metric for Windows will be 10.0 and will be 7.5 for Unix/Linux (even though you will be able to fully compromise the database).

• There are three new Oracle Application Server vulnerabilities, all of which are remotely exploitable without authentication.  The affected components are Access Manager Identify Server and Oracle Containers for J2EE.  With maximum CVSS 2.0 metric of 5.0, these could be cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities based on the scores and components.
  

• There are 3 new Oracle E-Business Suite 11i and R12 vulnerabilities, all of which are remotely exploitable without authentication.
• The vulnerabilities are in the CRM Technical Foundation (mobile), AOL, and HRMS.  Of most interest will be if the AOL vulnerability is in an externally accessible web page.
  

• The criticality of this quarter's CPU is in-line with previous CPUs. 
  
• As with all previous CPUs, this quarter's security patches should be deemed critical and you should adhere to the established procedures and timing used for previous CPUs.