Spoofing Oracle Session Information

Oracle Database session information includes database user name, operating system user name, host, terminal, IP address, module, program, timestamps, session ID, and other details. These values are critical to auditing and identifying the actual end-user. Many of the database session values can be “spoofed” by an attacker either to mask the true identity or to circumvent security and auditing measures. This paper looks at four common stores and uses of database session information related to security and auditing: (1) V$SESSION view, (2) SYS_CONTEXT function, (3) Database Session Auditing, and (4) Fine Grained Auditing (FGA). The V$SESSION view contains one row per current database session. The SYS_CONTEXT function returns information regarding the current database session and is often used with database logon triggers. Database session auditing (AUDIT SESSION;) records all database logons and logoffs. Fine Grained Auditing is used to audit SQL statements executed for specific database objects and can be configured based on columns or other criteria.