__________________________________________________________ The U.S. Department of Energy Computer Incident Advisory Center ___ __ __ _ ___ / | /_\ / \___ __|__ / \ \___ __________________________________________________________ INFORMATION BULLETIN Sun Bytecode Verifier Vulnerability [Sun Security Bulletin #00218] March 19, 2002 20:00 GMT Number M-060 ______________________________________________________________________________ PROBLEM: A vulnerability in the Java(TM) Runtime Environment Bytecode Verifier may be exploited by an untrusted applet to escalate privileges. PLATFORM: Systems running the following: Netscape 6.2.1 and earlier Netscape(TM) Communicator version 4.79 and earlier Microsoft VM up to and including build 3802 This issue may or may not affect other vendors' Java technology implementations which are derived from Sun's SDK and JDK(TM) source bases. DAMAGE: An untrusted applet may be used to escalate privileges. SOLUTION: Install the latest releases as indicated below. ______________________________________________________________________________ VULNERABILITY The risk is MEDIUM. An untrusted applet would have to be used ASSESSMENT: to exploit this vulnerability. ______________________________________________________________________________ LINKS: CIAC BULLETIN: http://www.ciac.org/ciac/bulletins/m-060.shtml ORIGINAL BULLETIN: http://www.sunsolve.sun.com/pub-cgi/retrieve.pl? doctype=coll&doc=secbull/218&type=0&nav=sec.sba ______________________________________________________________________________ [***** Start Sun Security Bulletin #00218 *****] ___________________________________________________________________________ Sun Microsystems, Inc. Security Bulletin Bulletin Number: #00218 Date: March 18, 2002 Cross-Ref: Title: Bytecode Verifier ___________________________________________________________________________ The information contained in this Security Bulletin is provided "AS IS." Sun makes no warranties of any kind whatsoever with respect to the information contained in this Security Bulletin. ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CONDITIONS, REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF NON-INFRINGEMENT OR IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ARE HEREBY DISCLAIMED AND EXCLUDED TO THE EXTENT ALLOWED BY APPLICABLE LAW. IN NO EVENT WILL SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOST REVENUE, PROFIT OR DATA, OR FOR DIRECT, SPECIAL, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES HOWEVER CAUSED AND REGARDLESS OF ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS SECURITY BULLETIN, EVEN IF SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. If any of the above provisions are held to be in violation of applicable law, void, or unenforceable in any jurisdiction, then such provisions are waived to the extent necessary for this disclaimer to be otherwise enforceable in such jurisdiction. ________________________________________________________________________________ 1. Background A vulnerability in the Java(TM) Runtime Environment Bytecode Verifier may be exploited by an untrusted applet to escalate privileges. The full and custom installations of Netscape 6.2.1 and earlier are affected since they include an affected version of the Java Runtime Environment. The default Java runtime environments of Netscape(TM) Communicator version 4.79 and earlier are affected. For more information, see http://home.netscape.com/security Microsoft VM up to and including build 3802 is affected. For more information, see http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS02-013.asp This issue may or may not affect other vendors' Java technology implementations which are derived from Sun's SDK and JDK(TM) source bases. Sun has notified and made the remedy available to its Java technology licensees. Sun recommends that users of affected releases upgrade to the latest SDK, JDK, and JRE releases listed in section 3 of this bulletin. 2. Affected Releases The following releases are affected: Windows Production Releases SDK and JRE 1.3.1_01a or earlier SDK and JRE 1.3.0_05 or earlier SDK and JRE 1.2.2_010 or earlier JDK and JRE 1.1.8_008 or earlier Solaris(TM) Operating Environment (OE) Reference Releases SDK and JRE 1.2.2_010 or earlier JDK and JRE 1.1.8_008 or earlier Solaris OE Production Releases SDK and JRE 1.3.1_01 or earlier SDK and JRE 1.3.0_05 or earlier SDK and JRE 1.2.2_10 or earlier JDK and JRE 1.1.8_14 or earlier Linux Production Releases SDK and JRE 1.3.1_01 or earlier SDK and JRE 1.3.0_05 or earlier SDK and JRE 1.2.2_010 or earlier Releases prior to SDK and JRE 1.2.2, and JDK and JRE 1.1.8 for Windows and Solaris are also affected and should no longer be used. Users of these releases should upgrade to a later release listed in Section 3. This vulnerability does not affect the Java 2 SDK, Standard Edition, v 1.4. 3. Latest Releases Windows Production Releases SDK and JRE 1.4 http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4/ SDK and JRE 1.3.1_02 http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/ SDK and JRE 1.2.2_011 http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.2/ JDK and JRE 1.1.8_009 http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.1/download-jdk-windows.html Solaris OE Reference Releases SDK and JRE 1.2.2_011 http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.2/ JDK and JRE 1.1.8_009 http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.1/download-jdk-solaris.html Solaris OE Production Releases SDK and JRE 1.4 http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4/ SDK and JRE 1.3.1_02 http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/ SDK and JRE 1.2.2_11 http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.2/ JDK and JRE 1.1.8_15 http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.1/download-jdk-solaris.html Linux Production Releases SDK and JRE 1.4 http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4/ SDK and JRE 1.3.1_02 http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/ SDK and JRE 1.2.2_011 http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.2/ __________________________________________________________________________ Sun acknowledges, with thanks, Trusted Logic S.A. for bringing this issue to our attention. __________________________________________________________________________ APPENDICES A. Sun security bulletins are available at: http://sunsolve.sun.com/security B. Sun Security Coordination Team's PGP key is available at: http://sunsolve.sun.com/pgpkey.txt C. To report or inquire about a security problem with Sun software, contact one or more of the following: - Your local Sun answer centers - Your representative computer security response team, such as CERT - Sun Security Coordination Team. Send email to: security-alert@sun.com D. 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To subscribe, supply the following in the subject line ( not body): subscribe cws your-email-address Note that your-email-address should be substituted by your email address. unsubscribe Sender is removed from the CWS mailing list. ___________________________________________________________________________ Copyright 2002 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved. Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Solaris, Java, and JDK are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Netscape is a trademark or registered trademark of Netscape Communications Corporation in the United States and other countries. This Security Bulletin may be reproduced and distributed, provided that this Security Bulletin is not modified in any way and is attributed to Sun Microsystems, Inc. and provided that such reproduction and distribution is performed for non-commercial purposes. [***** End Sun Security Bulletin #00218 *****] _______________________________________________________________________________ CIAC wishes to acknowledge the contributions of Sun Microsystems, Inc. for the information contained in this bulletin. _______________________________________________________________________________ CIAC, the Computer Incident Advisory Center, is the computer security incident response team for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the emergency backup response team for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). CIAC is located at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California. CIAC is also a founding member of FIRST, the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams, a global organization established to foster cooperation and coordination among computer security teams worldwide. CIAC services are available to DOE, DOE contractors, and the NIH. CIAC can be contacted at: Voice: +1 925-422-8193 (7x24) FAX: +1 925-423-8002 STU-III: +1 925-423-2604 E-mail: ciac@ciac.org Previous CIAC notices, anti-virus software, and other information are available from the CIAC Computer Security Archive. World Wide Web: http://www.ciac.org/ Anonymous FTP: ftp.ciac.org PLEASE NOTE: Many users outside of the DOE, ESnet, and NIH computing communities receive CIAC bulletins. If you are not part of these communities, please contact your agency's response team to report incidents. Your agency's team will coordinate with CIAC. The Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) is a world-wide organization. A list of FIRST member organizations and their constituencies can be obtained via WWW at http://www.first.org/. This document was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor the University of California nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation or favoring by the United States Government or the University of California. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or the University of California, and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes. 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