Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • World
  • Users
  • Groups
Skins
  • Light
  • Cerulean
  • Cosmo
  • Flatly
  • Journal
  • Litera
  • Lumen
  • Lux
  • Materia
  • Minty
  • Morph
  • Pulse
  • Sandstone
  • Simplex
  • Sketchy
  • Spacelab
  • United
  • Yeti
  • Zephyr
  • Dark
  • Cyborg
  • Darkly
  • Quartz
  • Slate
  • Solar
  • Superhero
  • Vapor

  • Default (No Skin)
  • No Skin
Collapse
Code Project
  1. Home
  2. Other Discussions
  3. The Insider News
  4. Another Critical Security Flaw In Java Appears Before Oracle Has Even Resolved The Last One

Another Critical Security Flaw In Java Appears Before Oracle Has Even Resolved The Last One

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved The Insider News
csharpjavaoraclecomsecurity
19 Posts 12 Posters 0 Views 1 Watching
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • R Ravi Bhavnani

    Clickety[^] [Forbes] If you temporarily disabled Java during the last round of attacks on Oracle’s ubiquitous, buggy program, here’s more evidence that the time has come to remove it altogether. /ravi

    My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com

    R Offline
    R Offline
    rb55
    wrote on last edited by
    #6

    And replace it with....? .NET? Oops, it's got the same or worse flaws, even referenced in the same article.

    Richard DeemingR 1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • A AspDotNetDev

      I find it funny that when it's Java that has a major security flaw, it's a big deal, but the weekly Windows Updates I get that say "fixes a vulnerability that could allow a remote attacker to take over the computer" are not an issue. Maybe I should uninstall Windows too?

      Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

      P Offline
      P Offline
      Pete OHanlon
      wrote on last edited by
      #7

      It's not news when it's a Windows box. You'd have no time to report anything else if you treated Windows vulnerabilities as news.

      *pre-emptive celebratory nipple tassle jiggle* - Sean Ewington

      "Mind bleach! Send me mind bleach!" - Nagy Vilmos

      CodeStash - Online Snippet Management | My blog | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier

      C 1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • R Ravi Bhavnani

        Clickety[^] [Forbes] If you temporarily disabled Java during the last round of attacks on Oracle’s ubiquitous, buggy program, here’s more evidence that the time has come to remove it altogether. /ravi

        My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com

        R Offline
        R Offline
        RafagaX
        wrote on last edited by
        #8

        Hi. It's a shame that this is passing with the "vendor standard" implementation of Java (or being more correct the JVM), but uninstall it is not necessary, what should be done is disable it by default in the web browsers (as it isn't as needed as it used to be), and enable it only on demand and only in some user approved web sites, another "fix" is to take a look at the Open Source implementations of Java and use those instead.

        CEO at: - Rafaga Systems - Para Facturas - Modern Components for the moment...

        1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • R rb55

          And replace it with....? .NET? Oops, it's got the same or worse flaws, even referenced in the same article.

          Richard DeemingR Offline
          Richard DeemingR Offline
          Richard Deeming
          wrote on last edited by
          #9

          Am I going blind? I see no mention of .NET in the Forbes article, let alone any claims that it has worse security flaws than Java. According to Secunia, .NET 4.0 has 14 patched vulnerabilities[^], and none unpatched. I have yet to see Microsoft take four months to patch a .NET vulnerability, or wait until it's being actively exploited before treating it seriously.


          "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

          "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined" - Homer

          R 1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • Richard DeemingR Richard Deeming

            Am I going blind? I see no mention of .NET in the Forbes article, let alone any claims that it has worse security flaws than Java. According to Secunia, .NET 4.0 has 14 patched vulnerabilities[^], and none unpatched. I have yet to see Microsoft take four months to patch a .NET vulnerability, or wait until it's being actively exploited before treating it seriously.


            "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

            R Offline
            R Offline
            rb55
            wrote on last edited by
            #10

            Maybe not, this is what happens when you read far too many of these last week. :) The better story[^] detailing the real issue behind the partial story in Forbes. So no, it's actually not a Java Exploit, but a browser exploit. With all that said, if I'm running as a non-privileged user and this exploit gives the attacker full control of my machine (windows most likely) then there's bigger issues afoot than a mere exploit in the JRE. This would imply an OS problem. Add to this that he references the Flashback exploit of several months ago as being a similar hole, note that for macs, at least, this "exploit" merely offered up to the user a request to install a trojan, nothing more, nothing less, and it required user intervention. From what I can tell, the windows version gives direct access to the machine, bypassing the user and security entirely. So perhaps if people ditched windows, they'd be safer? After all, that's no more sensationalist a line than "time to ditch Java".

            Richard DeemingR 1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • R rb55

              Maybe not, this is what happens when you read far too many of these last week. :) The better story[^] detailing the real issue behind the partial story in Forbes. So no, it's actually not a Java Exploit, but a browser exploit. With all that said, if I'm running as a non-privileged user and this exploit gives the attacker full control of my machine (windows most likely) then there's bigger issues afoot than a mere exploit in the JRE. This would imply an OS problem. Add to this that he references the Flashback exploit of several months ago as being a similar hole, note that for macs, at least, this "exploit" merely offered up to the user a request to install a trojan, nothing more, nothing less, and it required user intervention. From what I can tell, the windows version gives direct access to the machine, bypassing the user and security entirely. So perhaps if people ditched windows, they'd be safer? After all, that's no more sensationalist a line than "time to ditch Java".

              Richard DeemingR Offline
              Richard DeemingR Offline
              Richard Deeming
              wrote on last edited by
              #11

              If you're referring to the vulnerability patched by last week's IE security update[^], it didn't give the attacker full control of your machine; it gave then the same user rights as the current user. If you're surfing the net as a local administrator with UAC turned off, then the problem isn't the OS! And you've now digressed from your original claim that ".NET (has) got the same or worse flaws (as Java)".


              "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

              "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined" - Homer

              R 1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • R Ravi Bhavnani

                Clickety[^] [Forbes] If you temporarily disabled Java during the last round of attacks on Oracle’s ubiquitous, buggy program, here’s more evidence that the time has come to remove it altogether. /ravi

                My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com

                F Offline
                F Offline
                Fabio Franco
                wrote on last edited by
                #12

                REMOVE IT ALTOGETHER!!! It gives me allergies!

                To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems - Homer Simpson ---- Our heads are round so our thoughts can change direction - Francis Picabia

                R 1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • F Fabio Franco

                  REMOVE IT ALTOGETHER!!! It gives me allergies!

                  To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems - Homer Simpson ---- Our heads are round so our thoughts can change direction - Francis Picabia

                  R Offline
                  R Offline
                  Ravi Bhavnani
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #13

                  I think you need less coffee - I mean Java. :-D /ravi

                  My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com

                  F 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • R Ravi Bhavnani

                    I think you need less coffee - I mean Java. :-D /ravi

                    My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com

                    F Offline
                    F Offline
                    Fabio Franco
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #14

                    :laugh: Now that you mention it, I really hate the taste of coffee (for real) and rely on energy drinks to get my caffeine dosage. Funny coincidence :)

                    To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems - Homer Simpson ---- Our heads are round so our thoughts can change direction - Francis Picabia

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • Richard DeemingR Richard Deeming

                      If you're referring to the vulnerability patched by last week's IE security update[^], it didn't give the attacker full control of your machine; it gave then the same user rights as the current user. If you're surfing the net as a local administrator with UAC turned off, then the problem isn't the OS! And you've now digressed from your original claim that ".NET (has) got the same or worse flaws (as Java)".


                      "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

                      R Offline
                      R Offline
                      rb55
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #15

                      No, I'm actually talking about the hole in .NET, which really is a hole. But apparently it was far enough back that it fell off my 3 week history. Shows you how time flies. The difference between .NET and JRE flaws is that under .NET under windows it can take over your machine, not just run with the current user privs. Despite removing the ability to manipulate tokens, or in spite of, it's still quite possible to dynamically inject code into DLLs and have them run as SYSTEM. That's also true of the JRE browser plugin flaws I suppose, although I haven't looked into it any deeper.

                      Richard DeemingR 1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • R rb55

                        No, I'm actually talking about the hole in .NET, which really is a hole. But apparently it was far enough back that it fell off my 3 week history. Shows you how time flies. The difference between .NET and JRE flaws is that under .NET under windows it can take over your machine, not just run with the current user privs. Despite removing the ability to manipulate tokens, or in spite of, it's still quite possible to dynamically inject code into DLLs and have them run as SYSTEM. That's also true of the JRE browser plugin flaws I suppose, although I haven't looked into it any deeper.

                        Richard DeemingR Offline
                        Richard DeemingR Offline
                        Richard Deeming
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #16

                        Which hole in .NET? I have yet to see a report of a .NET vulnerability which bypasses UAC. For example: the most recent patch, MS12-038[^], states: "an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could obtain the same permissions as the currently logged-on user." Can you post a link to a single .NET vulnerability, patched or otherwise, which allows remote code execution under the system account?


                        "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

                        "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined" - Homer

                        J 1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • Richard DeemingR Richard Deeming

                          Which hole in .NET? I have yet to see a report of a .NET vulnerability which bypasses UAC. For example: the most recent patch, MS12-038[^], states: "an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could obtain the same permissions as the currently logged-on user." Can you post a link to a single .NET vulnerability, patched or otherwise, which allows remote code execution under the system account?


                          "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

                          J Offline
                          J Offline
                          Jules H
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #17

                          How about this one? http://www.osvdb.org/71013 (although I'll note that my system does not appear to be affected, so perhaps it's a local problem?)

                          Richard DeemingR 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • J Jules H

                            How about this one? http://www.osvdb.org/71013 (although I'll note that my system does not appear to be affected, so perhaps it's a local problem?)

                            Richard DeemingR Offline
                            Richard DeemingR Offline
                            Richard Deeming
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #18

                            OSVDB:

                            Location: Local Access Required

                            Cisco[^]:

                            ...could allow a local attacker to execute arbitrary code...

                            ...the attacker would need to be a part of the Power or Domain user group...

                            So not exactly a remote-code execution vulnerability. ;P I suppose there's a possibility that an unpatched RCE could be used to get code onto the computer which could then take advantage of a local escalation of privilege vulnerability to execute further code as the system user, but that's not specific to .NET, and I'd be surprised if you couldn't do the same thing on a Mac.


                            "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

                            "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined" - Homer

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • P Pete OHanlon

                              It's not news when it's a Windows box. You'd have no time to report anything else if you treated Windows vulnerabilities as news.

                              *pre-emptive celebratory nipple tassle jiggle* - Sean Ewington

                              "Mind bleach! Send me mind bleach!" - Nagy Vilmos

                              CodeStash - Online Snippet Management | My blog | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier

                              C Offline
                              C Offline
                              Chad3F
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #19

                              So we should start reporting the lack of any [current] vulnerabilities (if and when it happens) in Windows as news? :-D

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              Reply
                              • Reply as topic
                              Log in to reply
                              • Oldest to Newest
                              • Newest to Oldest
                              • Most Votes


                              • Login

                              • Don't have an account? Register

                              • Login or register to search.
                              • First post
                                Last post
                              0
                              • Categories
                              • Recent
                              • Tags
                              • Popular
                              • World
                              • Users
                              • Groups