Attackers could easily uncover Oracle database users' passwords because of a weak protection mechanism, putting corporate data at risk of exposure, experts have warned.
In the latest critique of Oracle's security practices, experts are calling on the software maker to improve the mechanism used to secure passwords for database users. Researchers say they have found a way to recover the plain text password from even very strong, well-written Oracle database passwords within minutes.
The technique Oracle uses to store and encrypt user passwords doesn't provide sufficient security, said Joshua Wright of the SANS Institute and Carlos Sid of Royal Holloway college, University of London. Wright gave a presentation on the matter Wednesday at the SANS Network Security conference in Los Angeles.
In the presentation, Wright discussed how passwords are encrypted before being stored in Oracle databases and presented a tool he wrote to uncover passwords, according to a SANS statement. A paper by Wright and Cid is available on the SANS Web site. (Download PDF.)
Wright and Cid identified several vulnerabilities, including a weak hashing mechanism and a lack of case preservation--all passwords are converted to uppercase characters before calculating the hash.
"By exploiting these weaknesses, an adversary with limited resources can mount an attack that would reveal the plain text password from the hash for a known user," Wright and Cid wrote in their paper.
The researchers informed Oracle about their findings in July, but subsequent requests for a response from Oracle have gone unanswered, according to SANS. Oracle also did not respond to a request for comment from CNET News.com.
Oracle users can protect their systems by requiring strong passwords and assigning limited user rights, the researchers said. Users are also encouraged to tell Oracle that it should improve password protection, they wrote.
Hah! So much for Mary Ann Davidson's criticisms of security researchers. How can you go mouthing off at others for finding flaws in your software, when this is the kind of software you're producing?
Hah! So much for Mary Ann Davidson's criticisms of security researchers. How can you go mouthing off at others for finding flaws in your software, when this is the kind of software you're producing?
I suppose any major vendor - who's major claim to fame is security, expose themselves to criticism when major vulnerabilities are discovered.
Oracle needs to simplify the update process. The most recent update for 10G App server comes with 19 pages of procedures that reference other procedures to install a critical patch. That is insane.
I suppose any major vendor - who's major claim to fame is security, expose themselves to criticism when major vulnerabilities are discovered.
Oracle needs to simplify the update process. The most recent update for 10G App server comes with 19 pages of procedures that reference other procedures to install a critical patch. That is insane.
Web giant is spending $120 million to beef up its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters, according to filings with the city reviewed by the San Jose Mercury News.
The Samsung Galaxy Mini 2 S6500 could make its debut at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona later this month, according to a leaked promotional image.
MIT creates a simulation to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Spacewar. A relic of the early days of minicomputers, it was one of the first computer video games and set the stage for many others, including Asteroids.
Bahh!
Bahh!
Oracle needs to simplify the update process. The most recent update for 10G App server comes with 19 pages of procedures that reference other procedures to install a critical patch. That is insane.
Oracle needs to simplify the update process. The most recent update for 10G App server comes with 19 pages of procedures that reference other procedures to install a critical patch. That is insane.
I bet the majority simply ignore these CPUs.
I bet the majority simply ignore these CPUs.