Published:2011/06/10  Last Updated:2011/06/30

JVN#29212182
Java Web Start may insecurely load policy files

Overview

Java Web Start provided Oracle may use unsafe methods for determining how to load policy files.

Products Affected

  • Java SE 6 Update 25 and earlier for Windows

Description

Java Web Start is tool to distribute Java applications over the web and is contained in Java applications such as JRE (Java Runtime Environment) Java Web Start contains an issue with the file search path, which may insecurely load policy files.

Impact

An attacker may execute arbitrary code with the privilege of the running application.

Solution

Update the software
Update to the latest version according to the information provided by the developer.

Vendor Status

Vendor Link
Oracle Oracle Java SE Critical Patch Update Advisory - June 2011

References

  1. IPA
    Security Alert for Java Web Start Vulnerability

JPCERT/CC Addendum

Vulnerability Analysis by JPCERT/CC

Analyzed on 2011.06.10

Measures Conditions Severity
Access Required can be attacked over the Internet using packets
  • High
Authentication anonymous or no authentication (IP addresses do not count)
  • High
User Interaction Required the user must be convinced to take a standard action that does not feel harmful to most users, such as click on a link or view a file
  • Mid
Exploit Complexity some expertise and/or luck required (most buffer overflows, guessing correctly in small space, expertise in Windows function calls)
  • Mid-High

Description of each analysis measures

Credit

Hisashi Kojima of Fujitsu Laboratories, Ltd. reported this vulnerability to IPA.
JPCERT/CC coordinated with the vendor under Information Security Early Warning Partnership.

Other Information

JPCERT Alert
JPCERT Reports
CERT Advisory
CPNI Advisory
TRnotes
CVE CVE-2011-0788
JVN iPedia JVNDB-2011-000033

Update History

2011/06/30
Information under the sections "References" were modified.