Red Hat Product Errata RHSA-2013:0004 - Security Advisory
Issued:
2013-01-03
Updated:
2013-01-03

RHSA-2013:0004 - Security Advisory

Synopsis

Important: tomcat6 security update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory: Important

Topic

An update for the Apache Tomcat 6 component for JBoss Enterprise Web Server
2.0.0 that fixes one security issue is now available from the Red Hat
Customer Portal.

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having
important security impact. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS)
base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available from the
CVE link in the References section.

Description

Apache Tomcat is a servlet container.

It was found that when an application used FORM authentication, along with
another component that calls request.setUserPrincipal() before the call to
FormAuthenticator#authenticate() (such as the Single-Sign-On valve), it was
possible to bypass the security constraint checks in the FORM authenticator
by appending "/j_security_check" to the end of a URL. A remote attacker
with an authenticated session on an affected application could use this
flaw to circumvent authorization controls, and thereby access resources not
permitted by the roles associated with their authenticated session.
(CVE-2012-3546)

Warning: Before applying the update, back up your existing JBoss Enterprise
Web Server installation (including all applications and configuration
files).

All users of JBoss Enterprise Web Server 2.0.0 as provided from the Red Hat
Customer Portal are advised to apply this update.

Solution

The References section of this erratum contains a download link (you must
log in to download the update). Before applying the update, back up your
existing JBoss Enterprise Web Server installation (including all
applications and configuration files).

Tomcat must be restarted for this update to take effect.

Affected Products

  • JBoss Enterprise Web Server 2 for RHEL 6 x86_64
  • JBoss Enterprise Web Server Text-Only Advisories x86_64

Fixes

  • BZ - 883634 - CVE-2012-3546 Tomcat/JBoss Web: Bypass of security constraints

The Red Hat security contact is secalert@redhat.com. More contact details at https://access.redhat.com/security/team/contact/.