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Application ServerApplication · Oracle

CVE-2009-0993

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2009-04-15
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Unspecified vulnerability in the OPMN component in Oracle Application Server 10.1.2.3 allows remote attackers to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability via unknown vectors. NOTE: the previous information was obtained from the April 2009 CPU. Oracle has not commented on reliable researcher claims that this issue is a format string vulnerability that allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via format string specifiers in an HTTP POST URI, which are not properly handled when logging to opmn/logs/opmn.log.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Format string vulnerability in Oracle Application Server 10.1.2.3's OPMN (Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server) component allows remote attackers to inject format string specifiers via HTTP POST URI. These unsanitized inputs are written to opmn/logs/opmn.log, leading to remote code execution due to improper handling of format string characters in logging.

MitigationApply Oracle Critical Patch Update April 2009 or later. For legacy systems, consider upgrading to a supported Oracle Fusion Middleware version or implementing network segmentation to restrict access to OPMN ports.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Application ServerApplication
Affected:= 10.1.2.3.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Oracle Application Server version
    Run 'opmnctl status -l' or check registry/inventory files for Oracle Application Server installation. On Unix, check $ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/bin/httpd -v. On Windows, check the Oracle installation directory for version.txt or check Windows Registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\ORACLE.
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 10.1.2.3.0 (10.1.2.3)
  2. Verify OPMN component is present
    Check if the OPMN (Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server) binaries and directory structure exist. Look for $ORACLE_HOME/opmn/bin/opmnctl or %ORACLE_HOME%\opmn\bin\opmnctl.
    Affected if OPMN binaries exist in the Oracle Application Server installation directory
  3. Confirm OPMN is running and accessible
    Run 'opmnctl status' to check if OPMN processes are running. Identify the HTTP port OPMN is listening on (typically 6001-6003 for OPMN, 7777-7778 for Oracle HTTP Server).
    Affected if OPMN processes are running and their management ports are network-accessible
  4. Inspect opmn.log for format string injection
    Examine the log file at opmn/logs/opmn.log (full path: $ORACLE_HOME/opmn/logs/opmn.log or %ORACLE_HOME%\opmn\logs\opmn.log). Search for unusual format specifiers like %s, %n, %x in the log entries.
    Affected if The opmn.log contains entries with raw format string specifiers (%s, %n, %x, %d, etc.) that were not intentionally logged by the system, indicating potential exploitation attempts

A system is affected if it runs Oracle Application Server version 10.1.2.3.0 with OPMN enabled and accessible over the network, and particularly if opmn.log shows evidence of format string injection attempts.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Oracle Critical Patch Update April 2009 or later. For legacy systems, consider upgrading to a supported Oracle Fusion Middleware version or implementing network segmentation to restrict access to OPMN ports.

Fix this in Application Server Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2009-0993 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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