Oracle Issues Emergency Java Security Update

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Oracle has released a new version of Java, ahead of schedule, to help defend users against active attacks.

Oracle's Friday critical patch update (CPU) addresses 50 bugs in Java, over half of which can be remotely exploited by attackers. At least one of those bugs was disclosed to the company only a week ago Sunday.

"Due to the threat posed by a successful attack, Oracle strongly recommends that customers apply CPU fixes as soon as possible," according to Oracle's security advisory.

The newly released versions of Java include Java 7 Update 13, Java 6 Update 39, and JavaFX 2.2.5. (Oracle has said it plans to stop posting new updates for Java 6 after the end of this month.)

[ Need help in understanding the Java security problem? Read Java Security Warnings: Cut Through The Confusion. ]

According to Oracle, its new Java software addresses flaws present in the following Java software (and all versions previous to those listed here): Java 7 Update 11, Java 6 Update 38, Java 5 Update 38, SDK and Java Runtime Environment 1.4.2_40, and JavaFX 2.2.4.

Per Oracle's version of the common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS), 26 of the 50 bugs patched in the new security update have rated a "10" (most severe) on the CVSS scale, meaning that attackers could exploit the flaws to fully compromise a target's PC. Three of those bugs, meanwhile, are present in both Java clients and servers, and "can be exploited through untrusted Java Web Start applications and untrusted Java applets, … [or] by supplying data to APIs in the specified Component without using untrusted Java Web Start applications or untrusted Java applets, such as through a web service," according to Oracle.

The latest Java updates address vulnerabilities that were reported to Oracle by IBM X-Force, iDefense, Information Security Partners (iSEC), Red Hat, Security Explorations, and via TippingPoint. According to Polish research firm Security Explorations, Oracle reported fixing four bugs -- numbered by the firm as 29, 50, 52 and 53 -- with the release of Java 7 Update 13. One of those bugs, number 53, was disclosed to the company less than 10 days ago.

Oracle moved up the release of the new Java updates from February 19, which was the scheduled date for the company's next quarterly critical patch update release. "Oracle decided to accelerate the release of this Critical Patch Update because active exploitation 'in the wild' of one of the vulnerabilities affecting the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) in desktop browsers, was addressed with this Critical Patch Update," according to the Oracle security bulletin. The next quarterly patch update from Oracle is scheduled to occur June 18, 2013.

Given the spate of vulnerabilities that have been recently identified in Java, can Java be trusted? "There is no particular reason why a Java application puts your computer at any greater risk than an application based on Windows .EXE files or OS X native binaries," said Paul Ducklin, head of technology for Sophos in the Asia Pacific region, in a blog post that details the company's latest fixes. But on the flipside, he suggested that too many users left Java running, when they didn't need to run Java applications -- or use the Java browser plug-in for accessing website content -- at all.

"Don't install any software you don't actually need or use," he said. "That includes Java."

Will the release of Oracle's latest Java updates block attackers from exploiting the bugs present in older versions of Java? If history is any guide, don't bet on it, according to a study, published Friday by Kaspersky Lab, which evaluates the speed with which users update their plug-ins -- including Java.

"Users are extremely reluctant to switch to the updated software, even when this will fix dangerous security issues," according to the study. For example, on February 14, 2012, Oracle released an update for Java 6 and Java 7 to patch vulnerabilities that affected 52.4% of all Java users. After that, Oracle released a Java update on April 26, which contained no security fixes, as well as another update on June 12 that included security fixes. But by mid-June 2012, 37.3% of users were still affected by the vulnerabilities that had been patched in February -- meaning that despite the three waves of security fixes, one-third of affected Java users had yet to install an update.

Attackers, of course, aren't slow to target people's slow patching proclivities. According to the Kaspersky Lab report, which counted over 800 vulnerabilities having been discovered last year, 37 of those bugs were present on at least 10% of all PCs for at least one week last year, and quantity-wise accounted for 70% of all bugs detected last year. Only eight of the vulnerabilities, however, have been widely targeted by crimeware toolkits. Five of those vulnerabilities are in Java, two in Adobe Flash Player, and one in Adobe reader.

Many PC users simply don't excise old, unneeded -- and potentially dangerous -- software from their systems. For example, the Kaspersky Lab study found that a version of the Adobe Flash Player that was replaced by Adobe more than two years ago was still running on 10.2% of all PCs, despite Adobe having warned that exploit code for an attack that could fully compromise a targeted PC had been published for that version of Flash Player. According to the Kaspersky Lab report, "it seems possible that this vulnerability will only disappear when all computers currently running obsolete software are replaced with new ones."