CVE-2012-3546 Apache Tomcat Bypass of security constraints

Severity: Important

Vendor: The Apache Software Foundation

Versions Affected:
- - Tomcat 7.0.0 to 7.0.29
- - Tomcat 6.0.0 to 6.0.35
Earlier unsupported versions may also be affected

Description:
When using FORM authentication it was possible to bypass the security
constraint checks in the FORM authenticator by appending
"/j_security_check" to the end of the URL if some other component (such
as the Single-Sign-On valve) had called request.setUserPrincipal()
before the call to FormAuthenticator#authenticate().

Mitigation:
Users of affected versions should apply one of the following mitigations:
- - Tomcat 7.0.x users should upgrade to 7.0.30 or later
- - Tomcat 6.0.x users should upgrade to 6.0.36 or later

Credit:
This issue was identified by The Tomcat security team

References:
http://tomcat.apache.org/security.html
http://tomcat.apache.org/security-7.html
http://tomcat.apache.org/security-6.html

IT security jobs: What's in demand and how to meet it

Posted on 15 May 2013.  |  Let's say you want a career in information security, where do you start? What credentials do you need? What are employers looking for? Read on to find some answers.

Is Microsoft is reading your Skype communications?

Posted on 15 May 2013.  |  The question of whether Skype allows U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies to access the communications exchanged by its users has still not been adequately answered by Microsoft.

Internet Explorer best at blocking malware

Posted on 14 May 2013.  |  While Chrome’s malware download protection improved significantly, Internet Explorer 10 continues to outperform the other browsers with a block rate of 99.96%.

Researcher refuses to help Saudi telco to spy on people

Posted on 14 May 2013.  |  You would think that a Saudi Arabian telecom firm interested in monitoring its users' mobile communications would not be asking a well-known pro-privacy researcher for help, but you would be wrong.

Malicious browser extensions are hijacking Facebook accounts

Posted on 13 May 2013.  |  Facebook users - especially those in Brazil - are being targeted with malicious browser extensions trying to hijack Facebook profiles, warns Microsoft.