How to Make Your Oracle APEX Application Secure

26 Pages·2008·5.11 MB·English

How to Make Your Oracle APEX Application Secure
Peter Lorenzen
Technology Manager
WM-data Denmark
a LogicaCMG Company
[email protected]
© LogicaCMG 2006. All rights reserved 1
Presentation
• Target audience is developers
• Focus is on how to prevent hackers from gaining access
• In terms of what I believe an APEX developer in a small shop,
without a fulltime security expert or DBA, should know
• More an overview of security threats and countermeasures
than a thorough analysis
• Point you to resources with more information about the different subjects
• Assumption: An application that
– is accessed from the Internet
– contains valuable and secret information
2
APEX Project References
• The Danish Department of Prisons and Probation uses APEX in
the process of deciding in which facility a client should serve
• RTX Telecom uses APEX to control DECT cordless telephones in
Rumania
• Naturgas Fyn is a provider of natural gas in Denmark. We have
developed a system that calculates the amount of gas that is
needed from each gas provider the following day
3
Agenda
• Intro
• Architecture
– HTTP Servers
– Choosing an Architecture
• Hardening the Architecture
–– PPaattcchhiinngg
– Hardening the Database
– Hardening the HTTP Web Server
• Specific Threats
– Cross-Site Scripting
– SQL Injection
• Hardening APEX
– Miscellaneous
• Conclusion
4
Intro – Security, what security?
A security company estimates that there are a 71% likelihood that a Website
has a Cross-Site Scripting vulnerability and 20% for a SQL Injection
5
Intro
• Think about security from the beginning of a project
• Plan security – Architecture etc.
• Make sure people knows the security basic
• Have people that is responsible for security, patching etc.
APEX is secure, developers
☺
makes it insecure
6
Architecture
APEX Components
• Oracle HTTP Server (Database Companion CD) • Oracle 9i/10g/11g Database
• Oracle HTTP Server (Oracle Application Server) • Oracle Express Edition
• Oracle XML DB HTTP Server
HTTP
server
There is such a
thing as too cheap
7
Architecture
Which HTTP Server to Use?
Oracle HTTP Server Oracle XML DB HTTP Server
(OHS) (cid:2)
TTeecchhnnoollooggyy AAppaacchhee 11..33..xx DDeevveellooppeedd bbyy OOrraaccllee.. BBuuiillddss
on the Oracle Shared Server
architecture
Database “connection” mod_plsql Embedded PL/SQL Gateway
Use known and
proven technology
8
Architecture
"Security is an architecture, not an appliance” - Art Wittman
Minimum Only HTTP communication
Proxy HTTP Server
Database +
– Standard Apache 1.3/2.0 HTTP Server
mod_proxy
HTTP server
– OHS based on an Apache 2.0.x HTTP Server
9
Architecture
Using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption
Database +
HTTP server
SSL?
Security measures should match the risk
and the value of the secured application/data
10