[This was originally published on the OSVDB blog.]
Today just happened to be the right day where I saw the Jekyll and “Hide” of Sun though. A few days ago, |)ruid posted about a Solaris ypupdated vulnerability in which he says it corresponds to CVE-1999-0208 / OSVDB 11517. Given the original vulnerability was published in 1994, I had doubts it was truly the same vulnerability. I replied asking for confirmation, |)ruid replied and CC’d the Sun Security Coordination Team. Within 24 hours, Sun replied with a detailed analysis explaining how 11517 was different from the newly created OSVDB 43433, but very much related. This mail is a VDB maintainer’s wet dream; if only every vendor would provide this kind of detail when there is confusion over published vulnerability information. This is clearly the Dr. Jekyll locked up in a Sun complex somewhere who deserves kudos for the reply.
The Sun Microsystems “SunSolve” database is a quagmire of technical muck that is only rivaled by the IBM APAR database I believe. Tonight I find myself plowing through a grotesque changelog of Sun Java System Directory Server (SJSDS?). Sun apparently hasn’t fully mastered the idea of hyperlinking to make those annoying numbers on the left lead to somewhere with more information. So I log into the SunSolve database using my super secret ID associated with a sizable company that owns lots of Sun products. I type in a few numbers of interest off that list and away I … don’t go. Mr. Hide stops me quick, telling me that to read the bug IDs I have to be a better customer apparently.
You have selected content which is only available to registered SunSolve users with a valid Sun Service Plan. Please Login to access the restricted content of SunSolve and the Sun System Handbook if you are logged in to SunSolve and have received this message, please verify that you are associated with a valid support contract in the iSupport tool. If you have any questions about your support contract, please follow up with the Sun contract administrator contact at your company. If, however, none of the previous conditions apply, you may be trying to access a document that is no longer available. In this case please feel free to click on the SunSolve Feedback link at the bottom of the page and be sure to include the exact steps you took before you received this error message.
Wow, way to foil me via security through obscurity Sun Microsystems. Please take Mr. Hide and shove my beer bottle up his ass, sideways. Booze is the only way to adequately cope with the kind of headache born from vendors who can’t manage, organize, and share information.