You can use many methods to secure database user accounts. For example, Oracle Database has a set of built-in protections for passwords. This chapter explains how you can safeguard default database accounts and passwords, and describes ways to manage database accounts.
Oracle Database 2 Day DBA describes the fundamentals of creating and administering user accounts, including how to manage user roles, what the administrative accounts are, and how to use profiles to establish a password policy.
After you create user accounts, you can use the procedures in this section to further secure these accounts by following these methods:
Safeguarding predefined database accounts. When you install Oracle Database, it creates a set of predefined accounts. You should secure these accounts as soon as possible by changing their passwords. You can use the same method to change all passwords, whether they are with regular user accounts, administrative accounts, or predefined accounts. This guide also provides guidelines on how to create the most secure passwords.
Managing database accounts. You can expire and lock database accounts.
Managing passwords. You can manage and protect passwords by setting initialization parameters. Oracle Database Reference describes the initialization parameters in detail.
A default Oracle Database installation provides a set of predefined administrative accounts. These are accounts that have special privileges required to administer areas of the database, such as the CREATE ANY TABLE or ALTER SESSION privilege, or EXECUTE privileges on packages owned by the SYS schema. The default tablespace for administrative accounts is either SYSTEM or SYSAUX.
To protect these accounts from unauthorized access, the installation process expires and locks most of these accounts, except where noted in Table 3-1. As the database administrator, you are responsible for unlocking and resetting these accounts, as described in "Expiring and Locking Database Accounts".
Table 3-1 lists the administrative user accounts provided by Oracle Database.
Table 3-1 Predefined Oracle Database Administrative User Accounts
User Account
Description
Status After Installation
ANONYMOUS
Account that allows HTTP access to Oracle XML DB. It is used in place of the APEX_PUBLIC_USER account when the Embedded PL/SQL Gateway (EPG) is installed in the database.
EPG is a Web server that can be used with Oracle Database. It provides the necessary infrastructure to create dynamic applications.
Expired and locked
CTXSYS
The account used to administer Oracle Text. Oracle Text enables you to build text query applications and document classification applications. It provides indexing, word and theme searching, and viewing capabilities for text.
Password is created at installation or database creation time.
EXFSYS
The account used internally to access the EXFSYS schema, which is associated with the Rules Manager and Expression Filter feature. This feature enables you to build complex PL/SQL rules and expressions. The EXFSYS schema contains the Rules Manager and Expression Filter DDL, DML, and associated metadata.
An account used by Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control.
Open
Password is randomly generated at installation or database creation time. Users do not need to know this password.
OLAPSYS
The account that owns the OLAP Catalog (CWMLite). This account has been deprecated, but is retained for backward compatibility.
Expired and locked
ORDDATA
This account contains the Oracle Multimedia DICOM data model. See Oracle Multimedia DICOM Developer's Guide for more information.
Expired and locked
OWBSYS
The account for administrating the Oracle Warehouse Builder repository.
Access this account during the installation process to define the base language of the repository and to define Warehouse Builder workspaces and users. A data warehouse is a relational or multidimensional database that is designed for query and analysis.
The Oracle Multimedia user. Plug-ins supplied by Oracle and third-party, format plug-ins are installed in this schema.
Oracle Multimedia enables Oracle Database to store, manage, and retrieve images, audio, video, DICOM format medical images and other objects, or other heterogeneous media data integrated with other enterprise information.
The account that supports plan stability. Plan stability prevents certain database environment changes from affecting the performance characteristics of applications by preserving execution plans in stored outlines. OUTLN acts as a role to centrally manage metadata associated with stored outlines.
Password is created at installation or database creation time.
SYSTEM
A default generic database administrator account for Oracle databases.
For production systems, Oracle recommends creating individual database administrator accounts and not using the generic SYSTEM account for database administration operations.
Password is created at installation or database creation time.
WK_TEST
The instance administrator for the default instance, WK_INST. After you unlock this account and assign this user a password, then you must also update the cached schema password using the administration tool Edit Instance Page.
Ultra Search provides uniform search-and-location capabilities over multiple repositories, such as Oracle databases, other ODBC compliant databases, IMAP mail servers, HTML documents managed by a Web server, files on disk, and more.
An Ultra Search database super-user. WKSYS can grant super-user privileges to other users, such as WK_TEST. All Oracle Ultra Search database objects are installed in the WKSYS schema.
If you create an Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM) instance, then theASMSNMP account is created. Oracle Enterprise Manager uses this account to monitor ASM instances to retrieve data from ASM-related data dictionary views. The ASMSNMP account status is set to OPEN upon creation, and it is granted the SYSDBA privilege. For more information, see Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator's Guide.
Predefined Non-Administrative User Accounts
Table 3-2 lists default non-administrative user accounts that are created when you install Oracle Database. Non-administrative user accounts only have the minimum privileges needed to perform their jobs. Their default tablespace is USERS.
To protect these accounts from unauthorized access, the installation process locks and expires these accounts immediately after installation, except where noted in Table 3-2. As the database administrator, you are responsible for unlocking and resetting these accounts, as described in "Expiring and Locking Database Accounts".
Table 3-2 Predefined Oracle Database Non-Administrative User Accounts
User Account
Description
Status After Installation
APEX_PUBLIC_USER
The Oracle Database Application Express account. Use this account to specify the Oracle schema used to connect to the database through the database access descriptor (DAD).
Oracle Application Express is a rapid, Web application development tool for Oracle Database.
The Oracle Directory Integration and Provisioning (DIP) account that is installed with Oracle Label Security. This profile is created automatically as part of the installation process for Oracle Internet Directory-enabled Oracle Label Security.
The account that owns most of the database objects created during the installation of Oracle Database Application Express. These objects include tables, views, triggers, indexes, packages, and so on.
The account that owns the database objects created during the installation of Oracle Database Application Express related to modplsql document conveyance, for example, file uploads and downloads. These objects include tables, views, triggers, indexes, packages, and so on.
The schema used by Oracle Spatial for storing Geocoder and router data.
Oracle Spatial provides a SQL schema and functions that enable you to store, retrieve, update, and query collections of spatial features in an Oracle database.
The account used with Oracle Configuration Manager. This feature enables you to associate the configuration information for the current Oracle Database instance with My Oracle Support. Then when you log a service request, it is associated with the database instance configuration information.
See Oracle Database Installation Guide for your platform.
Expired and locked
SPATIAL_CSW_ADMIN_USR
The Catalog Services for the Web (CSW) account. It is used by Oracle Spatial CSW Cache Manager to load all record-type metadata and record instances from the database into the main memory for the record types that are cached.
The Web Feature Service (WFS) account. It is used by Oracle Spatial WFS Cache Manager to load all feature type metadata and feature instances from the dantabase into main memory for the feature types that are cached.
An internal account that represents the absence of a user in a session. Because XS$NULL is not a user, this account can only be accessed by the Oracle Database instance. XS$NULL has no privileges and no one can authenticate as XS$NULL, nor can authentication credentials ever be assigned to XS$NULL.
Expired and locked
Predefined Sample Schema User Accounts
If you install the sample schemas, which you must do to complete the examples in this guide, Oracle Database creates a set of sample user accounts. The sample schema user accounts are all non-administrative accounts, and their tablespace is USERS.
To protect these accounts from unauthorized access, the installation process locks and expires these accounts immediately after installation. As the database administrator, you are responsible for unlocking and resetting these accounts, as described in "Expiring and Locking Database Accounts". For more information about the sample schema accounts, see Oracle Database Sample Schemas.
Table 3-3 lists the sample schema user accounts, which represent different divisions of a fictional company that manufactures various products.
Table 3-3 Default Sample Schema User Accounts
User Account
Description
Status After Installation
BI
The account that owns the BI (Business Intelligence) schema included in the Oracle Sample Schemas.
The account used to manage the HR (Human Resources) schema. This schema stores information about the employees and the facilities of the company.
Expired and locked
OE
The account used to manage the OE (Order Entry) schema. This schema stores product inventories and sales of the company's products through various channels.
Expired and locked
PM
The account used to manage the PM (Product Media) schema. This schema contains descriptions and detailed information about each product sold by the company.
Expired and locked
IX
The account used to manage the IX (Information Exchange) schema. This schema manages shipping through business-to-business (B2B) applications.
Expired and locked
SH
The account used to manage the SH (Sales) schema. This schema stores business statistics to facilitate business decisions.
Expired and locked
In addition to the sample schema accounts, Oracle Database provides another sample schema account, SCOTT. The SCOTT schema contains the tables EMP, DEPT, SALGRADE, and BONUS. The SCOTT account is used in examples throughout the Oracle Database documentation set. When you install Oracle Database, the SCOTT account is locked and expired.
Expiring and Locking Database Accounts
When you expire the password of a user, that password no longer exists. If you want to unexpire the password, you change the password of that account. Locking an account preserves the user password and other account information, but makes the account unavailable to anyone who tries to log in to the database using that account. Unlocking it makes the account available again.
Oracle Database 2 Day DBA explains how you can use Database Control to unlock database accounts. You also can use Database Control to expire or lock database accounts.
The Users page lists the user accounts created for the current database instance. The Account Status column indicates whether an account is expired, locked, or open.
In the Select column, select the account you want to expire, and then click Edit.
The Edit User page appears.
Do one of the following:
To expire a password, click Expire Password now.
To unexpire the password, enter a new password in the Enter Password and Confirm Password fields. See "Requirements for Creating Passwords" for password requirements.
To lock the account, select Locked.
Click Apply.
Requirements for Creating Passwords
When you create a user account, Oracle Database assigns a default password policy for that user. The password policy defines rules for how the password should be created, such as a minimum number of characters, when it expires, and so on. You can strengthen passwords by using password policies.
For greater security, follow these guidelines when you create passwords:
Make the password between 12 and 30 characters and numbers.
Use mixed case letters and special characters in the password. (See Oracle Database Security Guide for more information.)
Use the database character set for the password's characters, which can include the underscore (_), dollar ($), and number sign (#) characters.
Do not use an actual word for the entire password.
When you install Oracle Database, the default database user accounts, including administrative accounts, are created without default passwords. Except for the administrative accounts whose passwords you create during installation (such as user SYS), the default user accounts arrive locked with their passwords expired. If you have upgraded from a previous release of Oracle Database, you may have database accounts that still have default passwords. These are default accounts that are created when you create a database, such as the HR, OE, and SCOTT accounts.
Security is most easily compromised when a default database user account still has a default password after installation. This is particularly true for the user account SCOTT, which is a well known account that may be vulnerable to intruders. Find accounts that use default passwords and then change their passwords.
To find and change default passwords:
Log into SQL*Plus with administrative privileges.
sqlplus system
Enter password: password
Select from the DBA_USERS_WITH_DEFPWD data dictionary view.
SELECT * FROM DBA_USERS_WITH_DEFPWD;
The DBA_USERS_WITH_DEFPWD lists the accounts that still have user default passwords. For example:
USERNAME
------------
SCOTT
Change the password for the accounts the DBA_USERS_WITH_DEFPWD data dictionary view lists.
For example, to change the password for user SCOTT, enter the following:
PASSWORD SCOTT
Changing password for SCOTT
New password: password
Retype new password: password
Password changed
Replace password with a password that is secure, according to the guidelines listed in "Requirements for Creating Passwords". For greater security, do not reuse the same password that was used in previous releases of Oracle Database.
Alternatively, you can use the ALTER USER SQL statement to change the password:
ALTER USER SCOTT IDENTIFIED BY password;
You can use Database Control to change a user account passwords (not just the default user account passwords) if you have administrative privileges. Individual users can also use Database Control to change their own passwords.
To use Database Control to change the password of a database account:
Enter an administrator user name and password (for example, SYSTEM), and then click Login.
Click Server to display the Server subpage.
In the Security section, click Users.
The Users page lists the user accounts created for the current database instance. The Account Status column indicates whether an account is expired, locked, or open.
In the Select column, select the account you want to change, and then click Edit.
The Edit User page appears.
Enter a new password in the Enter Password and Confirm Password fields.
Guideline for Handling the Default Administrative User Passwords
You can use the same or different passwords for the SYS, SYSTEM, SYSMAN, and DBSNMP administrative accounts. Oracle recommends that you use different passwords for each. In any Oracle Database environment (production or test), assign strong, secure, and distinct passwords to these administrative accounts. If you use Database Configuration Assistant to create a new database, then it requires you to create passwords for the SYS and SYSTEM accounts.
Do not use default passwords for any administrative accounts, including SYSMAN and DBSNMP. Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2) and later does not install these accounts with default passwords, but if you have upgraded from an earlier release of Oracle Database, you may still have accounts that use default passwords. You should find and change these accounts by using the procedures in "Finding and Changing Default Passwords".
At the end of database creation, Database Configuration Assistant displays a page that requires you to enter and confirm new passwords for the SYS and SYSTEM user accounts.
After installation, you can use Database Control to change the administrative user passwords. See "Finding and Changing Default Passwords" for more information on changing a password.
Guideline for Enforcing Password Management
Apply basic password management rules (such as password length, history, complexity, and so forth) to all user passwords. Oracle Database has password policies enabled for the default profile. "Requirements for Creating Passwords" provides guidelines for creating password policies. Table 3-4 lists initialization parameters that you can set to enforce password management.
You can find information about user accounts by querying the DBA_USERS view. The DBA_USERS view provides useful information such as the user account status, whether the account is locked, and password versions. You can query DBA_USERS as follows:
sqlplus system
Enter password: password
SQL> SELECT * FROM DBA_USERS;
Oracle also recommends, if possible, using Oracle Advanced Security (an option to Oracle Database Enterprise Edition) with network authentication services (such as Kerberos), token cards, smart cards, or X.509 certificates. These services provide strong authentication of users, and provide better protection against unauthorized access to Oracle Database.
Table 3-4 lists initialization and profile parameters that you can set to better secure user accounts.
Table 3-4 Initialization and Profile Parameters Used for User Account Security
Parameter
Default Setting
Description
SEC_CASE_SENSITIVE_LOGON
TRUE
Controls case sensitivity in passwords. TRUE enables case sensitivity; FALSE disables it.
SEC_MAX_FAILED_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS
No default setting
Sets the maximum number of times a user is allowed to fail when connecting to an Oracle Call Interface (OCI) application.
FAILED_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS
10
Sets the maximum times a user login is allowed to fail before locking the account.
Note: You also can set limits on the number of times an unauthorized user (possibly an intruder) attempts to log in to Oracle Call Interface applications by using the SEC_MAX_FAILED_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS initialization parameter.
PASSWORD_GRACE_TIME
7
Sets the number of days that a user has to change his or her password before it expires.
PASSWORD_LIFE_TIME
180
Sets the number of days the user can use his or her current password.
PASSWORD_LOCK_TIME
1
Sets the number of days an account will be locked after the specified number of consecutive failed login attempts.
PASSWORD_REUSE_MAX
UNLIMITED
Specifies the number of password changes required before the current password can be reused.
PASSWORD_REUSE_TIME
UNLIMITED
Specifies the number of days before which a password cannot be reused.
Note:
You can use most of these parameters to create a user profile. See Oracle Database Security Guide for more information about user profile settings.
Auditing is the monitoring and recording of selected user database actions. In standard auditing, you use initialization parameters and the AUDIT and NOAUDIT SQL statements to audit SQL statements, privileges, and schema objects, and network and multitier activities.
There are also activities that Oracle Database always audits, regardless of whether auditing is enabled. These activities are administrative privilege connections, database startups, and database shutdowns. See Oracle Database Security Guide for more information.
Another type of auditing is fine-grained auditing. Fine-grained auditing enables you to audit at the most granular level, data access, and actions based on content, using Boolean measurement, such as value > 1000. You can use fine-grained auditing to audit activities based on access to or changes in a column. You can create security policies to trigger auditing when someone accesses or alters specified elements in an Oracle database, including the contents within a specified object. You can create policies that define specific conditions that must take place for the audit to occur. For example, you can audit a particular table column to find out when and who tried to access it during a specified period of time. Furthermore, you can create alerts that are triggered when the policy is violated, and write this data to a separate audit file. Oracle Database Security Guide explains how to perform fine-grained auditing.
Why Is Auditing Used?
You typically use auditing to perform the following activities:
Enable accountability for actions. These include actions taken in a particular schema, table, or row, or affecting specific content.
Deter users from inappropriate actions based on that accountability.
Investigate suspicious activity. For example, if a user is deleting data from tables, then a security administrator might decide to audit all connections to the database and all successful and unsuccessful deletions of rows from all tables in the database.
Notify an auditor of actions by an unauthorized user. For example, an unauthorized user could change or delete data, or a user has more privileges than expected, which can lead to reassessing user authorizations.
Detect problems with an authorization or access control implementation. For example, you can create audit policies that you expect will never generate an audit record because the data is protected in other ways. However, if these policies do generate audit records, then you will know the other security controls are not properly implemented.
Address auditing requirements for compliance. Regulations such as the following have common auditing-related requirements:
Sarbanes-Oxley Act
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
International Convergence of Capital Measurement and Capital Standards: a Revised Framework (Basel II)
Japan Privacy Law
European Union Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications
Monitor and gather data about specific database activities. For example, the database administrator can gather statistics about which tables are being updated, how many logical I/O operations are performed, or how many concurrent users connect at peak times.
Where Are Standard Audit Activities Recorded?
Oracle Database records audit activities in audit records. Audit records provide information about the operation that was audited, the user performing the operation, and the date and time of the operation. Audit records can be stored in either a data dictionary table, called the database audit trail, or in operating system files, called an operating system audit trail. Oracle Database also provides a set of data dictionary views that you can use to track suspicious activities. See Oracle Database Security Guide for more information about these views.
When you use standard auditing, Oracle Database writes the audit records to either to DBA_AUDIT_TRAIL (the SYS.AUD$ table), the operating system audit trail, or to the DBA_COMMON_AUDIT_TRAIL view, which combines standard and fine-grained audit log records.
In addition, the actions performed by administrators are recorded in the syslog audit trail when the AUDIT_SYSLOG_LEVEL initialization parameter is set.
Auditing General Activities Using Standard Auditing
This section explains how to use standard auditing to audit activities performed on SQL statements, privileges, schema objects, and network or multitier activities.
In standard auditing, you enable auditing of SQL statements, privileges, schema objects, and network or multitier activities. You can audit a specific schema table if you want. To perform this type of audit, you use Database Control.
You can view the standard audit trail by querying the DBA_AUDIT_TRAIL and DBA_COMMON_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary views.
Before you perform the standard auditing procedures described in this section, you must enable standard auditing. When you enable standard auditing, you can create the audit trail in the database audit trail or write the audit activities to an operating system file. If you write to an operating system file, you can create the audit record in text or XML format.
To enable or disable the standard audit trail:
Start Database Control.
Log in as SYS and connect with the SYSDBA privilege.
User Name: SYS
Password: Enter your password.
Connect As: SYSDBA
Click Server to display the Server subpage.
In the Database Configuration section, click Initialization Parameters.
The Initialization Parameters page appears.
Click SPFile to display the SPFile subpage.
If the SPFile tab does not display in your installation, then you did not install Oracle Database using a server parameters file. Go to the next step.
In the Name field, enter audit_trail to find the AUDIT_TRAIL initialization parameter, and then click Go.
You can enter the first few characters of the parameter, for example, AUDIT_. Alternatively, you can scroll down the list of parameters to find the AUDIT_TRAIL parameter.
In the Value field, select one of the following values:
DB: Enables database auditing and directs standard audit records to the database audit trail (SYS.AUD$), except for records that are always written to the operating system audit trail. (This value is the default if you created the database using Database Configuration Assistant. Otherwise, the default is NONE.)
OS: Enables database auditing and directs all audit records to an operating system file. Writing the audit trail to operating system files is better for performance instead of sending the audit records to the SYS.AUD$ table. If the auditor is distinct from the database administrator, you must use the operating system setting. Any auditing information stored in the database is viewable and modifiable by the database administrator.
To specify the location of the operating system audit record file, set the AUDIT_FILE_DEST initialization parameter. The first default directory is $ORACLE_BASE/admin/$ORACLE_SID/adump.
NONE: Disables standard auditing.
DB, EXTENDED: Performs all actions of the AUDIT_TRAIL=DB setting and also populates the SQL bind and SQL text CLOB-type columns of the SYS.AUD$ table, when available. (These two columns are populated only when this parameter is specified.)
XML: Writes to the operating system audit record file in XML format. Prints all elements of the AuditRecord node (as specified by the by the XML schema in http://xmlns.oracle.com/oracleas/schema/dbserver_audittrail-11_2.xsd XSD file) except Sql_Text and Sql_Bind to the operating system XML audit file. This .xsd file represents the schema definition of the XML audit file. An XML schema is a document written in the XML Schema language.
EXTENDED: Specifies XML, EXTENDED, which performs all actions of XML and also populates the SQL bind and SQL text CLOB-type columns of the SYS.AUD$ table, wherever possible. (These columns are populated only when this parameter is specified.)
For a detailed explanation of the AUDIT_TRAIL initialization parameter settings, see Oracle Database Security Guide.
Click Apply.
Restart the Oracle Database instance:
Click the Database Instance link.
Click Home to display the Database Control home page.
Under General, click Shutdown.
In the Startup/Shutdown Credentials page, enter your credentials.
You do not need to restart the database if you change the auditing of objects. You only need to restart the database if you made a universal change, such as turning on or off all auditing or changing the destination of the audit trail operating system files.
You do not need to set AUDIT_TRAIL to enable either fine-grained auditing or SYS auditing. (SYS auditing enables you to monitor the activities of a system administrator. See Oracle Database Security Guide for more information.) For fine-grained auditing, you add and remove fine-grained auditing policies as necessary, applying them to the specific operations or objects you want to monitor. You can use the AUDIT_SYS_OPERATIONS parameter to enable and disable SYS auditing.
Using Default Auditing for Security-Relevant SQL Statements and Privileges
When you use Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA) to create a new database, Oracle Database configures the database to audit the most commonly used security-relevant SQL statements and privileges. It also sets the AUDIT_TRAIL initialization parameter to DB. If you decide to use a different audit trail type (for example, OS if you want to write the audit trail records to operating system files), then you can do that: Oracle Database continues to audit the privileges that are audited by default. If you disable auditing by setting the AUDIT_TRAIL parameter to NONE, then no auditing takes place.
Oracle Database audits the following privileges by default:
ALTER ANY PROCEDURE
CREATE ANY LIBRARY
DROP ANY TABLE
ALTER ANY TABLE
CREATE ANY PROCEDURE
DROP PROFILE
ALTER DATABASE
CREATE ANY TABLE
DROP USER
ALTER PROFILE
CREATE EXTERNAL JOB
EXEMPT ACCESS POLICY
ALTER SYSTEM
CREATE PUBLIC DATABASE LINK
GRANT ANY OBJECT PRIVILEGE
ALTER USER
CREATE SESSION
GRANT ANY PRIVILEGE
AUDIT SYSTEM
CREATE USER
GRANT ANY ROLE
CREATE ANY JOB
DROP ANY PROCEDURE
Oracle Database audits the following SQL statement shortcuts by default:
ROLE
SYSTEM AUDIT
PUBLIC SYNONYM
DATABASE LINK
PROFILE
SYSTEM GRANT
To individually control the auditing of SQL statements and privileges, use the AUDIT and NOAUDIT statements.
Oracle strongly recommends that you audit the database. Auditing is an effective method of enforcing strong internal controls so that your site can meet its regulatory compliance requirements, as defined in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. This enables you to monitor business operations and catch any activities that may deviate from company policy. Doing so translates into tightly controlled access to your database and the application software. By enabling auditing by default, you can generate an audit record for audit and compliance personnel.
Note:
If your applications use the default audit settings from Oracle Database 10g Release 2 (10.2), then you can revert to these audit settings until you modify the applications to use the Release 11g audit settings. To do so, run the undoaud.sql script.
After you have modified your applications to conform to the Release 11g audit settings, then you can manually update your database to use the audit configuration that suits your business needs, or you can run the secconf.sql script to apply the Release 11g default audit settings.
The undoaud.sql and secconf.sql scripts are in the $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin directory. The undoaud.sql script affects audit settings only, and the secconf.sql script affects both audit and password settings. They have no effect on other security settings.
Privilege auditing is a way to audit statements that can use a system privilege. For example, you can audit the SELECT ANY TABLE privilege if you want to audit all the SELECT statements that will use the SELECT ANY TABLE privilege. You can audit the use of any system privilege. Similar to statement auditing, privilege auditing can audit the activities of all database users or of only a specified list. As with SQL statement auditing, you use the AUDIT and NOAUDIT statements to enable and disable privilege auditing. In addition, you must have the AUDIT SYSTEM system privilege before you can enable auditing.
Privilege audit options match the corresponding system privileges. For example, the option to audit use of the DELETE ANY TABLE privilege is DELETE ANY TABLE. For example:
AUDIT DELETE ANY TABLE BY ACCESS WHENEVER NOT SUCCESSFUL;
To audit all successful and unsuccessful uses of the DELETE ANY TABLE system privilege, enter the following statement:
AUDIT DELETE ANY TABLE BY ACCESS;
To audit all unsuccessful SELECT, INSERT, and DELETE statements on all tables and unsuccessful uses of the EXECUTE PROCEDURE system privilege, by all database users, and by individual audited statement, issue the following statement:
AUDIT SELECT TABLE, INSERT TABLE, DELETE TABLE, EXECUTE PROCEDURE BY ACCESS WHENEVER NOT SUCCESSFUL;
Using Proxies to Audit SQL Statements and Privileges in a Multitier Environment
You can audit the activities of a client in a multitier environment by specifying a proxy in the Add Audited Statements or Add Audited Privileges page in Database Control. You can use the SQL AUDIT statement to audit the activities of a client in a multitier environment. To do so, use the BYuser clause in the AUDIT statement.
For example, to audit SELECT TABLE statements issued by the proxy application user jackson:
AUDIT SELECT TABLE BY jackson;
Afterward, user jackson can connect using the appserve proxy user as follows:
CONNECT appserve[jackson]
Enter password: password
The middle tier can also set the user client identity in a database session, enabling the auditing of user actions through the middle-tier application. The user client identity then shows up in the audit trail.
Schema object auditing can audit all SELECT and DML statements permitted by object privileges, such as SELECT or DELETE statements on a particular table. The GRANT and REVOKE statements that control those privileges are also audited.
You can use the AUDIT statement to audit unexpected errors in network protocol or internal errors in the network layer. The types of errors unc>hovered by network auditing are not connection failures, but can have several other possible causes. One possible cause is an internal event set by a database engineer for testing purposes. Other causes include conflicting configuration settings for encryption, such as the network not finding the information required to create or process expected encryption.
To enable network auditing:
Start SQL*Plus and log on with administrative privileges, such as SYSTEM, or as a security administrator. For example:
sqlplus system
Enter password: password
SQL*Plus starts, connects to the default database, and then displays a prompt.
Suppose you wanted to audit SELECT statements on the OE.CUSTOMERS table. In this tutorial, you enable standard auditing, enable auditing for the SELECT SQL statement, run the SELECT SQL statement on the OE.CUSTOMERS table, and then check its audit file.
First, log in, and, if necessary, enable standard auditing.
To enable standard auditing:
Start Database Control.
Log in as SYS.
User Name: SYS
Password: Enter your password.
Connect As: SYSDBA
Click Server to display the Server subpage.
In the Database Configuration section, click Initialization Parameters.
The Initialization Parameters page appears.
Click SPFile to display the SPFile subpage.
If the SPFile tab does not display in your installation, then you did not install Oracle Database using a server parameters file. Go to the next step.
In the Name field, enter AUDIT_TRAIL to find the AUDIT_TRAIL parameter, and then click Go.
You can enter the first few characters of the parameter, for example, AUDIT. Alternatively, you can scroll down the list of parameters to find the AUDIT_TRAIL parameter. To sort the list of parameters in alphabetical order, click the Name column.
In the Value field, make a note of the current setting, and then change it to DB_EXTENDED.
By default, the AUDIT_TRAIL parameter is set to DB, which enables database auditing and directs all audit records to the database audit trail (SYS.AUD$), except for records that are always written to the operating system audit trail. DB_EXTENDED has this functionality, plus it records SQL text and SQL bind variables.
Click Apply.
Restart the Oracle Database instance.
From a command line, enter the following commands:
sqlplus sys as sysoper
Enter password: password
SQL> SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE
SQL> RESTART
At this point, you can check the AUDIT_TRAIL setting by entering the following command:
SQL> SHOW PARAMETER AUDIT_TRAIL
NAME TYPE VALUE
------------------------ --------------- ---------------------------------\
audit_trail string DB_EXTENDED
Step 2: Enable Auditing for SELECT Statements on the OE.CUSTOMERS Table
Next, enable auditing for SELECT statements on the OE.CUSTOMERS table.
To enable auditing of SELECT statements for the OE.CUSTOMERS table:
Ensure that the sample user sec_admin exists.
Log on as SYSTEM, and then from the Database Control home page, click Server to display the Server subpage. Select Users under Security, and check the list of accounts for sec_admin. "Step 1: Create a Security Administrator Account" explains how to create the sec_admin security administrator account. If you still have Oracle Database Vault enabled, then you must recreate the account using the Database Vault Account Manager account.
In SQL*Plus, log in as user OE and then grant sec_admin the SELECT privilege on the OE.CUSTOMERS table.
sqlplus oe
Enter password: password
Connected.
SQL> GRANT SELECT ON CUSTOMERS TO sec_admin;
Log in to Database Control as user SYS with the SYSDBA privilege.
Click Server to display the Server subpage.
In the Security section, click Audit Settings.
The Audit Settings page appears.
Select the Audited Objects subpage.
Click Add.
The Add Audited Object page appears.
Enter the following information:
Object Type: Select Table.
Table: Enter OE.CUSTOMERS.
Available Statements: Select SELECT, and then click Move to move it to the Selected Statements list.
Click OK.
Log out of Database Control.
Step 3: Test the Audit Settings
At this stage, auditing is enabled and any SELECT statements performed on the OE.CUSTOMERS table are written to the to DBA_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view. Now, you are ready to test the audit settings.
To test the audit settings:
Start SQL*Plus, and connect as user sec_admin.
sqlplus sec_admin
Enter password: password
Enter the following SELECT statement to create an alert in the audit trail:
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM OE.CUSTOMERS;
Enter the following statement to view the DBA_AUDIT_TRAIL view:
SELECT USERNAME, SQL_TEXT, TIMESTAMP
FROM DBA_AUDIT_TRAIL
WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE 'SELECT %';
For this SELECT statement, enter the text for the SQL_TEXT column ('SELECT %') using the same case that you used when you entered the SELECT statement in Step 2. In other words, if you entered that SELECT statement in lowercase letters, then enter 'select %' when you query the DBA_AUDIT_TRAIL view, not 'SELECT %'.
Guideline for Using Default Auditing of SQL Statements and Privileges
When you create a new database, you can enable the auditing of a select set of SQL statements and privileges. Oracle recommends that you enable default auditing. Auditing is an effective method of enforcing strong internal controls so that your site meets its regulatory compliance requirements. See "Using Default Auditing for Security-Relevant SQL Statements and Privileges" for more information about default auditing.
Guidelines for Managing Audited Information
Although auditing has a minimal impact on database performance, limit the number of audited events as much as possible. This minimizes the performance impact on the execution of audited statements and the size of the audit trail, making it easier to analyze and understand.
Follow these guidelines when devising an auditing strategy:
Evaluate your reason for auditing.
After you understand of the reasons for auditing, you can devise an appropriate auditing strategy and avoid unnecessary auditing.
For example, suppose you are auditing to investigate suspicious database activity. This information by itself is not specific enough. What types of suspicious database activity do you suspect or have you noticed? A more focused auditing purpose might be to audit unauthorized deletions from arbitrary tables in the database. This purpose narrows the type of action being audited and the type of object being affected by the suspicious activity.
Audit knowledgeably.
Audit the minimum number of statements, users, or objects required to get the targeted information. This prevents unnecessary audit information from cluttering the meaningful information. Balance your need to gather sufficient security information with your ability to store and process it.
For example, if you are auditing to gather information about database activity, then determine exactly what types of activities you want to track, audit only the activities of interest, and audit only for the amount of time necessary to gather the information that you want. As another example, do not audit objects if you are only interested in logical I/O information for each session.
Guidelines for Auditing Typical Database Activity
When your purpose for auditing is to gather historical information about particular database activities, follow these guidelines:
Audit only pertinent actions.
To avoid cluttering meaningful information with useless audit records and to reduce the amount of audit trail administration, audit only the targeted database activities. You can audit specific actions by using fine-grained auditing. Oracle Database Security Guide describes fine-grained auditing in detail.
Archive audit records and purge the audit trail.
After you collect the required information, archive the audit records of interest, and purge the audit trail of this information.
To archive audit records, you copy the relevant records to a database table, for example, using INSERT INTOtableSELECT ... FROM SYS.AUD$ ... for the standard audit trail. (Fine-grained audit records are in the SYS.FGA_LOG$ table.) Alternatively, you can export the audit trail table to an operating system file. Oracle Database Utilities explains how to export tables by using Oracle Data Pump.
To purge audit records, you delete standard audit records from the SYS.AUD$ table and fine-grained audit records from the SYS.FGA_LOG$ table. For example, to delete all audit records from the standard audit trail, enter the following statement:
DELETE FROM SYS.AUD$;
Alternatively, to delete all audit records from the standard audit trail generated as a result of auditing the table emp, enter the following statement:
DELETE FROM SYS.AUD$ WHERE OBJ$NAME='EMP';
Follow the privacy considerations of your company.
Privacy regulations often lead to additional business privacy policies. Most privacy laws require businesses to monitor access to personally identifiable information (PII), and this type of monitoring is implemented by auditing. A business-level privacy policy should address all relevant aspects of data access and user accountability, including technical, legal, and company policy concerns.
Guidelines for Auditing Suspicious Database Activity
When you audit to monitor suspicious database activity, follow these guidelines:
Audit general information, and then audit specific information.
When you start to audit for suspicious database activity, often not much information is available to target specific users or schema objects. Therefore, set audit options more generally at first, that is, by using the standard audit options described in "Auditing General Activities Using Standard Auditing".
After you have recorded and analyzed the preliminary audit information, disable general auditing, and then audit specific actions. You can use fine-grained auditing, described in Oracle Database Security Guide, to audit specific actions. Continue this process until you gather enough evidence to draw conclusions about the origin of the suspicious database activity.
Protect the audit trail.
When auditing for suspicious database activity, protect the audit trail so that audit information cannot be added, changed, or deleted without being audited. You audit the standard audit trail by using the AUDIT SQL statement. For example:
sqlplus sys as sysdba
Enter password: password
SQL> AUDIT SELECT ON SYS.AUD$ BY ACCESS;
Initialization Parameters Used for Auditing
Table 7-1 lists initialization parameters that you can use to secure auditing.
Table 7-1 Initialization Parameters Used for Auditing
Specifies the operating system directory into which the audit trail is written when the AUDIT_TRAIL initialization parameter is set to OS, XML, or XML,EXTENDED. Oracle Database writes the audit records in XML format if the AUDIT_TRAIL initialization parameter is set to XML.
Oracle Database also writes mandatory auditing information to this location, and if the AUDIT_SYS_OPERATIONS initialization parameter is set, writes audit records for user SYS.
AUDIT_SYS_OPERATIONS
FALSE
Enables or disables the auditing of top-level operations directly issued by user SYS, and users connecting with SYSDBA or SYSOPER privilege. Oracle Database writes the audit records to the audit trail of the operating system. If you set the AUDIT_TRAIL initialization parameter to XML or XML, EXTENDED, it writes the audit records in XML format.
On UNIX systems, if you have also set the AUDIT_SYSLOG_LEVEL parameter, then it overrides the AUDIT_TRAIL parameter, which writes the SYS audit records to the system audit log using the SYSLOG utility.
AUDIT_SYSLOG_LEVEL
No default setting
On UNIX systems, writes the SYS and standard OS audit records to the system audit log using the SYSLOG utility.
About Securing the Database Installation and Configuration
After you install Oracle Database, you should secure the database installation and configuration. The methods in this chapter describe commonly used ways to do this, all of which involve restricting permissions to specific areas of the database files.
Oracle Database is available on several operating systems. Consult the following guides for detailed platform-specific information about Oracle Database:
Removes the CREATE EXTERNAL JOB privilege from the PUBLIC role.For greater security, grant the CREATE EXTERNAL JOB privilege only to SYS, database administrators, and those trusted users who need it.
Sets security-related initialization and profile parameter settings.Table 2-1 lists the modified parameter settings.
Table 2-1 Default Security Settings for Initialization and Profile Parameters
Setting
10g Default
11g Default
AUDIT_TRAIL
NONE
DB
O7_DICTIONARY_ACCESSIBILITY
FALSE
FALSE
PASSWORD_GRACE_TIME
UNLIMITED
7
PASSWORD_LOCK_TIME
UNLIMITED
1
FAILED_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS
10
10
PASSWORD_LIFE_TIME
UNLIMITED
180
PASSWORD_REUSE_MAX
UNLIMITED
UNLIMITED
PASSWORD_REUSE_TIME
UNLIMITED
UNLIMITED
REMOTE_OS_ROLES
FALSE
FALSE
Note:
If your applications use the default password security settings from Oracle Database 10g Release 2 (10.2), then you can revert to these settings until you modify them to use the Release 11g password security settings. To do so, run the undopwd.sql script.
After you have modified your applications to conform to the Release 11g password security settings, you can manually update your database to use the password security configuration that suits your business needs, or you can run the secconf.sql script to apply the Release 11g default password settings.
The undopwd.sql and secconf.sql scripts are in the $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin directory. The undopwd.sql script affects password settings only, and the secconf.sql script affects both password and audit settings. They have no effect on other security settings.
Securing the Oracle Data Dictionary
This section describes how you can secure the data dictionary. The data dictionary is a set of database tables that provide information about the database, such as schema definitions or default values.
The Oracle data dictionary is a set of database tables that provides information about the database. A data dictionary has the following contents:
The names of Oracle Database users
Privileges and roles granted to each user
The definitions of all schema objects in the database (tables, views, indexes, clusters, synonyms, sequences, procedures, functions, packages, triggers, and so on)
The amount of space allocated for, and is currently used by, the schema objects
Default values for columns
Integrity constraint information
Auditing information, such as who has accessed or updated various schema objects
Other general database information
The data dictionary tables and views for a given database are stored in the SYSTEM tablespace for that database. All the data dictionary tables and views for a given database are owned by the user SYS. Connecting to the database with the SYSDBA privilege gives full access to the data dictionary. Oracle strongly recommends limiting access to the SYSDBA privilege to only those operations necessary such as patching and other administrative operations. The data dictionary is central to every Oracle database.
You can view the contents of the data dictionary by querying data dictionary views, which are described in Oracle Database Reference. Be aware that not all objects in the data dictionary are exposed to users. A subset of data dictionary objects, such as those beginning with USER_% are exposed as read only to all database users.
Example 2-1 shows how you can find a list of database views specific to the data dictionary by querying the DICTIONARY view.
Example 2-1 Finding Views That Pertain to the Data Dictionary
sqlplus system
Enter password: password
SQL> SELECT TABLE_NAME FROM DICTIONARY;
Enabling Data Dictionary Protection
You can protect the data dictionary by setting the O7_DICTIONARY_ACCESSIBILITY initialization parameter to FALSE. This parameter prevents users who have the ANY system privilege from using those privileges on the data dictionary, that is, on objects in the SYS schema.
Oracle Database provides highly granular privileges. One such privilege, commonly referred to as the ANY privilege, is typically granted to only application owners and individual database administrators. For example, you could grant the DROP ANY TABLE privilege to an application owner. You can protect the Oracle data dictionary from accidental or malicious use of the ANY privilege by turning on or off the 07_DICTIONARY_ACCESSIBILITY initialization parameter.
To enable data dictionary protection:
Start Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control (Database Control).
Log in as SYS and connect with the SYSDBA privilege.
User Name: Enter the name of a user who has administrative privileges. In this case, you enter SYS.
Password: Enter the SYS user's password.
Connect As: From the list, select SYSDBA.
The Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Home page (Database Home page) appears.
Click Server to display the Server subpage.
In the Database Configuration section, click Initialization Parameters.
The Initialization Parameters page appears.
In the list, search for O7_DICTIONARY_ACCESSIBILITY.
In the Name field, enter O7_ (the letter O), and then click Go. You can enter the first few characters of a parameter name. In this case, O7_ displays the O7_DICTIONARY_ACCESSIBILTY parameter.
Depending on the parameter, you may have to modify the value from the SPFile subpage. Click the SPFile tab to display the SPFile subpage.
Set the value for O7_DICTIONARY_ACCESSIBILTY to FALSE.
Click Apply.
Restart the Oracle Database instance.
Click the Database Instance link.
Click Home to display the Database Control home page.
Under General, click Shutdown.
In the Startup/Shutdown Credentials page, enter your credentials.
Guidelines for Securing Operating System Access to Oracle Database
You can secure access to Oracle Database on the operating system level by following these guidelines:
Limit the number of operating system users.
Limit the privileges of the operating system accounts (administrative, root-privileged, or DBA) on the Oracle Database host (physical computer). Only grant the user the least number of privileges needed to perform his or her tasks.
Restrict the ability to modify the default file and directory permissions for the Oracle Database home (installation) directory or its contents. Even privileged operating system users and the Oracle owner should not modify these permissions, unless instructed otherwise by Oracle.
Restrict symbolic links. Ensure that when you provide a path or file to the database, neither the file nor any part of the path is modifiable by an untrusted user. The file and all components of the path should be owned by the database administrator or some trusted account, such as root.
This recommendation applies to all types of files: data files, log files, trace files, external tables, BFILEs, and so on.
Guideline for Granting Permissions to Run-Time Facilities
Many Oracle Database products use run-time facilities such as Oracle Java Virtual Machine (OJVM). Do not assign all permissions to a database run-time facility. Instead, grant specific permissions to the explicit document root file paths for facilities that might run files and packages outside the database.
Here is an example of a vulnerable run-time call, in which an individual file (in bold typeface) is specified:
The following example is a better (more secure) run-time call, because by specifying a directory path (in bold typeface), it protects all files within the directory.
Initialization Parameters Used for Installation and Configuration Security
Table 2-2lists initialization parameters that you can set to better secure your Oracle Database installation and configuration.
Table 2-2 Initialization Parameters Used for Installation and Configuration Security
Initialization Parameter
Default Setting
Description
SEC_RETURN_SERVER_RELEASE_BANNER
FALSE
Controls the display of the product version information, such as the release number, in a client connection. An intruder could use the database release number to find information about security vulnerabilities that may be present in the database software. You can enable or disable the detailed product version display by setting this parameter.
Modifying the Value of an Initialization Parameter
This section explains how to use Database Control to modify the value of an initialization parameter. To find detailed information about the initialization parameters available, see Oracle Database Reference.
To modify the value of an initialization parameter:
Start Database Control.
Log in as user SYS with the SYSDBA privilege.
User Name: SYS
Password: Enter your password.
Connect As: SYSDBA
Click Server to display the Server subpage.
In the Database Configuration section, click Initialization Parameters.
The Initialization Parameters page appears.
In the Name field, enter the name of the parameter to change, and then click Go.
You can enter the first few letters of the parameter, for example, SEC_RETURN if you are searching for the SEC_RETURN_SERVER_RELEASE_NUMBER parameter. Alternatively, you can scroll down the list of parameters to find the parameter you want to change.
Depending on the parameter, you might have to modify the value from the SPFile subpage. Click the SPFile tab to display the SPFile subpage.
In the Value field, either enter the new value or if a list is presented, select from the list.
Click Apply.
If the parameter is static, restart the Oracle Database instance.
To find out if an initialization parameter is static, check its description in Oracle Database Reference. If the Modifiable setting in its summary table shows No, then you must restart the database instance.
Click the Database Instance link.
Click Home to display the Database Control home page.
Under General, click Shutdown.
In the Startup/Shutdown Credentials page, enter your credentials.
Oracle Database 2 Day + Security Guide teaches you how to perform day-to-day database security tasks. Its goal is to help you understand the concepts behind Oracle Database security. You will learn how to perform common security tasks needed to secure your database. The knowledge you gain from completing the tasks in Oracle Database 2 Day + Security Guide helps you to better secure your data and to meet common regulatory compliance requirements, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
The primary administrative interface used in this guide is Oracle Enterprise Manager in Database Console mode, featuring all the self-management capabilities introduced in Oracle Database.
Oracle Database 2 Day + Security Guide is task oriented. The objective of this guide is to describe why and when you must perform security tasks.
Where appropriate, this guide describes the concepts and steps necessary to understand and complete a task. This guide is not an exhaustive discussion of all Oracle Database concepts. For this type of information, see Oracle Database Concepts.
Where appropriate, this guide describes the necessary Oracle Database administrative steps to complete security tasks. This guide does not describe basic Oracle Database administrative tasks. For this type of information, see Oracle Database 2 Day DBA. Additionally, for a complete discussion of administrative tasks, see Oracle Database Administrator's Guide.
In addition, this guide is not an exhaustive discussion of all Oracle Database security features and does not describe available APIs that provide equivalent command line functionality to the tools used in this guide. For this type of information, see Oracle Database Security Guide.
Common Database Security Tasks
As a database administrator for Oracle Database, you should be involved in the following security-related tasks:
Ensuring that the database installation and configuration is secure
Managing the security aspects of user accounts: developing secure password policies, creating and assigning roles, restricting data access to only the appropriate users, and so on
Ensuring that network connections are secure
Encrypting sensitive data
Ensuring the database has no security vulnerabilities and is protected against intruders
Deciding what database components to audit and how granular you want this auditing to be
Downloading and installing security patches
In a small to midsize database environment, you might perform these tasks as well and all database administrator-related tasks, such as installing Oracle software, creating databases, monitoring performance, and so on. In large, enterprise environments, the job is often divided among several database administrators—each with their own specialty—such as database security or database tuning.
Tools for Securing Your Database
To achieve the goals of securing your database, you need the following products, tools, and utilities:
Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2) Enterprise Edition provides enterprise-class performance, scalability, and reliability on clustered and single-server configurations. It includes many security features that are used in this guide.
Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control
Oracle Enterprise Manager is a Web application that you can use to perform database administrative tasks for a single database instance or a clustered database.
SQL*Plus
SQL*Plus is a development environment that you can use to create and run SQL and PL/SQL code. It is part of the Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2) installation.
Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA)
Database Configuration Assistant enables you to perform general database tasks, such as creating, configuring, or deleting databases. In this guide, you use DBCA to enable default auditing.
Oracle Net Manager
Oracle Net Manager enables you to perform network-related tasks for Oracle Database. In this guide, you use Oracle Net Manager to configure network encryption.
Securing Your Database: A Roadmap
To learn the fundamentals of securing an Oracle database, follow these steps:
Secure your Oracle Database installation and configuration.
Contributors: Naveen Gopal, Rahil Mir, Gopal Mulagund, Nina Lewis, Paul Needham, Deborah Owens, Sachin Sonawane, Ashwini Surpur, Kamal Tbeileh, Mark Townsend, Peter Wahl, Xiaofang Wang, Peter M. Wong
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PK wg b PK =A OEBPS/preface.htm!3
Preface
Preface
Welcome to Oracle Database 2 Day + Security Guide. This guide is for anyone who wants to perform common day-to-day security tasks with Oracle Database.
Oracle Database 2 Day + Security Guide expands on the security knowledge that you learned in Oracle Database 2 Day DBA to manage security in Oracle Database. The information in this guide applies to all platforms. For platform-specific information, see the installation guide, configuration guide, and platform guide for your platform.
This guide is intended for the following users:
Oracle database administrators who want to acquire database security administrative skills
Database administrators who have some security administrative knowledge but are new to Oracle Database
This guide is not an exhaustive discussion about security. For detailed information about security, see the Oracle Database Security documentation set. This guide does not provide information about security for Oracle E-Business Suite applications. For information about security in the Oracle E-Business Suite applications, see the documentation for those products.
Many of the examples in this guide use the sample schemas of the seed database, which is installed by default when you install Oracle. See Oracle Database Sample Schemas for information about how these schemas were created and how you can use them.
Oracle Technology Network (OTN)
You can download free release notes, installation documentation, updated versions of this guide, white papers, or other collateral from the Oracle Technology Network (OTN). Visit
You can configure the client connection to your Oracle Database installation by following the procedures in "Configuring the Network Environment" in Oracle Database 2 Day DBA and the Oracle Database Installation Guide for your platform. This chapter explains how you can encrypt data as it travels through the network, and also provides guidelines that you can follow to secure the network connections for Oracle Database.
Securing the Client Connection on the Network
This section describes how you can tightens security for the client connection to ensure thorough protection. Encrypting network traffic is essential for securing communications with the database.
Because authenticating client computers is problematic, typically, user authentication is performed instead. This approach avoids client system issues that include falsified IP addresses, compromised operating systems or applications, and falsified or stolen client system identities. Nevertheless, the following guidelines improve the security of client connections:
Enforce access controls effectively and authenticate clients stringently.
By default, Oracle allows operating system-authenticated logins only over secure connections, which precludes using Oracle Net and a shared server configuration. This default restriction prevents a remote user from impersonating another operating system user over a network connection.
Setting the initialization parameter REMOTE_OS_AUTHENTto TRUE forces the database to accept the client, operating-system user name received over a nonsecure connection and use it for account access. (To modify an initialization parameter, see "Modifying the Value of an Initialization Parameter".) Because clients, such as PCs, are not trusted to perform operating system authentication properly, it is poor security practice to use this feature.
The default setting, REMOTE_OS_AUTHENT = FALSE, creates a more secure configuration that enforces proper, server-based authentication of users connecting to an Oracle database.
Setting this parameter to FALSE does not mean that users cannot connect remotely. It means that the database will not trust that the client has already authenticated, and will apply its standard authentication processes.
Protecting the network and its traffic from inappropriate access or modification is the essence of network security. You should consider all paths the data travels, and assess the threats on each path and node. Then, take steps to lessen or eliminate those threats and the consequences of a security breach. In addition, monitor and audit to detect either increased threat levels or penetration attempts.
You can monitor listener activity by using Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control. In the Database Control home page, under General, click the link for your listener. The Listener page appears. This page provides detailed information, such as the category of alert generated, alert messages, when the alert was triggered, and so on. This page provides other information, such as performance statistics for the listener.
Prevent online administration by requiring the administrator to have the write privilege on the listener password and on the listener.ora file on the server:
Add or modify this line in the listener.ora file:
ADMIN_RESTRICTIONS_LISTENER=ON
Use RELOAD to reload the configuration.
Use SSL when administering the listener by making the TCPS protocol the first entry in the address list, as follows:
To administer the listener remotely, define the listener in the listener.ora file on the client computer. For example, to access listener USER281 remotely, use the following configuration:
Ensure that the password has not been set in the listener.ora file. The local operating system authentication will secure the listener administration. The remote listener administration is disabled when the password has not been set. This prevents brute force attacks of the listener password.
Remember that the listener password has been deprecated in this release, and will not be supported in the next release of Oracle Database.
When a host has multiple IP addresses associated with multiple NIC cards, configure the listener to the specific IP address.
This enables the listener to monitor all the IP addresses. You can restrict the listener to monitor a specific IP address. Oracle recommends that you specify the specific IP addresses on these types of computers, rather than enabling the listener to monitor all IP addresses. Restricting the listener to specific IP addresses helps to prevent an intruder from stealing a TCP end point from the listener process.
Restrict the privileges of the listener, so that it cannot read or write files in the database or the Oracle server address space.
This restriction prevents external procedure agents spawned by the listener (or procedures executed by an agent) from inheriting the ability to perform read or write operations. The owner of this separate listener process should not be the owner that installed Oracle Database or executes the Oracle Database instance (such as ORACLE, the default owner).
Appropriately placed and configured firewalls can prevent outside access to your databases.
Keep the database server behind a firewall. Oracle Database network infrastructure, Oracle Net (formerly known as Net8 and SQL*Net), provides support for a variety of firewalls from various vendors. Supported proxy-enabled firewalls include Gauntlet from Network Associates and Raptor from Axent. Supported packet-filtering firewalls include PIX Firewall from Cisco, and supported stateful inspection firewalls (more sophisticated packet-filtered firewalls) include Firewall-1 from CheckPoint.
Ensure that the firewall is placed outside the network to be protected.
Configure the firewall to accept only those protocols, applications, or client/server sources that you know are safe.
Use a product such as Oracle Connection Manager to multiplex multiple-client, network sessions through a single network connection to the database. It can filter using the source, destination, and host name. This product enables you to ensure that connections are accepted only from physically secure terminals or from application Web servers with known IP addresses. (Filtering using the IP address alone is not enough for authentication, because it can be falsified.)
Prevent unauthorized administration of the Oracle listener.
Use the Oracle Net valid node checking security feature to allow or deny access to Oracle server processes from network clients with specified IP addresses. To use this feature, set the following sqlnet.ora configuration file parameters:
tcp.validnode_checking = YES
tcp.excluded_nodes = {list of IP addresses}
tcp.invited_nodes = {list of IP addresses}
The tcp.validnode_checking parameter enables the feature. The tcp.excluded_nodes and tcp.invited_nodes parameters deny and enable specific client IP addresses from making connections to the Oracle listener. This helps to prevent potential Denial of Service attacks.
Secure the host operating system (the system on which Oracle Database resides).
Secure the host operating system by disabling all unnecessary operating system services. Both UNIX and Windows platforms provide a variety of operating system services, most of which are not necessary for typical deployments. These services include FTP, TFTP, TELNET, and so forth. Be sure to close both the UDP and TCP ports for each service that is being disabled. Disabling one type of port and not the other does not make the operating system more secure.
Protecting Data on the Network by Using Network Encryption
In addition to protecting information by encrypting it at the database level, you must protect it as it travels across the network.
Network encryption refers to encrypting data as it travels across the network between the client and server. The reason you should encrypt data at the network level, and not just the database level, is because data can be exposed on the network level. For example, an intruder can use a network packet sniffer to capture information as it travels on the network, and then spool it to a file for malicious use. Encrypting data on the network prevents this sort of activity.
To encrypt data on the network, you need the following components:
An encryption seed. The encryption seed is a random string of up to 256 characters. It generates the cryptographic keys that encrypts data as it travels across the network.
An encryption algorithm. You can specify any of the supported algorithm types: AES, RC4, DES, or 3DES.
Whether the settings apply to a client or server. You must configure the server and each client to which it connects.
How the client or server should processes the encrypted data. The settings you select (you have four options) must complement both server and client.
A mechanism for configuring the encryption. You can use Oracle Net Manager to configure the encryption. Alternatively, you can edit the sqlnet.ora configuration file. Both Oracle Net Manager and the sqlnet.ora file are available in a default Oracle Database installation.
Configuring Network Encryption
You can configure network encryption by using either Oracle Net Manager or by editing the sqlnet.ora file. This guide explains how to use Oracle Net Manager to configure network encryption.
To configure network encryption:
On the server computer, start Oracle Net Manager.
UNIX: From $ORACLE_HOME/bin, enter the following at the command line:
netmgr
Windows: From the Start menu, click All Programs. Then, click Oracle -HOME_NAME, Configuration and Migration Tools, and then Net Manager
From the Oracle Net Configuration navigation tree, expand Local, and then select Profile.
Encryption: From the list, select SERVER to configure the network encryption for the server. (For the client computer, you select CLIENT.)
Encryption Type: Select from the following values to specify the actions of the server (or client) when negotiating encryption and integrity:
accepted: Service will be active if the other side of the connection specifies either required or requested, and there is a compatible algorithm available on the receiving database; it will otherwise be inactive.
rejected: Service must not be active, and the connection will fail if the other side requires any of the methods in this list.
requested: Service will be active if the other side of the connection specifies either accepted, required, or requested, and there is a compatible algorithm available on the other side. Otherwise, the service is inactive.
required: Service must be active, and the connection will fail if the other side specifies rejected, or if there is no compatible algorithm on the other side.
Encryption Seed: Enter a random string of up to 256 characters. Oracle Database uses the encryption seed to generate cryptographic keys. This is required when either encryption or integrity is enabled.
If you choose to use special characters such as a comma [,] or a right parenthesis [)] as a part of the Encryption Seed parameter, enclose the value within single quotation marks.
Available Methods: Select one or more of the following algorithms, and use the move button (>) to move them to the Selected Methods list. The order in which they appear in the Selected Methods list determines the preferred order for negotiation. That is, the first algorithm listed is selected first, and so on.
AES256: Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). AES was approved by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to replace Data Encryption Standard (DES). AES256 enables you to encrypt a block size of 256 bits.
RC4_256: Rivest Cipher 4 (RC4), which is the most commonly used stream cipher that protects protocols such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). RC4_256 enables you to encrypt up to 256 bits of data.
AES192: Enables you to use AES to encrypt a block size of 192 bits.
3DES168: Triple Data Encryption Standard (TDES) with a three-key option. 3DES168 enables you to encrypt up to 168 bits of data.
AES128: Enables you to use AES to encrypt a block size of 128 bits.
RC4_128: Enables you to use RC4 to encrypt up to 128 bits of data.
3DES112: Enables you to use Triple DES with a two-key (112 bit) option.
DES: Data Encryption Standard (DES) 56-bit key. Note that National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) no longer recommends DES.
RC4_40: Enables you to use RC4 to encrypt up to 40 bits of data. (Not recommended.)
DES40: Enables you to use DES to encrypt up to 40 bits of data. (Not recommended.)
From the File menu, select Save Network Configuration, and then select Exit to exit Oracle Net Manager.
Repeat these steps for each client computer that connects to the server.
Initialization Parameters Used for Network Security
Table 5-1 lists initialization parameters that you can set to better secure user accounts.
Table 5-1 Initialization Parameters Used for Network Security
Initialization Parameter
Default Setting
Description
OS_AUTHENT_PREFIX
OPS$
Specifies a prefix that Oracle Database uses to identify users attempting to connect to the database. Oracle Database concatenates the value of this parameter to the beginning of the user operating system account name and password. When a user attempts a connection request, Oracle Database compares the prefixed username with user names in the database.
REMOTE_LISTENER
No default setting
Specifies a network name that resolves to an address or address list of Oracle Net remote listeners (that is, listeners that are not running on the same computer as this instance). The address or address list is specified in the tnsnames.ora file or other address repository as configured for your system.
REMOTE_OS_AUTHENT
FALSE
Specifies whether remote clients will be authenticated with the value of the OS_AUTHENT_PREFIX parameter.
REMOTE_OS_ROLES
FALSE
Specifies whether operating system roles are allowed for remote clients. The default value, FALSE, causes Oracle Database to identify and manage roles for remote clients.
You can control user privileges in the following ways:
Granting and revoking individual privileges. You can grant individual privileges, for example, the privilege to perform the UPDATE SQL statement, to individual users or to groups of users.
Creating a role and assigning privileges to it. A role is a named group of related privileges that you grant, as a group, to users or other roles.
Creating a secure application role. A secure application role enables you to define conditions that control when a database role can be enabled. For example, a secure application role can check the IP address associated with a user session before allowing the session to enable a database role.
Guideline for Granting Privileges
Because privileges are the rights to perform a specific action, such as updating or deleting a table, do not provide database users more privileges than are necessary. For an introduction to managing privileges, see "About User Privileges and Roles" in Oracle Database 2 Day DBA. Oracle Database 2 Day DBA also provides an example of how to grant a privilege.
In other words, the principle of least privilege is that users be given only those privileges that are actually required to efficiently perform their jobs. To implement this principle, restrict the following as much as possible:
The number of system and object privileges granted to database users
The number of people who are allowed to make SYS-privileged connections to the database
For example, generally the CREATE ANY TABLE privilege is not granted to a user who does not have database administrator privileges.
Guideline for Granting Roles to Users
A role is a named group of related privileges that you grant, as a group, to users or other roles. To learn the fundamentals of managing roles, see "Administering Roles" in Oracle Database 2 Day DBA. In addition, see "Example: Creating a Role" in Oracle Database 2 Day DBA.
Roles are useful for quickly and easily granting permissions to users. Although you can use Oracle Database-defined roles, you have more control and continuity if you create your own roles that contain only the privileges pertaining to your requirements. Oracle may change or remove the privileges in an Oracle Database-defined role, as it has with the CONNECT role, which now has only the CREATE SESSION privilege. Formerly, this role had eight other privileges.
Ensure that the roles you define contain only the privileges required for the responsibility of a particular job. If your application users do not need all the privileges encompassed by an existing role, then apply a different set of roles that supply just the correct privileges. Alternatively, create and assign a more restrictive role.
Do not grant powerful privileges, such as the CREATE DATABASE LINK privilege, to regular users such as user SCOTT. (Particularly do not grant any powerful privileges to SCOTT, because this is a well known default user account that may be vulnerable to intruders.) Instead, grant the privilege to a database role, and then grant this role to the users who must use the privilege. And remember to only grant the minimum privileges the user needs.
Guideline for Handling Privileges for the PUBLIC Role
You should revoke unnecessary privileges and roles from the PUBLIC role. The PUBLIC role is automatically assumed by every database user account. By default, it has no privileges assigned to it, but it does have grants to many Java objects. You cannot drop the PUBLIC role, and a manual grant or revoke of this role has no meaning, because the user account will always assume this role. Because all database user accounts assume the PUBLIC role, it does not appear in the DBA_ROLES and SESSION_ROLES data dictionary views.
Because all users have the PUBLIC role, any database user can exercise privileges that are granted to this role. These privileges include, potentially enabling someone with minimal privileges to access and execute functions that this user would not otherwise be permitted to access directly.
Controlling Access to Applications with Secure Application Roles
A secure application role is a role that can be enabled only by an authorized PL/SQL package. The PL/SQL package itself reflects the security policies necessary to control access to the application.
A secure application role is a role that can be enabled only by an authorized PL/SQL package. This package defines one or more security policies that control access to the application. Both the role and the package are typically created in the schema of the person who creates them, which is typically a security administrator. A security administrator is a database administrator who is responsible for maintaining the security of the database.
The advantage of using a secure application role is you can create additional layers of security for application access, in addition to the privileges that were granted to the role itself. Secure application roles strengthen security because passwords are not embedded in application source code or stored in a table. This way, the decisions the database makes are based on the implementation of your security policies. Because these definitions are stored in one place, the database, rather than in your applications, you modify this policy once instead of modifying the policy in each application. No matter how many users connect to the database, the result is always the same, because the policy is bound to the role.
A secure application role has the following components:
The secure application role itself. You create the role using the CREATE ROLE statement with the IDENTIFIED USING clause to associate it with the PL/SQL package. Then, you grant the role the privileges you typically grant a role.
A PL/SQL package, procedure, or function associated with the secure application role. The PL/SQL package sets a condition that either grants the role or denies the role to the person trying to log in to the database. You must create the PL/SQL package, procedure, or function using invoker's rights, not definer's rights. An invoker's right procedure executes with the privileges of the current user, that is, the user who invokes the procedure. This user must be granted the EXECUTE privilege for the underlying objects that the PL/SQL package accesses. The invoker's right procedures are not bound to a particular schema. They can be run by a variety of users and enable multiple users to manage their own data by using centralized application logic. To create the invoker's rights package, use the AUTHID CURRENT_USER clause in the declaration section of the procedure code.
The PL/SQL package also must contain a SET ROLE statement or DBMS_SESSION.SET_ROLE call to enable (or disable) the role for the user.
After you create the PL/SQL package, you must grant the appropriate users the EXECUTE privilege on the package.
A way to execute the PL/SQL package when the user logs on. To execute the PL/SQL package, you must call it directly from the application before the user tries to use the privileges the role grants. You cannot use a logon trigger to execute the PL/SQL package automatically when the user logs on.
When a user logs in to the application, the policies in the package perform the checks as needed. If the user passes the checks, then the role is granted, which enables access to the application. If the user fails the checks, then the user is prevented from accessing the application.
Tutorial: Creating a Secure Application Role
This tutorial shows how two employees, Matthew Weiss and Winston Taylor, try to gain information from the OE.ORDERS table. Access rights to this table are defined in the EMPLOYEE_ROLE secure application role. Matthew is Winston's manager, so Matthew, as opposed to Winston, will be able to access the information in OE.ORDERS.
For greater security, you should apply separation of duty concepts when you assign responsibilities to the system administrators on your staff. For the tutorials used in this guide, you will create and use a security administrator account called sec_admin.
To create the sec_admin security administrator account:
Click Roles to display the Edit User: SEC_ADMIN page.
Click Edit List.
The Modify Roles page appears.
In the Available Roles list, select the SELECT_CATALOG_ROLE role and then then click Move to move it to the Selected Roles list. Then click OK to return to the Edit User page.
Click System Privileges to display the System Privileges subpage.
Click Edit List.
The Modify System Privileges page appears.
In the Available System Privileges list, select the following privileges and then click Move to move each one to the Selected System Privileges list. (Hold down the Control key to select multiple privileges.)
CREATE PROCEDURE
CREATE ROLE
CREATE SESSION
SELECT ANY DICTIONARY
Click OK.
The Create User page appears.
Under Admin Option, do not select the boxes.
Click OK.
The Users page appears. User sec_admin is listed in the UserName list.
Step 2: Create User Accounts for This Tutorial
Matthew and Winston both are sample employees in the HR.EMPLOYEES schema, which provides columns for the manager ID and email address of the employees, among other information. You must create user accounts for these two employees so that they can later test the secure application role.
To create the user accounts:
In the Users page, click Create.
The Create User page appears.
Enter the following information:
Name: mweiss (to create the user account for Matthew Weiss)
Click System Privileges to display the System Privileges subpage.
Click Edit List.
The Modify System Privileges page appears.
In the Available System Privileges lists, select the CREATE SESSION privilege, and then click Move to move it to the Selected System Privileges list.
Click OK.
The Create User page appears, with CREATE SESSION listed as the system privilege for user mweiss.
Ensure that the Admin Option for CREATE SESSION is not selected, and then click OK.
The Users page appears.
Select the option for user MWEISS from the list of users, and then from the Actions list, select Create Like. Then, click Go.
In the Create User page, enter the following information to create the user account for Winston, which will be almost identical to the user account for Matthew:
You do not need to specify the default and temporary tablespaces, or the CREATE SESSION system privilege, for user wtaylor because they are already specified.
Click OK.
You do not need to grant wtaylor the CREATE SESSION privilege, because the Create Like action has done of this for you.
Log out of Database Control.
Now both Matthew Weiss and Winston Taylor have user accounts that have identical privileges.
Step 3: Create the Secure Application Role
Now, you are ready to create the employee_role secure application role. To do so, you must log on as the security administrator sec_admin. "Step 1: Create a Security Administrator Account" explains how to create the sec_admin account.
To create the secure application role:
Start SQL*Plus and log on as the security administrator sec_admin.
SQLPLUS sec_admin
Enter password: password
SQL*Plus starts, connects to the default database, and then displays a prompt.
CREATE ROLE employee_role IDENTIFIED USING sec_roles;
The IDENTIFIED USING clause sets the role to be enabled (or disabled) only within the associated PL/SQL package, in this case, sec_roles. At this stage, the sec_roles PL/SQL package does not need to exist.
Connect as user OE.
CONNECT OE
Enter password: password
If you receive an error message saying that OE is locked, then you can unlock the OE account and reset its password by entering the following statements. For greater security, do not reuse the same password that was used in previous releases of Oracle Database. Enter any password that is secure, according to the password guidelines described in "Requirements for Creating Passwords".
CONNECT SYS/AS SYSDBA
Enter password: sys_password
PASSWORD OE -- First, change the OE account password.
Changing password for OE
New password: password
Retype new password: password
Password changed.
ALTER USER OE ACCOUNT UNLOCK; -- Next, unlock the OE account.
Another way to unlock a user account and create a new password is to use the following syntax:
ALTER USER account_name ACCOUNT UNLOCK IDENTIFIED BY new_password:
Now you can connect as user OE.
CONNECT OE
Enter password: password
Enter the following statement to grant the EMPLOYEE_ROLE role SELECT privileges on the OE.ORDERS table.
GRANT SELECT ON OE.ORDERS TO employee_role;
Do not grant the role directly to the user. The PL/SQL package will do that for you, assuming the user passes its security policies.
Step 4: Create a Lookup View
You are almost ready to create the procedure that determines who is granted the employee_role role. The procedure will grant the employee_role only to managers who report to Steven King, whose employee ID is 100. This information is located in the HR.EMPLOYEES table. However, you should not use that table in this procedure, because it contains sensitive data such as salary information, and for it to be used, everyone will need access to it. In most real world cases, you create a lookup view that contains only the information that you need. (You could create a lookup table, but a view will reflect the most recent data.) For this tutorial, you create your own lookup view that only contains the employee names, employee IDs, and their manager IDs.
To create the HR.HR_VERIFY lookup view:
In SQL*Plus, connect as user HR.
CONNECT HR
Enter password: password
If you receive an error message saying that HR is locked, then you can unlock the account and reset its password by entering the following statements. For greater security, do not reuse the same password that was used in previous releases of Oracle Database. Enter any password that is secure, according to the password guidelines described in "Requirements for Creating Passwords".
CONNECT SYSTEM
Enter password: password
PASSWORD HR
Changing password for HR
New password: password
Retype new password: password
Password changed.
ALTER USER HR ACCOUNT UNLOCK;
CONNECT HR
Enter password: password
Enter the following CREATE VIEW SQL statement to create the lookup view:
CREATE VIEW hr_verify AS
SELECT EMPLOYEE_ID, FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME, EMAIL, MANAGER_ID
FROM EMPLOYEES;
Grant the EXECUTE privilege for this view to mweiss, wtaylor, and sec_admin by entering the following SQL statements:
GRANT SELECT ON hr.hr_verify TO mweiss;
GRANT SELECT ON hr.hr_verify TO wtaylor;
GRANT SELECT ON hr.hr_verify TO sec_admin;
Step 5: Create the PL/SQL Procedure to Set the Secure Application Role
Now, you are ready to create the secure application role procedure. In most cases, you create a package to hold the procedure, but because this is a simple tutorial that requires only one secure application role test (as defined in the procedure), you will create a procedure by itself. If you want to have a series of procedures to test for the role, create them in a package.
A PL/SQL package defines a simple, clear interface to a set of related procedures and types that can be accessed by SQL statements. Packages also make code more reusable and easier to maintain. The advantage here for secure application roles is that you can create a group of security policies that used together present a solid security strategy designed to protect your applications. For users (or potential intruders) who fail the security policies, you can add auditing checks to the package to record the failure.
To create the secure application role procedure:
In SQL*Plus, connect as user sec_admin.
CONNECT sec_admin
Enter password: password
Enter the following CREATE PROCEDURE statement to create the secure application role procedure. (You can copy and paste this text by positioning the cursor at the start of CREATE OR REPLACE in the first line.)
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CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE sec_roles AUTHID CURRENT_USER
AS
v_user varchar2(50);
v_manager_id number :=1;
BEGIN
v_user := lower((sys_context ('userenv','session_user')));
SELECT manager_id
INTO v_manager_id FROM hr.hr_verify WHERE lower(email)=v_user;
IF v_manager_id = 100
THEN
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'SET ROLE employee_role';
ELSE NULL;
END IF;
EXCEPTION
WHEN NO_DATA_FOUND THEN v_manager_id:=0;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(v_manager_id);
END;
/
In this example:
Line 1: Appends the AUTHID CURRENT_USER clause to the CREATE PROCEDURE statement, which creates the procedure using invoker's rights. The AUTHID CURRENT_USER clause creates the package using invoker's rights, using the privileges of the current user.
You must create the package using invoker's rights for the package to work. Invoker's rights allow the user to have EXECUTE privileges on all objects that the package accesses.
Roles that are enabled inside an invoker's right procedure remain in effect even after the procedure exits, but after the user exits the session, he or she no longer has the privileges associated with the secure application role. In this case, you can have a dedicated procedure that enables the role for the rest of the session.
Because users cannot change the security domain inside definer's rights procedures, secure application roles can only be enabled inside invoker's rights procedures.
Line3: Declares the v_user variable, which will store the user session information.
Line 4: Declares the v_manager_id variable, which will store the manager's ID of the v_user user.
Line 6: Retrieves the user session information for the user logging on, in this case, Matthew or Winston. To retrieve user session information, use the SYS_CONTEXT SQL function with the USERENV namespace attributes ('userenv', session_attribute), and writes this information to the v_user variable.
The information returned by this function indicates the way in which the user was authenticated, the IP address of the client, and whether the user connected through a proxy. See Orac?/le Database SQL Language Reference for more information about SYS_CONTEXT.
Lines 7–8: Get the manager's ID of the current user. The SELECT statement copies the manager ID into the v_manager_id variable, and then checking the HR.HR_VERIFY view for the manager ID of the current user. This example uses the employees' email addresses because they are the same as their user names.
Lines 9–13: Use an IF condition to test whether the user should be granted the sec_roles role. In this case, the test condition is whether the user reports to Matthew's manager, Steven King, whose employee number is 100. If the user reports to King, as Matthew does, then the secure application role is granted to the user. Otherwise, the role is not granted.
The result is that the secure application role will grant Matthew Weiss the role because he is a direct report of Steven King, but will deny the role to Winston, because he is not a direct report of Steven King.
Lines 10–12: Within the IF condition, the THEN condition grants the role by executing immediately the SET ROLE statement. Otherwise, the ELSE condition denies the grant.
Lines 14–15: Use an EXCEPTION statement to set v_manager_id to 0 if no data is found.
Line 16: Copies the manager's ID, which is now 0, into a buffer so that it is readily available.
Tip:
If you have problems creating or running PL/SQL code, check the Oracle Database trace files. The USER_DUMP_DEST initialization parameter specifies the current location of the trace files. You can find the value of this parameter by issuing SHOW PARAMETER USER_DUMP_DEST in SQL*Plus. See Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide for more information about trace files.
Step 6: Grant the EXECUTE Privilege for the Procedure to Matthew and Winston
At this stage, Matthew and Winston can try to access the OE.ORDERS table, but they are denied access. The next step is to grant them the EXECUTE privilege on the sec_roles procedure, so that the sec_roles procedure can execute, and then grant or deny access, when they try to select from the OE.ORDERS table.
To grant EXECUTE privileges for the sec_roles procedure:
In SQL*Plus, as user sec_admin, enter the following GRANT SQL statements:
GRANT EXECUTE ON sec_admin.sec_roles TO mweiss;
GRANT EXECUTE ON sec_admin.sec_roles TO wtaylor;
Step 7: Test the EMPLOYEE_ROLE Secure Application Role
You are ready to test the employee_role secure application role by logging on as Matthew and Winston and trying to access the OE.ORDERS table. When Matthew and Winston log on, and before they issue a SELECT statement on the OE.ORDERS table, the sec_roles procedure must be executed for the role verification to take place.
To test the employee_role secure application role, as user MWEISS:
Connect as user mweiss.
CONNECT mweiss
Enter password: password
Enter the following SQL statement to run the sec_roles procedure:
EXEC sec_admin.sec_roles;
This statement executes the sec_roles procedure for the current session. (In a real world scenario, this statement would be automatically run when the user logs in to the application.)
Perform the following SELECT statement on the OE.ORDERS table:
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM OE.ORDERS;
Matthew has access to the OE.ORDERS table:
COUNT(*)
----------
105
Now, Winston will try to access the secure application.
To test the employee_role secure application role as user WTAYLOR:
In SQL*Plus, connect as user wtaylor.
CONNECT wtaylor
Enter password: password
Enter the following SQL statement to run the sec_roles procedure:
EXEC sec_admin.sec_roles;
This statement executes the sec_roles procedure for the current session.
Perform the following SELECT statement on the OE.ORDERS table:
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM OE.ORDERS;
Because Winston does not report directly to Steven King, he does not have access to the OE.ORDERS table. He will never learn the true number of orders in the ORDERS table, at least not by performing a SELECT statement on it.
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00942: table or view does not exist
Step 8: Optionally, Remove the Components for This Tutorial
Remove the components that you created for this tutorial.
To remove the components:
In SQL*Plus, connect as user SYSTEM.
CONNECT SYSTEM
Enter password: password
Enter the following DROP statements:
DROP USER mweiss;
DROP USER wtaylor;
Do not drop user sec_admin. You will need this user for other tutorials in this guide.
In SQL*Plus, connect as user sec_admin.
CONNECT sec_admin
Enter password: password
Enter the following DROP SQL statements:
DROP ROLE employee_role;
DROP PROCEDURE sec_roles;
Connect as user HR, and then drop the HR_VERIFY view.
CONNECT HR
Enter password: password
DROP VIEW hr_verify;
Exit SQL*Plus.
EXIT
Initialization Parameters Used for Privilege Security
Table 4-1 lists initialization parameters that you can use to secure user privileges.
Table 4-1 Initialization Parameters Used for Privilege Security
Determines whether the operating system identifies and manages the roles of each user.
MAX_ENABLED_ROLES
30
Specifies the maximum number of database roles that users can enable, including roles contained within other roles.
REMOTE_OS_ROLES
FALSE
Specifies whether operating system roles are allowed for remote clients. The default value, FALSE, causes Oracle to identify and manage roles for remote clients.
SQL92_SECURITY
FALSE
Specifies whether users must be granted the SELECT object privilege to execute UPDATE or DELETE statements.
Oracle Database provides many ways to secure data. This chapter describes the following methods that you can use to secure data on your site:
Transparent data encryption. Transparent data encryption encrypts data in one or more database table columns, or it can encrypt an entire tablespace. Transparent data encryption is the quickest and easiest way to encrypt data. Transparent data encryption supports the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and Triple Data Encryption Standard (3DES) algorithms.
Oracle Virtual Private Database (VPD). This feature restricts row and column level data access by creating a policy that enforces a WHERE clause for all SQL statements that query the database. You create and manage the VPD policy at the database table or view level, which means that you do not modify the applications that access the database.
Oracle Label Security (OLS). This feature secures your database tables at the row level, and assigns these rows different levels of security based on security labels. You then create a security authorization for users based on the OLS labels.
Oracle Database Vault. This feature enables you to restrict administrator access to your databases, enforce separation of duty, and control who, when, where and how applications, databases, and data are accessed.
Encrypting Data Transparently with Transparent Data Encryption
Transparent data encryption enables you to quickly encrypt one or more table columns or a tablespace. It is easy to implement and has many advantages over other types of database encryption.
Encrypted data can only be read by its recipient. You use encryption to protect data in a potentially unprotected environment, such as data you have placed on backup media that is sent to an offsite storage location.
The encryption data includes the following components:
An algorithm to encrypt the data. The encryption algorithm is used by Oracle databases to encrypt data. Oracle Database supports several industry-standard encryption and hashing algorithms, including the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption algorithm, which has been approved by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
A key to encrypt and decrypt data. When you encrypt data, Oracle Database uses the key and clear text data as input into the encryption algorithm. Conversely, when you decrypt data, the key is used as input into the algorithm to reverse the process and retrieve the clear text data. Oracle Database uses a symmetric encryption key to perform this task, in which the same key is used to both encrypt and decrypt the data. The encryption key is stored in the data dictionary, but encrypted with another master key.
As mentioned earlier, you can encrypt individual table columns or an entire tablespace. Be careful that you do not mix the two. For example, suppose you encrypt a table column and then encrypt its surrounding tablespace. This double encryption can cause performance problems. In addition, column encryption has limitations in data type support, and only supports B-tree indexes for equality searches. To check the current encrypted settings, you can query the V$ENCRYPTED_TABLESPACES data dictionary view for tablespaces, and the DBA_ENCRYPTED_COLUMNS view for encrypted columns.
When Should You Encrypt Data?
In most cases, you encrypt sensitive data on your site to meet a regulatory compliance. For example, sensitive data such as credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, or patient health information must be encrypted.
Historically, users have wanted to encrypt data because they want to restrict data access from their database administrators. However, this problem is more of an access control problem, not an encryption problem. You can address this problem by using Oracle Database Vault to control the access to your application data from database administrators.
In most cases, you encrypt sensitive data such as credit cards, and Social Security numbers to prevent access when backup tapes or disk drives are lost or stolen. In recent years industry regulations such as the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard and the Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) have become a driving factor behind increased usage of encryption for protecting credit card and health care information, respectively.
Transparent data encryption enables you to encrypt individual table columns or an entire tablespace. When a user inserts data into an encrypted column, transparent data encryption automatically encrypts the data. When users select the column, the data is automatically decrypted.
To encrypt data by using transparent data encryption, you create the following components:
A wallet to store the master encryption key. The wallet is an operating system file located outside the database. The database uses the wallet to store the master encryption key. To create the wallet, you can use Enterprise Manager or the ALTER SYSTEM command. The wallet is encrypted using a password as the encryption key. You create the password when you create the wallet. Access to the contents (or master key) of the wallet is thus restricted to only those who know the password. After the wallet is created, you must open the wallet using the password so that the database can access the master encryption key.
A location for the wallet. You can specify the wallet location in the sqlnet.ora file.
Afterward, when a user enters data, Oracle Database performs the following steps:
Retrieves the master key from the wallet.
Decrypts the encryption key using the master key.
Uses the encryption key to encrypt the data the user entered.
Stores the data in encrypted format in the database.
If the user is selecting data, the process is similar: Oracle Database decrypts the data and then displays it in clear text format.
Transparent data encryption has the following advantages:
As a security administrator, you can be sure that sensitive data is safe if the storage media or data file is stolen or lost.
Implementing transparent data encryption helps you address security-related regulatory compliance issues.
Data from tables is transparently decrypted for the database user. You do not need to create triggers or views to decrypt data.
Database users need not be aware of the fact that the data they are accessing is stored in encrypted form. Data is transparently decrypted for the database users and does not require any action on their part.
Applications need not be modified to handle encrypted data. Data encryption and decryption is managed by the database.
Transparent data encryption has a minimal impact on performance. Transparent data encryption column encryption affects performance only when data is retrieved from or inserted into an encrypted column. There is no impact on performance for operations involving unencrypted columns, even if these columns are in a table containing encrypted columns. However, be aware that encrypted data needs more storage space than clear text data. On average, encrypting a single column requires between 32 and 48 bytes of additional storage for each row. Transparent tablespace encryption provides even better performance because Oracle Database performs the encryption and decryption at the I/O block layer. Once blocks are decrypted, they are cached in Oracle Database memory for optimal performance.
Configuring Data to Use Transparent Data Encryption
To start using transparent data encryption, you must create a wallet and set a master key. The wallet can be the default database wallet shared with other Oracle Database components, or a separate wallet specifically used by transparent data encryption. Oracle recommends that you use a separate wallet to store the master encryption key. This wallet will be used for all data that is being encrypted through transparent data encryption.
You follow these steps to configure table columns to use transparent data encryption:
You designate the directory location for the wallet in the sqlnet.ora file. You perform this step once.
To configure the wallet location:
Create a directory in the $ORACLE_HOME directory in which to store the wallet.
For example, create a directory called ORA_WALLETS in the C:\oracle\product\11.2.0\db_1 directory.
Create a backup copy of the sqlnet.ora file, which by default is located in the $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin directory.
At the end of the sqlnet.ora file, add code similar to the following, where ORA_WALLETS is the name of the directory where you plan to store the wallet:
SHOW PARAMETER COMPATIBLE
NAME TYPE VALUE
-------------------------- -------------- --------------------
compatible string 11.2.0
If the value is greater than 10.2, then you can go to Step 2: Create the Wallet. If the value is less than 10.2, then restart the database as follows.
SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE
STARTUP
Step 2: Create the Wallet
To create the wallet, use the ALTER SYSTEM SQL statement. By default, the Oracle wallet stores a history of retired master keys, which enables you to change them and still be able to decrypt data that was encrypted under an old master key. A case-sensitive wallet password unknown to the database administrator provides separation of duty: The database administrator might be able to restart the database, but the wallet is closed and must be manually opened by a security administrator before the database can encrypt or decrypt the data.
To create the wallet:
In SQL*Plus, connect as a user with administrative privileges, such as SYS, or as a security administrator.
For example:
CONNECT SYSTEM
Enter password: password
Enter the following ALTER SYSTEM statement, where password is the password you want to use to protect the Oracle wallet:
ALTER SYSTEM SET ENCRYPTION KEY IDENTIFIED BY "password";
Enclose the password in double quotation marks. As with other passwords that you create in Oracle Database, the password does not appear in clear text or in any dynamic views or logs.
This statement generates the wallet with a new encryption key and sets it as the current transparent data encryption master key. If you plan to use public key infrastructure (PKI) to configure the master encryption key, then specify a certificate ID, which is an optional string that contains the unique identifier of a certificate stored in the Oracle wallet. Use the following syntax:
ALTER SYSTEM SET ENCRYPTION KEY certificate_ID IDENTIFIED BY "password";
Step 3: Open (or Close) the Wallet
Immediately after you create the wallet key, the wallet is open, and you are ready to start encrypting data. However, if you have restarted the database after you created the wallet, you must manually open the wallet before you can use transparent data encryption.
To open the wallet:
In SQL*Plus, enter the following ALTER SYSTEM statement, where password is the password you use to protect the wallet:
ALTER SYSTEM SET ENCRYPTION WALLET OPEN IDENTIFIED BY "password";
You must inclose the password in quotation marks.
In most cases, leave the wallet open unless you have a reason for closing it. You can close the wallet to disable access to the master key and prevent access to the encrypted columns. The wallet must be open for transparent data encryption to work. To reopen the wallet, use the ALTER SYSTEM SET WALLET OPEN IDENTIFIED BYpassword statement.
To close the wallet:
In SQL*Plus, enter the following statement, and ensure that you enclose the password in quotation marks:
ALTER SYSTEM SET ENCRYPTION WALLET CLOSE IDENTIFIED BY "password";
Step 4: Encrypt (or Decrypt) Data
After you have created a directory location for the wallet in the sqlnet.ora file and created the wallet itself, you are ready to encrypt either individual table columns or an entire tablespace.
The decisions that you make when you identify columns to be encrypted are determined by governmental security regulations, such as California Senate Bill 1386, or by industry standards such as the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard. Credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, and other personally identifiable information (PII) fall under this category. Another need for encryption is defined by your own internal security policies — trade secrets, research results, or employee salaries and bonuses. See "When Should You Encrypt Data?" for guidelines about when and when not to encrypt data.
Follow these guidelines when you select columns to encrypt:
Check the data types of the columns you plan to encrypt. Transparent data encryption supports the following data types:
BINARY_FLOAT
NUMBER
BINARY_DOUBLE
NVARCHAR2
CHAR
RAW
DATE
TIMESTAMP
NCHAR
VARCHAR2
Ensure that the columns you select are not part of a foreign key. With transparent data encryption, each table has its own encryption key, which is stored in the database data dictionary and encrypted with the external master key. Encrypted columns cannot be used as foreign keys.
To encrypt a column in a table:
Ensure that you have created and opened a wallet key.
Enter an administrator user name (for example, SYSTEM, or the name of a security administrator) and password, and then click Login.
The Database Home page appears.
Click Schema to display the Schema subpage.
Under Database Objects, select Tables.
The Tables page appears.
Do one of the following:
To create a new table, click Create, and then answer the questions in the subsequent page to start creating the table.
To modify an existing table, search for the table name by entering its schema name into the Schema field and the table name in the Object Name field. (You can use the percent sign (%) wildcard character to search for a group of tables, for example O% to find all tables beginning with the letter O.) When the table is listed in the Tables page, select the table, and then click Edit.
In the Create Table or Edit Table page, you can set its encryption options.
For example, to encrypt columns in the OE.ORDERS table, the Edit Table page appears as follows:
In the Create Table (or Edit Table) page, do the following:
Select the column that you want to encrypt.
Do not select columns that are part of a foreign key constraint (primary or unique key columns). You cannot encrypt these columns. These columns are indicated with a key or check mark icon to the left of their names.
Click Encryption Options to display the Encryption Options for the Table page.
From the Encryption Algorithm list, select from the following options:
AES192: Sets the key length to 192 bits. AES is the abbreviation for Advanced Encryption Standard.
3DES168: Sets the key length to 168 bits. 3DES is the abbreviation for Triple Data Encryption Standard.
AES128: Sets the key length to 128 bits. This option is the default.
AES256: Sets the key length to 256 bits.
Under Key Generation, select either Generate Key Randomly or Specify Key. If you select Specify Key, enter characters for the seed values in the Enter Key and Confirm Key fields.
The Generate Key Randomly setting enables salt. Salt is a way to strengthen the security of encrypted data. It is a random string added to the data before it is encrypted, causing the same text to appear different when encrypted. Salt removes one method attackers use to steal data, namely, matching patterns of encrypted text.
Click Continue to return to the Create Table (or Edit Table) page.
Enable encryption for the column by selecting its box under Encrypted.
Click Continue.
The Create Table (or Edit Table) page appears.
While a table is being updated, read access is still possible. Afterward, existing and future data in the column is encrypted when it is written to the database file, and it is decrypted when an authorized user selects it. If data manipulation language (DML) statements are needed, you can use online redefinition statements.
Encrypting a Tablespace
You can encrypt a new tablespace while you are creating it, but you cannot encrypt an existing tablespace. As a workaround, you can use the CREATE TABLE AS SELECT, ALTER TABLE MOVE, or use Oracle Data Pump import to get data from an existing tablespace into an encrypted tablespace. For details about creating a tablespace, see Oracle Database 2 Day DBA.
To encrypt a tablespace:
Ensure that you have created and opened a wallet key.
You can query the database for the data that you have encrypted. You can check for individually encrypted columns, all tables in the current database instance that have encrypted columns, or all tablespaces that are encrypted.
You can find out if a wallet is open or closed by running the V$ENCRYPTION_WALLET view.
To check whether a wallet is open or closed:
In SQL*Plus, query the V$ENCRYPTION_VIEW view as follows:
SELECT * FROM V$ENCRYPTION_WALLET;
The wallet status appears, similar to the following:
WRL_TYPE WRL_PARAMETER STATUS
-------- ---------------------------------------- -------
file C:\oracle\product\11.2.0\db_1\wallets OPEN
Checking Encrypted Columns of an Individual Table
You use the DESC (for DESCRIBE) statement in SQL*Plus to check the encrypted columns in a database table.
To check the encrypted columns of an individual table:
In SQL*Plus, run the DESC statement using the following syntax.
DESC tablename;
For example:
DESC OE.ORDER_ITEMS;
A description of the table schema appears. For example:
Name Null? Type
---------------------------------------- -------- --------------------------
ORDER_ID NOT NULL NUMBER(12)
LINE_ITEM_ID NOT NULL NUMBER(3)
PRODUCT_ID NOT NULL NUMBER(6)
UNIT_PRICE NUMBER(8,2)
QUANTITY NUMBER(8) ENCRYPT
Checking All Encrypted Table Columns in the Current Database Instance
To check all encrypted table columns, you use the DBA_ENCRYPTED_COLUMNS view.
To check all encrypted table columns in the current database instance:
In SQL*Plus, select from the DBA_ENCRYPTED_COLUMNS view:
For example:
SELECT * FROM DBA_ENCRYPTED_COLUMNS;
This SELECT statement lists all tables and column in the database that contain columns encrypted using Oracle Transparent Data Encryption. For example:
Describes all tablespaces in the database. For example, find out if the tablespace has been encrypted, enter the following:
SELECT TABLESPACE_NAME, ENCRYPTED FROM DBA_TABLESPACES
TABLESPACE_NAME ENC
---------------------------- ----
SYSTEM NO
SYSAUX NO
UNCOTBS1 NO
TEMP NO
USERS NO
EXAMPLE NO
SECURESPACE YES
Choosing Between Oracle Virtual Private Database and Oracle Label Security
Both Oracle Virtual Private Database (VPD) and Oracle Label Security (OLS) enable you to restrict the data that different users can see in database tables. But when should you use Virtual Private Database and when should you use Oracle Label Security? Virtual Private Database is effective when there is existing data you can use to determine the access requirements. For example, you can configure a sales representative to see only the rows and columns in a customer order entry table for orders he or she handles. Oracle Label Security is useful if you have no natural data (such as user accounts or employee IDs) that can be used to indicate a table's access requirements. To determine this type of user access, you assign different levels of sensitivity to the table rows.
In some cases, Oracle Virtual Private Database and Oracle Label Security can complement each other. The following Oracle Technology Network hands-on tutorial demonstrates how a Virtual Private Database policy can compare an Oracle Label Security user clearance with a minimum clearance. When the user clearance dominates the threshold, the Salary column is not hidden.
Binds a user-defined PL/SQL package to a table, view, or synonym
Yes
NoFoot 1
Modifies SQL by dynamically adding a WHERE clause returned from the PL/SQL procedures
Yes
No
Restricts database operations by privileged usersFoot 2
No
No
Controls access to a set of rows based on the sensitivity label of the row and the security level of the user
No
Yes
Adds a column (optionally hidden) designed to store sensitivity labels for rows in the protected tableFoot 3
No
Yes
Provides a user account to manage its administration
NoFoot 4
YesFoot 5
Provides pre-defined PL/SQL packages for row-level security
No
Yes
Is provided in the default installation of Oracle Database
Yes
No
Is provided as an additional option to Oracle Database and must be licensed
No
Yes
Footnote 1 Oracle Label Security uses predefined PL/SQL packages, not user-created packages, to attach security policies to tables.
Footnote 2 If you must restrict privileged user access, consider using Oracle Database Vault.
Footnote 3 Usually, this column is hidden to achieve transparency and not break applications that are not designed to show an additional column.
Footnote 4 Oracle Virtual Private Database does not provide a user account, but you can create a user account that is solely responsible for managing Virtual Private Database policies.
Footnote 5 The LBACSYS account manages Oracle Label Security policies. This provides an additional layer of security in that one specific user account is responsible for these policies, which reduces the risk of another user tampering with the policies.
Controlling Data Access with Oracle Virtual Private Database
Oracle Virtual Private Database (VPD) enables you to dynamically add a WHERE clause in any SQL statement that a user executes. The WHERE clause filters the data the user is allowed to access, based on the identity of a user.
Oracle Virtual Private Database (VPD) provides row-level security at the database table or view level. You can extend it to provide column-level security as well. Essentially, Virtual Private Database inserts an additional WHERE clause to any SQL statement that is used on any table or view to which a Virtual Private Database security policy has been applied. (A security policy is a function that allows or prevents access to data.) The WHERE clause allows only users whose identity passes the security policy, and hence, have access to the data that you want to protect.
An Oracle Virtual Private Database policy has the following components, which are typically created in the schema of the security administrator:
A PL/SQL function to append the dynamic WHERE clause to SQL statements that affect the Virtual Private Database tables. For example, a PL/SQL function translates the following SELECT statement:
SELECT * FROM ORDERS;
to the following:
SELECT * FROM ORDERS
WHERE SALES_REP_ID = 159;
In this example, the user can only view orders by Sales Representative 159. The PL/SQL function used to generate this WHERE clause is as follows:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION auth_orders(
schema_var IN VARCHAR2,
table_var IN VARCHAR2
)
RETURN VARCHAR2
IS
return_val VARCHAR2 (400);
BEGIN
return_val := 'SALES_REP_ID = 159';
RETURN return_val;
END auth_orders;
/
In this example:
Lines 2–3: Create parameters to store the schema name, OE, and table name, ORDERS. (The second parameter, table_var, for the table, can also be used for views and synonyms.) Always create these two parameters in this order: create the parameter for the schema first, followed by the parameter for the table, view, or synonym object. Note that the function itself does not specify the OE schema or its ORDERS table. The Virtual Private Database policy you create uses these parameters to specify the OE.ORDERS table.
Line 5: Returns the string that will be used for the WHERE predicate clause.
Lines 6–10: Encompass the creation of the WHERE SALES_REP_ID = 159 predicate.
You can design the WHERE clause to filter the user information based on the session information of that user, such as the user ID. To do so, you create an application context. Application contexts can be used to authenticate both database and nondatabase users. An application context is a name-value pair. For example:
SELECT * FROM oe.orders
WHERE sales_rep_id = SYS_CONTEXT('userenv','session_user');
In this example, the WHERE clause uses the SYS_CONTEXT PL/SQL function to retrieve the user session ID (session_user) designated by the userenv context. See Oracle Database Security Guide for detailed information about application contexts.
A way to attach the policy the package. Use the DBMS_RLS.ADD_POLICY function to attach the policy to the package. Before you can use the DBMS_RLS PL/SQL package, you must be granted EXECUTE privileges on it. User SYS owns the DBMS_RLS package.
The advantages of enforcing row-level security at the database level rather than at the application program level are enormous. Because the security policy is implemented in the database itself, where the data to be protected is, this data is less likely to be vulnerable to attacks by different data access methods. This layer of security is present and enforced no matter how users (or intruders) try to access the data it protects. The maintenance overhead is low because you maintain the policy in one place, the database, rather than having to maintain it in the applications that connect to this database. The policies that you create provide a great deal of flexibility because you can write them for specific DML operations.
Tutorial: Creating an Oracle Virtual Private Database Policy
The ORDERS table in the Order Entry database, OE, contains the following information:
Name Null? Type
-------------------------------------- -------- ---------------------------------
ORDER_ID NOTNULL NUMBER(12)
ORDER_DATE NOTNULL TIMESTAMP(6) WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE
ORDER_MODE VARCHAR2(8)
CUSTOMER_ID NOTNULL NUMBER(6)
ORDER_STATUS NUMBER(2)
ORDER_TOTAL NUMBER(8,2)
SALES_REP_ID NUMBER(6)
PROMOTION_ID NUMBER(6)
Suppose you want to limit access to this table based on the person who is querying the table. For example, a sales representative should only see the orders that he or she have created, but other employees should not. In this tutorial, you create a sales representative user account and an account for a finance manager. Then, you create an Oracle Virtual Private Database policy that will limit the data access to these users based on their roles.
The Virtual Private Database policy that you will create is associated with a PL/SQL function. Because VPD policies are controlled by PL/SQL functions or procedures, you can design the policy to restrict access in many different ways. For this tutorial, the function you create will restrict access by the employees based on to whom they report. The function will restrict the customer access based on the customer's ID.
You may want to store VPD policies in a database account separate from the database administrator and from application accounts. In this tutorial, you will use the sec_admin account, which was created in "Tutorial: Creating a Secure Application Role", to create the VPD policy. This provides better security by separating the VPD policy from the applications tables.
To restrict access based on the sensitivity of row data, you can use Oracle Label Security (OLS). OLS lets you categorize data into different levels of security, with each level determining who can access the data in that row. This way, the data access restriction is focused on the data itself, rather than on user privileges. See "Enforcing Row-Level Security with Oracle Label Security" for more information.
The sec_admin account user must have privileges to use the DBMS_RLS packages. User SYS owns this package, so you must log on as SYS to grant these package privileges to sec_admin. The user sec_admin also must have SELECT privileges on the CUSTOMERS table in the OE schema and the EMPLOYEES table in the HR schema.
To grant sec_admin privileges to use the DBMS_RLS package:
Log in as user SYS and connect with the SYSDBA privilege:
User Name: SYS
Password: Enter the password for SYS.
Connect As: SYSDBA
Click Server to display the Server subpage.
Under Security, select Users.
The Users Page appears.
Select the SEC_ADMIN user, and in the View User page, click Edit.
The Edit User page appears.
Click Object Privileges to display the Object Privileges page.
From the Select Object Type list, select Package, and then click Add.
The Add Package Object Privileges page appears.
Under Select Package Objects, enter SYS.DBMS_RLS so that sec_admin will have access to the DBMS_RLS package.
Under Available Privileges, select EXECUTE, and then click Move to move it to the Selected Privileges list.
Click OK.
The Edit User page appears.
From the Select Object Type list, select Table, and then click Add.
The Add Table Object Privileges page appears.
In the SelectTable Objects field, enter HR.EMPLOYEES so that sec_admin will have access to the HR.EMPLOYEES table.
Under Available Privileges, select SELECT, and then click Move to move it to the Selected Privileges list.
Click OK.
The Edit User page appears. It shows that user sec_admin has object privileges for the EMPLOYEES table and DBMS_RLS PL/SQL package. Ensure that you do not select the grant option for either of these objects.
Click Apply.
All the changes you have made, in this case, the addition of the two object privileges, are applied to the sec_admin user account.
Step 3: Create User Accounts for This Tutorial
You are ready to create accounts for the employees who must access the OE.ORDERS table.
To create the employee user accounts:
In Database Control, click Users in the Database Instance link to return to the Users page.
The Users page appears.
Click Create.
The Create User page appears.
Enter the following information:
Name: LDORAN (to create the user account Louise Doran)
Both employee accounts have been created, and they have identical privileges. If you check the privileges for user LPOPP, you will see that they are identical to those of user LDORAN's. At this stage, if either of these users performs a SELECT statement on the OE.ORDERS table, he or she will be able to see all of its data.
Step 4: Create the F_POLICY_ORDERS Policy Function
The f_policy_orders policy is a PL/SQL function that defines the policy used to filter users who query the ORDERS table. To filter the users, the policy function uses the SYS_CONTEXT PL/SQL function to retrieve session information about users who are logging in to the database.
To create the application context and its package:
In Database Control, click Logout and then Login.
Log in as user sec_admin.
Click Schema to display the Schema subpage.
Under Programs, select Functions.
The Functions page appears.
Ensure that the Object Type menu is set to Function, and then click Create.
The Create Function page appears.
Enter the following information:
Name: F_POLICY_ORDERS
Schema: SEC_ADMIN
Source: Delete the empty function code that has been provided, and then enter the following code (but not the line numbers on the left side of the code) to create a function that checks whether the user who has logged on is a sales representative. You can copy and paste this text by positioning the cursor at the start of (schema in varchar2) in the first line.
The f_policy_orders function accomplishes this by using the SYS_CONTEXT PL/SQL function to get the session information of the user, and then it compares this information with the job ID of that user in the HR.EMPLOYEES table, for which sec_admin has SELECT privileges.
(schema in varchar2,
tab in varchar2)
return varchar2
as
v_job_id varchar2(20);
v_user varchar2(100);
predicate varchar2(400);
begin
v_job_id := null;
v_user := null;
predicate := '1=2';
v_user := lower(sys_context('userenv','session_user'));
select lower(job_id) into v_job_id from hr.employees
where lower(email) = v_user;
if v_job_id='sa_rep' then
predicate := '1=1';
else
null;
end if;
return predicate;
exception
when no_data_found then
null;
end;
In this example:
Lines 1–2: Define parameters for the schema (schema) and table (tab) that must be protected. Notice that the function does not mention the OE.ORDERS table. The ACCESSCONTROL_ORDERS policy that you create in Step 5: Create the ACCESSCONTROL_ORDERS Virtual Private Database Policy uses these parameters to specify the OE schema and ORDERS table. Ensure that you create the schema parameter first, followed by the tab parameter.
Line 3: Returns the string that will be used for the WHERE predicate clause. Always use VARCHAR2 as the data type for this return value.
Lines 4–7: Define variables to store the job ID, user name of the user who has logged on, and predicate values.
Lines 9–25: Encompass the creation of the WHERE predicate, starting the with the BEGIN clause at Line 9.
Lines 10–12: Sets the v_job_id and v_user variables to null, and the predicate variable to 1=2, that is, to a false value. At this stage, no WHERE predicate can be generated until these variables pass the tests starting with Line 16.
Line 14: Uses the SYS_CONTEXT function to retrieve the session information of the user and write it to the v_user variable.
Lines 16–23: Checks if the user is a sales representative by comparing the job ID with the user who has logged on. If the job ID of the user who has logged on is sa_rep (sales representative), then the predicate variable is set to 1=1. In other words, the user, by being a sales representative, has passed the test.
Line 25: Returns the WHERE predicate, which translates to WHERErole_of_user_logging_onIS"sa_rep". Oracle Database appends this WHERE predicate onto any SELECT statement that users LDORAN and LPOPP issue on the OE.ORDERS table.
Lines 27–29: Provide an EXCEPTION clause for cases where a user without the correct privileges has logged on.
Click OK.
Step 5: Create the ACCESSCONTROL_ORDERS Virtual Private Database Policy
Now that you have created the Virtual Private Database policy function, you can create the Virtual Private Database policy, accesscontrol_orders, and then attach it to the ORDERS table. To increase performance, add the CONTEXT_SENSITIVE parameter to the policy, so that Oracle Database only executes the f_policy_orders function when the content of the application context changes, in this case, when a new user logs on. Oracle Database only activates the policy when a user performs a SQL SELECT statement on the ORDERS table. Hence, the user cannot run the INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements, because the policy does not allow him or her to do so.
To create the ACCESSCONTROL_ORDERS Virtual Private Database policy:
In Database Control, click the Database Instance link to display the Database Home page.
Click Server to display the Server subpage.
In the Security section, click Virtual Private Database.
The Virtual Private Database Policies page appears.
Click Create.
The Create Policy page appears, with the Policy subpage displaying.
Under General, enter the following:
Policy Name: ACCESSCONTROL_ORDERS
Object Name: OE.ORDERS
Policy Type: Select CONTEXT_SENSITIVE.
This type reevaluates the policy function at statement run-time if it detects context changes since the last use of the cursor. For session pooling, where multiple clients share a database session, the middle tier must reset the context during client switches. Note that Oracle Database does not cache the value that the function returns for this policy type; it always runs the policy function during statement parsing. The CONTEXT_SENSITIVE policy type applies to only one object.
To enable the Policy Type, select the Enabled box.
Under Policy Function, enter the following:
Policy Function: Enter the name of the function that generates a predicate for the policy, in this case, SEC_ADMIN.F_POLICY_ORDERS.
Long Predicate: Do not select this box.
Typically, you select this box to return a predicate with a length of up to 32K bytes. By not selecting this box, Oracle Database limits the predicate to 4000 bytes.
Under Enforcement, select the SELECT option but deselect the remaining options that already may be selected.
Do not select any options under Security Relevant Columns.
Click OK.
The Virtual Private Database Policies page appears, with the ACCESSCONTROL_ORDERS policy listed in the list of policies.
Step 6: Test the ACCESSCONTROL_ORDERS Virtual Private Database Policy
At this stage, you are ready to test the accesscontrol_orders policy by logging on as each user and attempting to select data from the ORDERS table.
To test the ACCESSCONTROL_ORDERS policy:
Start SQL*Plus.
From a command prompt, enter the following command to start SQL*Plus, and log in as Sales Representative Louise Doran, whose user name is ldoran:
sqlplus ldoran
Enter password: password
SQL*Plus starts, connects to the default database, and then displays a prompt.
The following results should appear for Louise. As you can see, Louise is able to access all the orders in the OE.ORDERS table.
COUNT(*)
--------
105
Connect as Finance Manager Luis Popp.
CONNECT lpopp
Enter password: password
Enter the following SELECT statement:
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM OE.ORDERS;
The following results should appear, because Mr. Popp, who is not a sales representative, does not have access to the data in the OE.ORDERS table. Because Mr. Popp does not have access, Oracle Database only allows him access to 0 rows.
COUNT(*)
--------
0
Exit SQL*Plus:
EXIT
Step 7: Optionally, Remove the Components for This Tutorial
After completing this tutorial, you can remove the data structures that you used if you no longer need them.
To remove the data structures created by sec_admin:
In Database Control, log in as user sec_admin.
Click Server to display the Server subpage.
Under Security, select Virtual Private Database.
The Virtual Private Database Policies page appears.
Under Search, enter the following information, and then click Go:
Schema Name:OE
Object Name:ORDERS
Policy Name: %
The policy you created, ACCESSCONTROL_ORDERS, is listed.
Select ACCESSCONTROL_ORDERS, and then click Delete.
In the Confirmation page, click Yes.
To remove the user accounts and roles:
In Database Control, click Logout, and then Login.
Log in as the administrative user (for example, SYSTEM) who created the user accounts and roles used in this tutorial.
Click Server to display the Server subpage.
Under Security, select Users.
The Users page appears.
Select each of the following users, and then click Delete to remove them:
LDORAN
LPOPP
Do not remove sec_admin because you will need this account for later tutorials in this guide.
Exit Database Control.
Enforcing Row-Level Security with Oracle Label Security
Oracle Label Security (OLS) provides row-level security for your database tables. You can accomplish this by assigning one or more security labels that define the level of security you want for the data rows of the table.
You use Oracle Label Security to secure your database tables at the row level, and assign these rows different levels of security based on the needs of your site. For example, rows that contain highly sensitive data can be assigned a label entitled HIGHLY SENSITIVE; rows that are less sensitive can be labeled as SENSITIVE, and so on. Rows that all users can have access to can be labeled PUBLIC. You can create as many labels as you need, to fit your site's security requirements.
After you create and assign the labels, you can use Oracle Label Security to assign specific users authorization for specific rows, based on these labels. Afterward, Oracle Label Security automatically compares the label of the data row with the security clearance of the user to determine whether the user is allowed access to the data in the row.
An Oracle Label Security policy has the following components:
Labels. Labels for data and users, along with authorizations for users and program units, govern access to specified protected objects. Labels are composed of the following:
Levels. Levels indicate the type of sensitivity that you want to assign to the row, for example, SENSITIVE or HIGHLY SENSITIVE.
Compartments. (Optional) Data can have the same level (Public, Confidential and Secret), but can belong to different projects inside a company, for example ACME Merger and IT Security. Compartments represent the projects in this example, that help define more precise access controls. They are most often used in government environments.
Groups. (Optional) Groups identify organizations owning or accessing the data, for example, UK, US, Asia, Europe. Groups are used both in commercial and government environments, and frequently used in place of compartments due to their flexibility.
Policy. A policy is a name associated with these labels, rules, and authorizations.
You can create Oracle Label Security labels and policies in Database Control, or you can create them using the SA_SYSDBA, SA_COMPONENTS, and SA_LABEL_ADMIN PL/SQL packages. For information about using the PL/SQL packages, see Oracle Label Security Administrator's Guide. This guide explains how to create Oracle Label Security labels and policies by using Database Control.
For example, assume that a user has the SELECT privilege on an application table. As illustrated in the following figure, when the user runs a SELECT statement, Oracle Label Security evaluates each row selected to determine whether the user can access it. The decision is based on the privileges and access labels assigned to the user by the security administrator. You can also configure Oracle Label Security to perform security checks on UPDATE, DELETE, and INSERT statements.
Guidelines for Planning an Oracle Label Security Policy
Before you create an Oracle Label Security policy, you must determine where and how to apply the labels to the application schema.
To determine where and how to apply Oracle Label Security policies for application data, follow these guidelines:
Analyze the application schema. Identify the tables that require an Oracle Label Security policy. In most cases, only a small number of the application tables will require an Oracle Label Security policy. For example, tables that store lookup values or constants usually do not need to be protected with a security policy. However, tables that contain sensitive data, such as patient medical histories or employee salaries, do.
Analyze the use of data levels. After you identify the candidate tables, evaluate the data in the tables to determine the level of security for the table. Someone who has broad familiarity with business operations can provide valuable assistance with this stage of the analysis.
Data levels refer to the sensitivity of the data. PUBLIC, SENSITIVE, and HIGHLY SENSITIVE are examples of data levels. You should also consider future sensitivities. Doing so creates a robust set of label definitions.
Remember that if a data record is assigned a sensitivity label whose level component is lower than the clearance of the user, then a user attempting to read the record is granted access to that row.
Analyze the use of data compartments. Data compartments are used primarily in government environments. If your application is a commercial application, in most cases, you will not create data compartments.
Analyze the data groups. Data groups and data compartments are typically used to control access to data by organization, region, or data ownership. For example, if the application is a sales application, access to the sales data can be controlled by country or region.
When a data record is assigned a sensitivity label with compartments and groups, a user attempting to read the record must have a user clearance that contains a level that is equal to or greater than the level of the data label, all of its compartments, and at least one of the groups in the sensitivity label. Because groups are hierarchical, a user could have the parent of one of the groups in the sensitivity label assigned to the data label and still be able to access that record.
Analyze the user population. Separate the users into one or more designated user types. For example, a user might be designated as a typical user, privileged user, or administrative user. After you create these categories of users, compare the categories with the data levels you created in Step 2. They must correspond correctly for each table identified during the schema analysis you performed in Step 1. Then, compare the organizational structure of the user population with the data groups that you identified in Step 4.
Examine the highly privileged and administrative users to determine which Oracle Label Security authorizations should be assigned to the user. Oracle Label Security has several special authorizations that can be assigned to users. In general, typical users do not require any special authorizations. See Oracle Label Security Administrator's Guide for a complete list of these authorizations.
Review and document the data you gathered. This step is crucial for continuity across the enterprise, and the resulting document should become part of the enterprise security policy. For example, this document should contain a list of protected application tables and corresponding justifications.
Tutorial: Applying Security Labels to the HR.LOCATIONS Table
This tutorial demonstrates the general concepts of using Oracle Label Security. In it, you will apply security labels to the HR.LOCATIONS table. Three users, sking, kpartner, and ldoran will have access to specific rows within this table, based on the cities listed in the LOCATIONS table.
With Oracle Label Security, you restrict user access to data by focusing on row data, and designing different levels of access based on the sensitivity of your data. If you must restrict user access by focusing on user privileges, or some other method such as the job title that the user in your organization has, you can create a PL/SQL function or procedure to use with a Virtual Private Database policy. See "Controlling Data Access with Oracle Virtual Private Database" for more information.
The schema for HR.LOCATIONS is as follows:
Name Null? Type
----------------------------------------- -------- -------------
LOCATION_ID NOT NULL NUMBER(4)
STREET_ADDRESS VARCHAR2(40)
POSTAL_CODE VARCHAR2(12)
CITY NOT NULL VARCHAR2(30)
STATE_PROVINCE VARCHAR2(25)
COUNTRY_ID CHAR(2)
You will apply the following labels:
Label
Privileges
CONFIDENTIAL
Read access to the cities Munich, Oxford, and Roma
SENSITIVE
Read access to the cities Beijing, Tokyo, and Singapore
PUBLIC
Read access to all other cities listed in HR.LOCATIONS
Step 1: Register Oracle Label Security and Enable the LBACSYS Account
In a default Oracle Database installation, Oracle Label Security is installed. However, you must register Oracle Label Security and then enable the default Oracle Label Security account, which is called LBACSYS.
Registering Oracle Label Security with Oracle Database
After you complete the installation, you must register Oracle Label Security with Oracle Database. You can check if Oracle Label Security is already registered by entering the following SELECT statement in SQL*Plus. The PARAMETER column is case sensitive, so use the case shown here.
SELECT * FROM V$OPTION WHERE PARAMETER = 'Oracle Label Security';
To register Oracle Label Security with Oracle Database:
Stop the database, Database Control console process, and listener.
UNIX: Log in to SQL*Plus as user SYS with the SYSOPER privilege and shut down the database. Then from the command line, stop the Database Control console process and listener.
For example:
sqlplus sys as sysoper
Enter password: password
SQL> SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE
SQL> EXIT
$ emctl stop dbconsole
$ lsnrctl stop [listener_name]
For Oracle RAC installations, shut down each database instance as follows:
$ srvctl stop database -d db_name
Windows: Stop the database, Database Control console process, and listener from the Services tool in the Control Panel. The names of Oracle Database services begin with Oracle.
Enable Oracle Label Security as follows:
UNIX: Run the following commands:
$ cd $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/lib
$ make -f ins_rdbms.mk lbac_on ioracle
Windows: In the ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\bin directory, rename the oralbacll.dll.dbl file to oralbacll.dll.
Restart the database and listener. (Do not restart the Database Control console process yet.)
UNIX: Log in to SQL*Plus as user SYS with the SYSOPER privilege and restart the database. Then from the command line, restart the listener.
< p>For example:
sqlplus sys as sysoper
Enter password: password
SQL> STARTUP
SQL> EXIT
$ lsnrctl start [listener_name]
For Oracle RAC installations, restart each database instance as follows:
$ srvctl start database -d db_name
Windows: Restart the database and listener from the Services tool in the Control Panel. The names of Oracle Database services begin with Oracle.
Start Database Configuration Assistant.
UNIX: Enter the following command at a terminal window:
dbca
Typically, dbca is in the $ORACLE_HOME/bin directory.
Windows: From the Start menu, click All Programs. Then, click Oracle -ORACLE_HOME, Configuration and Migration Tools, and then Database Configuration Assistant.
Alternatively, you can start Database Configuration Assistant at a command prompt:
dbca
As with UNIX, typically, dbca is in the ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\bin directory.
In the Welcome page, click Next.
The Operations page appears.
Select Configure Database Options, and then click Next.
The Database page appears.
From the list, select the database where you installed Oracle Database and then enter the name and password of a user who has been granted the DBA role (for example, user SYS). Click Next.
Select either Dedicated Server Mode or Shared Server Mode (depending on the selection you made when you created this database), click Finish, and then click OK in the confirmation prompts.
Database Configuration Assistant registers Oracle Label Security, and then restarts the database instance.
Exit Database Configuration Assistant.
Restart the Database Control console process.
UNIX: Run the following command:
$ emctl start dbconsole
Windows: Restart the Database Control console process (for example, OracleDBConsoleorcl if the database is named orcl) from the Services tool in the Control Panel.
Enabling the Default Oracle Label Security User Account LBACSYS
The Oracle Label Security installation process creates a default user account, LBACSYS, who manages the Oracle Label Security features. An administrator can create a user who has the same privileges as this user, that is, EXECUTE privileges on the SA_SYSDBA, SA_COMPONENTS, and SA_LABEL_ADMIN PL/SQL packages. By default, LBACYS is created as a locked account with its password expired. Your next step is to unlock LBACYS and create a new password. Because user LBACSYS is using Database Control to create the Oracle Label Security policy, you must grant the SELECT ANY DICTIONARY privilege to LBACSYS.
To enable the LBACSYS user account:
Log in to Database Control as the user SYS with the SYSDBA privilege.
Click Server to display the Server subpage.
Under Security, select Users.
The Users page appears.
Select the LBACSYS user, and in the View User page, click Edit.
For greater security, do not reuse the same password that was used in previous releases of Oracle Database.
Click Roles to display the Edit User: LBACSYS page.
Click Edit List.
The Modify Roles page appears.
In the Available Roles list, select the SELECT_CATALOG_ROLE role and then then click Move to move it to the Selected Roles list. Then click OK to return to the Edit User page.
Click System Privileges.
Click Edit List.
The Modify System Privileges page appears.
In the Available System Privileges list, select SELECT ANY DICTIONARY, and then click Move to move it to the Selected System Privileges list. Then click OK to return to the Edit User page.
Select Object Privileges.
In the Select Object Type list, select Package and then click Add.
In the Add Package Object Privileges page, do the following:
Under Select Package Objects, select the flashlight icon to display the Select Package Objects window.
Set the Schema to LBACSYS.
Enter % in the Search Package Name field and then click Go.
Select all the package objects listed, for both pages of listed objects.
Click Select to return to the Add Package Object Privileges window.
Under Available Privileges, move the EXECUTE privilege to the Selected Privileges list.
Click OK.
Click OK to return to the Edit User page, and then click Apply to apply the changes.
Step 2: Create a Role and Three Users for the Oracle Label Security Tutorial
You are ready to create a role and three users, and then grant these users the role.
The emp_role role provides the necessary privileges for the three users you will create.
To create the role emp_role:
Connect to Database Control as user SYSTEM.
From the Database Home page, click Server to display the Server subpage.
In the Security section, click Roles.
The Roles page appears.
Click Create.
The Create Role page appears.
In the Name field, enter EMP_ROLE and leave Authentication set to None.
Select the Object Privileges subpage.
From the Select Object Type list, select Table, and then click Add.
The Add Table Object Privileges page appears.
Under Select Table Objects, enter HR.LOCATIONS to select the LOCATIONS table in the HR schema, and then under Available Privileges, move SELECT to the Selected Privileges list.
Click OK to return to the Create Role page, and then click OK to return to the Roles page.
Creating the Users
The three users you create will have different levels of access to the HR.LOCATIONS table, depending on their position. Steven King (sking) is the advertising president, so he has full read access to the HR.LOCATIONS table. Karen Partners (kpartner) is a sales manager who has less access, and Louise Doran (ldoran) is a sales representative who has the least access.
To create the users:
Ensure that you are logged in to Database Control as SYSTEM.
If you are not already logged in as SYSTEM, then select Logout, and then select Login. In the Login page, enter SYSTEM and the password assigned to that account. Set Connect As to Normal. Select Login to log in.
If you are logged in as SYSTEM, click the Database Instance link to display the home page.
Roles: Select the Roles subpage, and then grant the emp_role role to sking by selecting Edit List. From the Available Roles list, select emp_role, and then click Move to move it to the Selected Roles list. Click OK. In the Create User page, ensure that the Default box is selected for both the CONNECT and emp_role roles.
System Privileges: Select the System Privileges subpage and then click Edit List to grant the CREATE SESSION privileges. Do not grant sking the ADMIN OPTION option.
Click OK to return to the Create User page, and then from there, click OK to return to the Users page.
In the Users page, select SKING, set Actions to Create Like, and then click Go.
The Create User page appears.
Create accounts for kpartner and ldoran.
Create their names and passwords. (See "Requirements for Creating Passwords".) You do not need to grant roles or system privileges to them. Their roles and system privileges, defined in the sking account, are automatically created.
At this stage, you have created three users who have identical privileges. All of these users have the SELECT privilege on the HR.LOCATIONS table, through the EMP_ROLE role.
Step 3: Create the ACCESS_LOCATIONS Oracle Label Security Policy
Next, you are ready to create the ACCESS_LOCATIONS policy.
To create the ACCESS_LOCATIONS policy:
Log in to Database Control as user LBACSYS.
Select Logout, and then select Login. In the Login page, log in as user LBACSYS. Set Connect As to Normal. Select Login to log in.
Click Server to display the Server subpage.
In the Security section, click Oracle Label Security.
The Label Security Policies page appears.
Click Create.
In the Create Label Security Policy page, enter the following information:
Name: ACCESS_LOCATIONS
Label Column: OLS_COLUMN
Later on, when you apply the policy to a table, the label column is added to that table. By default, the data type of the policy label column is NUMBER(10).
Hide Label Column: Deselect this box so that the label column will not be hidden. (It should be deselected by default.)
Usually, the label column is hidden, but during the development phase, you may want to have it visible so that you can check it. After the policy is created and working, hide this column so that it is transparent to applications. Many applications are designed not to show an another column, so hiding the column prevents the application from breaking.
Enabled: Select this box to enable the policy. (It should be enabled by default.)
Inverse user's read and write groups (INVERSE_GROUP): Do not select this option.
Default Policy Enforcement Options: Select Apply Policy Enforcements, and then select the following options:
For all queries (READ_CONTROL)
To use session's default label for label column update (LABEL_DEFAULT)
Click OK.
The ACCESS_LOCATIONS policy appears in the Label Security Policies page.
Step 4: Define the ACCESS_LOCATIONS Policy-Level Components
At this stage, you have the policy and have set enforcement options for it. Next, you are ready to create label components for the policy.
At a minimum, you must create one or more levels, such as PUBLIC or SENSITIVE; and define a long name, a short name, and a number indicating the sensitivity level. Compartments and groups are optional.
The level numbers indicate the level of sensitivity needed for their corresponding labels. Select a numeric range that can be expanded later on, in case your security policy needs more levels. For example, to create the additional levels LOW_SENSITIVITY and HIGH_SENSITIVITY, you can assign them numbers 7300 (for LOW_SENSITIVITY) and 7600 (for HIGH_SENSITIVITY), so that they fit in the scale of security your policy creates. Generally, the higher the number, the more sensitive the data.
Compartments identify areas that describe the sensitivity of the labeled data, providing a finer level of granularity within a level. Compartments are optional.
Groups identify organizations owning or accessing the data. Groups are useful for the controlled dissemination of data and for timely reaction to organizational change. Groups are optional.
In this step, you define the level components, which reflect the names and relationships of the SENSITIVE, CONFIDENTIAL, and PUBLIC labels that you must create for the ACCESS_LOCATIONS policy.
To define the label components for the ACCESS_LOCATIONS policy:
In the Label Security policies page, select the ACCESS_LOCATIONS policy, and then select Edit.
The Edit Label Security Policy page appears.
Select the Label Components subpage.
Under Levels, click Add 5 Rows, and then enter a long name, short name, and a numeric tag as follows. (To move from one field to the next, press the Tab key.)
Long Name
Short Name
Numeric Tag
SENSITIVE
SENS
3000
CONFIDENTIAL
CONF
2000
PUBLIC
PUB
1000
Click Apply.
Step 5: Create the ACCESS_LOCATIONS Policy Data Labels
In this step, you create data labels for the policy you created in Step 4: Define the ACCESS_LOCATIONS Policy-Level Components. To create the data label, you must assign a numeric tag to each level. Later on, the tag number will be stored in the security column when you apply the policy to a table. It has nothing to do with the sensitivity of the label; it is only used to identify the labels for the policy.
To create the data labels:
Return to the Label Security policies page by selecting the Label Security Policies link.
Select the selection button for the ACCESS_LOCATIONS policy.
In the Actions list, select Data Labels, and then click Go.
Later, the tag number will be stored in the security column when you apply the policy to the HR.LOCATIONS table. It has nothing to do with the sensitivity of the label; it is only used to identify the labels for the policy.
Step 6: Create the ACCESS_LOCATIONS Policy User Authorizations
Next, you are ready to create user authorizations for the policy.
To create user authorizations for the policy:
Return to the Label Security policies page by selecting the Label Security Policies link.
Select the selection button for the ACCESS_LOCATIONS policy.
In the Actions list, select Authorization, and then click Go.
The Authorization page appears.
Click Add Users.
The Add User: Users page appears.
Under Database Users, click Add.
The Search and Select: Userpage appears. Enter SKING, and then click Go.
Typically, a database user account already has been created in the database, for example, by using the CREATE USER SQL statement.
The other option is Non Database Users. Most application users are considered nondatabase users. A nondatabase user does not exist in the database. This can be any user name that meets the Oracle Label Security naming standards and can fit into the VARCHAR2(30) length field. However, be aware that Oracle Database does not automatically configure the associated security information for the nondatabase user when the application connects to the database. In this case, the application must call an Oracle Label Security function to assume the label authorizations of the specified user who is not a database user.
Select the check box for user SKING, and then click Select.
Select the check box for user SKING and then click Next.
(You may need to refresh the page to display user SKING's check box.)
In the Labels, Compartments and Groups page, enter the following settings:
Maximum Level: SENS (for SENSITIVE)
Minimum Level: CONF (for CONFIDENTIAL)
Default Level: SENS
Row Level: SENS
Click Next to go to the Privileges page.
In the Privileges page, select Next to move to the Audit page.
Oracle Label Security enforces the policy through the label authorizations. The Privileges page enables the user to override the policy label authorization, so do not select any of its options.
In the Audit pane of the Add Users: Audit page, ensure that all of the audit operations are set to None, and then click Next.
Ensure that the settings are correct, and then click Finish.
The Review page lists all the authorization settings you have selected.
Repeat Step 4 through Step 12 to create the following authorizations for user KPARTNER, so that she can read confidential and public data in HR.LOCATIONS.
Labels, Compartments And Groups: Set all four levels to the following:
Maximum Level: CONF (for CONFIDENTIAL)
Minimum Level: PUB (for PUBLIC)
Default Level: CONF
Row Level: CONF
Privileges: Select no privileges.
Audit: Set all to None.
Create the following authorizations for user LDORAN, who is only allowed to read public data from HR.LOCATIONS:
Labels, Compartments And Groups: Set all four levels to PUB.
Privileges: Select no privileges.
Audit: Set all to None.
Step 7: Apply the ACCESS_LOCATIONS Policy to the HR.LOCATIONS Table
Next, you are ready to apply the policy to the HR.LOCATIONS table.
To apply the ACCESS_LOCATIONS policy to the HR.LOCATIONS table:
Return to the Label Security policies page by selecting the Label Security Policies link.
Select the selection button for the ACCESS_LOCATIONS policy.
In the Actions list, select Apply, and then click Go.
The Apply page appears.
Click Create.
The Add Table page appears.
In the Table field, enter HR.LOCATIONS.
Ensure that the Hide Policy Column box is not selected.
Ensure that the Enabled box is selected.
Under Policy Enforcement Options, select Use Default Policy Enforcement.
The default policy enforcement options for ACCESS_LOCATIONS are:
For all queries (READ_CONTROL)
Use session's default label for label column update (LABEL_DEFAULT)
Click OK.
The ACCESS_LOCATIONS policy is applied to the HR.LOCATIONS table.
Step 8: Add the ACCESS_LOCATIONS Labels to the HR.LOCATIONS Data
After you have applied the ACCESS_LOCATIONS policy to the HR.LOCATIONS table, you must apply the labels of the policy to the OLS_COLUMN in LOCATIONS. For the user HR (the owner of that table) to accomplish this, the user must have FULL access to locations before being able to add the data labels to the hidden OLS_COLUMN column in LOCATIONS.
The user HR now can update the OLS_COLUMN column in the HR.LOCATIONS table to include data labels that will be assigned to specific rows in the table, based on the cities listed in the CITY column.
To update the OLS_COLUMN table in HR.LOCATIONS:
In SQL*Plus, connect as user HR.
CONNECT HR
Enter password: password
If you cannot log in as HR because this account locked and expired, log in as SYSTEM and then enter the following statement. Replace password with an appropriate password for the HR account. For greater security, do not reuse the same password that was used in previous releases of Oracle Database. See "Requirements for Creating Passwords".
ALTER USER HR ACCOUNT UNLOCK IDENTIFIED BY password
After you complete this ALTER USER statement, try logging in as user HR again.
Enter the following UPDATE statement to apply the SENS label to the cities Beijing, Tokyo, and Singapore:
UPDATE LOCATIONS
SET ols_column = CHAR_TO_LABEL('ACCESS_LOCATIONS','SENS')
WHERE UPPER(city) IN ('BEIJING', 'TOKYO', 'SINGAPORE');
Enter the following UPDATE statement to apply the CONF label to the cities Munich, Oxford, and Roma:
UPDATE LOCATIONS
SET ols_column = CHAR_TO_LABEL('ACCESS_LOCATIONS','CONF')
WHERE UPPER(city) IN ('MUNICH', 'OXFORD', 'ROMA');
Enter the following UPDATE statement to apply the PUB label to the remaining cities:
UPDATE LOCATIONS
SET ols_column = CHAR_TO_LABEL('ACCESS_LOCATIONS','PUB')
WHERE ols_column IS NULL;
To check that the columns were updated, enter the following statement:
Using the label column name (OLS_COLUMN) explicitly in the preceding query enables you to see the label column, even if it was hidden.
If the label column is hidden, and you do not specify the label column name explicitly, then the label column is not displayed in the query results. For example, using the SELECT * FROM LOCATIONS query does not show the label column if it is hidden. This feature enables the label column to remain transparent to applications. An application that was designed before the label column was added does not know about the label column and will never see it.
Step 9: Test the ACCESS_LOCATIONS Policy
The ACCESS_LOCATIONS policy is complete and ready to be tested. You can test it by logging in to SQL*Plus as each of the three users and performing a SELECT on the HR.LOCATIONS table.
To test the ACCESS_LOCATIONS policy:
In SQL*Plus, connect as user sking.
CONNECT sking
Enter password: password
Enter the following:
The following commands format the width of the table columns so that you can read them easier. You only need to perform this step once for the entire session (including when kpartner and ldoran log in.)
COL city HEADING City FORMAT a25
COL country_id HEADING Country FORMAT a11
COL Label format a10
Now enter the SELECT statement as follows:
SELECT city, country_id, LABEL_TO_CHAR (OLS_COLUMN)
AS Label FROM hr.locations ORDER BY ols_column;
User sking is able to access all 23 rows of the HR.LOCATIONS table. Even though he is only authorized to access rows that are labeled CONF and SENS, he can still read (but not write to) rows labeled PUB.
City Country LABEL
------------------------- ----------- ----------
Venice IT PUB
Utrecht NL PUB
Bern CH PUB
Geneva CH PUB
Sao Paulo BR PUB
Stretford UK PUB
Mexico City MX PUB
Hiroshima JP PUB
Southlake US PUB
South San Francisco US PUB
South Brunswick US PUB
Seattle US PUB
Toronto CA PUB
Whitehorse CA PUB
Bombay IN PUB
Sydney AU PUB
London UK PUB
Oxford UK CONF
Munich DE CONF
Roma IT CONF
Singapore SG SENS
Tokyo JP SENS
Beijing CN SENS
23 rows selected.
Repeat Steps 1 and 2 for users kpartner and ldoran.
User KPARTNER can access the rows labeled CONF and PUB:
City Country LABEL
------------------------- ----------- ----------
Venice IT PUB
Utrecht NL PUB
Bern CH PUB
Mexico City MX PUB
Hiroshima JP PUB
Southlake US PUB
South San Francisco US PUB
South Brunswick US PUB
Seattle US PUB
Toronto CA PUB
Whitehorse CA PUB
Bombay IN PUB
Sydney AU PUB
London UK PUB
Stretford UK PUB
Sao Paulo BR PUB
Geneva CH PUB
Oxford UK CONF
Munich DE CONF
Roma IT CONF
20 rows selected.
User LDORAN can access the rows labeled PUB:
City Country LABEL
------------------------- ----------- ----------
Venice IT PUB
Hiroshima JP PUB
Southlake US PUB
South San Francisco US PUB
South Brunswick US PUB
Seattle US PUB
Toronto CA PUB
Whitehorse CA PUB
Bombay IN PUB
Sydney AU PUB
London UK PUB
Stretford UK PUB
Sao Paulo BR PUB
Geneva CH PUB
Bern CH PUB
Utrecht NL PUB
Mexico City MX PUB
17 rows selected.
Exit SQL*Plus.
Step 10: Optionally, Remove the Components for This Tutorial
Remove the components that you created for this tutorial.
To remove the components for this tutorial:
In Database Control, connect as user SYSTEM.
Click Server to display the Server subpage.
In the Security section, click Users.
Select user kpartner, and then click Delete.
In the Confirmation page, click Yes.
Repeat Step 4 and Step 5 for users ldoran and sking.
Click the Database Instance link to return to the Database home page.
Click Server to display the Server subpage.
In the Security section, click Roles.
Select the role emp_role, and then click Delete.
In the Confirmation dialog box, click Yes.
Log out of Database Control, and then log back in as LABCSYS.
Click Server to display the Server subpage.
In the Security section, click Oracle Label Security.
In the Label Security Policies page, select the ACCESS_LOCATIONS policy and then click Delete. In the Confirmation page, select the Drop column check box and then click Yes.
Deleting the ACCESS_LOCATIONS policy also drops the OLS_COLUMN column from the HR.LOCATIONS table.
Controlling Administrator Access with Oracle Database Vault
Oracle Database Vault enables you to restrict administrative access to an Oracle database. This helps you address the most difficult security problems remaining today: protecting against insider threats, meeting regulatory compliance requirements, and enforcing separation of duty.
Typically, the main job of an Oracle database administrator is to perform tasks such database tuning, installing upgrades, monitoring the state of the database, and then remedying any problems that he or she finds. In a default Oracle Database installation, database administrators also have the ability to create users and access user data. For greater security, you should restrict these activities only to those users who must perform them. This is called separation of duty, and it frees the database administrator to focus on tasks ideally suited to his or her expertise, such as performance tuning.
By restricting administrator access to your Oracle databases, Oracle Database Vault helps you to follow common regulatory compliance requirements, such as the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS) requirements, Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act, European Union (EU) Privacy Directive, and Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). These regulations require strong internal controls on access, disclosure or modification of sensitive information that could lead to fraud, identity theft, financial irregularities and financial penalties.
Oracle Database Vault provides the following ways for you to restrict administrator access to an Oracle database:
Group database schemas, objects, and roles that you want to secure. This grouping is called a realm, and all the components of the realm are protected. After you, the Database Vault administrator, create a realm, you designate a user to manage access to the realm. For example, you can create a realm around one table within a schema, or around the entire schema itself.
Create PL/SQL expressions to customize your database restrictions. You create an expression in a rule, and for multiple rules within one category, you can group the rules into a rule set. To enforce the rules within the rule set, you then associate the rule set with a realm or command rule. For example, if you wanted to prevent access to a database during a maintenance period (for example, from 10 to 12 p.m.), you can create a rule to restrict access only during those hours.
Designate specific PL/SQL statements that are accessible or not accessible to users. These are called command rules. A command rule contains a command to be protected and a rule set that determines whether the execution of the command is permitted. You can create a command rule to protect SELECT, ALTER SYSTEM, database definition language (DDL), and data manipulation language (DML) statements that affect one or more database objects. You can associate a rule set to further customize the command rule.
Define attributes to record data such as session users or IP addresses that Oracle Database Vault can recognize and secure. These attributes are called factors. You can use factors for activities such as authorizing database accounts to connect to the database or creating filtering logic to restrict the visibility and manageability of data. To further customize the factor, you can associate a rule set with it.
Design secure application roles that are enabled only by Oracle Database Vault rules. After you create the secure application role in Oracle Database Vault, you associate a rule set with it. The rule set defines when and how the secure application role is enabled or disabled.
You can create these components by using either Oracle Database Vault Administrator, or by using its PL/SQL packages.
Tutorial: Controlling Administrator Access to the OE Schema
The OE schema has several tables that contain confidential data, such as the credit limits allowed for customers and other information. Order Entry tables typically contain sensitive information, such as credit card or Social Security numbers. This type of information must be restricted only to individuals whose job requires access to this information, according to Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standards (DSS).
In this tutorial, you create a realm around the OE schema, which will protect it from administrator access. However, user SCOTT needs access to the OE.CUSTOMERS table, so you must ensure that he can continue to access this data.
Oracle Database Vault is installed when you perform a default installation of Oracle Database. After you install it, you must register Oracle Database Vault with Oracle Database and then enable the Oracle Database Vault Account Manager user account.
You can check if Oracle Database Vault is enabled by logging in to SQL*Plus and entering the following SELECT statement. The PARAMETER column is case sensitive, so use the case shown here.
SELECT * FROM V$OPTION WHERE PARAMETER = 'Oracle Database Vault';
Registering Oracle Database Vault with Oracle Database
In the registration process, Oracle Database Vault is enabled and you are prompted to create its administrative accounts.
To register Oracle Database Vault:
Stop the database, Database Control console process, and listener.
UNIX: Log in to SQL*Plus as user SYS with the SYSOPER privilege and shut down the database. Then from the command line, stop the Database Control console process and listener.
For example:
sqlplus sys as sysoper
Enter password: password
SQL> SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE
SQL> EXIT
$ emctl stop dbconsole
$ lsnrctl stop [listener_name]
For Oracle RAC installations, shut down each database instance as follows:
$ srvctl stop database -d db_name
Windows: Stop the database, Database Control console process, and listener from the Services tool in the Control Panel. The names of Oracle Database services begin with Oracle.
Enable Oracle Database Vault as follows:
UNIX: Run the following commands. The make command enables both Oracle Database Vault (dv_on) and Oracle Label Security (lbac_on). You must enable Oracle Label Security before you can use Database Vault.
$ cd $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/lib
$ make -f ins_rdbms.mk dv_on lbac_on ioracle
Windows: In the ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\bin directory, rename the oradvll.dll.dbl file to oradvll.dll. If Oracle Label Security has not been enabled, then change the name of the oralbacll.dll.dbl file to oralbacll.dll. You must enable Oracle Label Security before you can use Database Vault.
Restart the database and listener. (Do not restart the Database Control console process yet.)
UNIX: Log in to SQL*Plus as user SYS with the SYSOPER privilege and restart the database. Then from the command line, restart the listener.
For example:
sqlplus sys as sysoper
Enter password: password
SQL> STARTUP
SQL> EXIT
$ lsnrctl start [listener_name]
For Oracle RAC installations, restart each database instance as follows:
$ srvctl start database -d db_name
Windows: Restart the database and listener from the Services tool in the Control Panel. The names of Oracle Database services begin with Oracle.
Start Database Configuration Assistant.
UNIX: Enter the following command at a terminal window:
dbca
Typically, dbca is in the $ORACLE_HOME/bin directory.
Windows: From the Start menu, click All Programs. Then, click Oracle -ORACLE_HOME, Configuration and Migration Tools, and then Database Configuration Assistant.
Alternatively, you can start Database Configuration Assistant at a command prompt:
dbca
As with UNIX, typically, dbca is in the ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\bin directory.
In the Welcome page, click Next.
The Operations page appears.
Select Configure Database Options, and then click Next.
The Database page appears.
From the list, select the database where you installed Oracle Database and then enter the name and password of a user who has been granted the DBA role. Click Next.
The Database Content page appears.
Perform one of the following actions:
If Oracle Label Security is already enabled: Select the Oracle Database Vault option, and then click Next.
If Oracle Label Security is not enabled: Select the Oracle Label Security option so that the Oracle Database Vault option becomes available for selection. Select the Oracle Database Vault option as well, and then click Next.
The Oracle Database Vault Credentials page appears.
Specify the name and password for the Database Vault Owner account (for example, DBVOWNER) and the Database Vault Account Manager (for example, DBVACCTMGR).
Enter any password that is secure, according to the password guidelines described in "Requirements for Creating Passwords". Oracle Database Vault has additional password requirements, which are displayed if you try to create an incorrect password.
Click Next.
The Connection Mode page appears.
Select either Dedicated Server Mode or Shared Server Mode (depending on the selection you made when you created this database), click Finish, and then click OK in the confirmation prompts.
Database Configuration Assistant registers Oracle Database Vault, and then restarts the database instance.
Exit Database Configuration Assistant.
Restart the Database Control console process.
UNIX: Run the following command:
$ emctl start dbconsole
Windows: Restart the Database Control console process (for example, OracleDBConsoleorcl if the database is named orcl) from the Services tool in the Control Panel.
Enabling Database Access Control for the Database Vault Account Manager Account
The Database Vault Account Manager account must have additional privileges to use Database Control.
To grant the necessary privileges to the Database Vault Account Manager account:
Log in to Database Control as the user SYS.
In the Login page, enter SYS and the password assigned to SYS. Set Connect As to SYSDBA. Select Login to log in. See Oracle Database 2 Day DBA for instructions about how to start Database Control.
Click Server to display the Server subpage.
Under Security, select Users.
The Users page appears.
Select the Database Vault Account Manager account (for example, DBVACCTMGR).
To quickly find DBVACCTMGR, enter DBV in the Object Name field, and then click Go.
Select the DBVACCTMGR user, and in the View User page, click Edit.
The Edit User page appears.
Click Roles to display the Edit User: DBVACCTMGR page.
Click Edit List.
The Modify Roles page appears.
In the Available Roles list, select the SELECT_CATALOG_ROLE role and then then click Move to move it to the Selected Roles list. Then click OK to return to the Edit User page.
Click System Privileges.
Click Edit List.
The Modify System Privileges page appears.
In the Available System Privileges list, select SELECT ANY DICTIONARY, and then click Move to move it to the Selected System Privileges list. Then click OK.
Click Apply.
Step 2: Grant the SELECT Privilege on the OE.CUSTOMERS Table to User SCOTT
To test the tutorial later on, user SCOTT must select from the OE.CUSTOMERS table. First, you should ensure that he SCOTT account is active.
To enable user SCOTT:
In Database Control, connect as the Oracle Database Vault Account Manager account with the Normal privilege.
After you install Oracle Database Vault, you no longer can use the administrative accounts (such as SYS and SYSTEM) to create or enable user accounts. This is because right out of the box, Oracle Database Vault provides separation-of-duty principles to administrative accounts. From now on, to manage user accounts, you must use the Oracle Database Vault Account Manager account.
However, administrative users still have the privileges they do need. For example, user SYS, who owns system privileges and many PL/SQL packages, can still grant privileges on these to other users. However, user SYS can no longer create, modify, or drop user accounts.
Click Server to display the Server subpage.
Under Security, select Users.
The Users page appears.
Select the SCOTT user, and in the View User page, click Edit.
The Edit User page appears.
Enter the following settings:
Enter Password and Confirm Password: If the SCOTT account password status is expired, then enter a new password. Enter any password that is secure, according to the password guidelines described in "Requirements for Creating Passwords".
Status: Click Unlocked.
Click Apply.
Click Logout.
To grant user SCOTT the SELECT privilege on the OE.CUSTOMERS table:
Log in to SQL*Plus as user OE.
sqlplus oe
Enter password: password
Connected.
Grant user SCOTT the SELECT privilege on the OE.CUSTOMERS table.
SQL> GRANT SELECT ON CUSTOMERS TO SCOTT;
Step 3: Select from the OE.CUSTOMERS Table as Users SYS and SCOTT
At this stage, both users SYS and SCOTT can select from the OE.CUSTOMERS table, because SYS has administrative privileges and because SCOTT has an explicit SELECT privilege granted by user OE.
To select from OE.CUSTOMERS as users SYS and SCOTT:
In SQL*Plus, connect as user SYS using the SYSDBA privilege
sqlplus sys as sysdba
Enter password: password
Select from the OE.CUSTOMERS table as follows:
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM OE.CUSTOMERS;
The following output should appear
COUNT(*)
--------
319
Connect as user SCOTT, and then perform the same SELECT statement.
CONNECT SCOTT
Enter password: password
Connected.
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM OE.CUSTOMERS;
The following output should appear:
COUNT(*)
--------
319
Step 4: Create a Realm to Protect the OE.CUSTOMERS Table
To restrict the OE.CUSTOMER table from administrative access, you will create a realm around the OE schema.
To create a realm around the OE schema:
Start Oracle Database Vault Administrator.
In a browser, enter the following URL:
https://host_name:port/dva
Replace host_name with the name of the server on which you installed Oracle Database Vault, and port with the Oracle Enterprise Manager Console HTTPS port number. In most cases, the name of the server and port number are the same as those used by Database Control.
Select the OE Protections realm and then click Edit.
The Edit Realm page appears.
Under Realm Secured Objects, click Create.
The Create Realm Secured Object page appears.
From the Object Owner list, select OE.
From the Object Type list, select TABLE.
In the Object Name field, enter % to specify all tables within the OE schema, and then click OK.
The Edit Realm page appears.
Under Realm Authorizations, click Create.
The Create Realm Authorization page appears.
From the Grantee list, select OE [USER], and then set the Authorization Type to Owner. Then set Authorization Rule Set to <Non Selected>.
This authorizes the OE user to manage access to the objects within the OE schema. As an Owner, the OE user can grant or revoke realm-secured database roles, and access, manipulate, and create objects protected by the OE Protections realm.
The Authorization Rule Set list enables to you select a rule that further controls access, such as the time the realm is in effect, and so on.
Click OK to return to the Edit Realm page, and then click OK again to return to the Realms page.
Do not exit Oracle Database Vault Administrator.
Step 5: Test the OE Protections Realm
Now that you have created a realm to protect the OE schema, you are ready to test it. You do not need to restart the database session, because any protections you define in Oracle Database Vault take effect right away.
To test the OE Protections realm:
Connect to SQL*Plus as user SYS using the SYSDBA privilege.
CONNECT SYS/AS SYSDBA
Enter password: password
Connected.
Try selecting from the OE.CUSTOMERS table.
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM OE.CUSTOMERS;
The following output should appear:
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01031: insufficient privileges
The OE Protections realm prevents the administrative user from accessing the OE.CUSTOMERS table. Because you defined the OE Protections realm to protect the entire schema, the administrative user does not have access to any of the other tables in OE, either.
Connect as user SCOTT.
CONNECT SCOTT
Enter password: password
Connected.
Try selecting from the OE.CUSTOMERS table.
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM OE.CUSTOMERS;
The following output should appear:
COUNT(*)
----------
319
The OE Protections realm does not apply to user SCOTT because user OE has explicitly granted this user the SELECT privilege on the OE.CUSTOMERS table. Oracle Database Vault sets up the protections you need, but does not override the explicit privileges you have defined. SCOTT still can query this table.
Step 6: Optionally, Remove the Components for This Tutorial
After completing this tutorial, you can remove the data structures that you used if you no longer need them.
To revoke the SELECT privilege on OE.CUSTOMERS from user SCOTT:
In SQL*Plus, connect as user OE.
CONNECT OE
Enter password: password
Connected.
Revoke the SELECT privilege from user SCOTT.
REVOKE SELECT ON CUSTOMERS FROM SCOTT;
To drop the OE Protections realm:
If you have logged out of Oracle Database Vault Administrator, log back in as the Database Vault Owner account that you created when you installed Oracle Database Vault (for example, DBVOWNER).
