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Conference ulysse::rdb_vms_competition

Title:	DEC Rdb against the World

Moderator:	HERON::GODFRIND

Created:	Fri Jun 12 1987
Last Modified:	Thu Feb 23 1995
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	1348
Total number of notes:	5438

1006.0. "Any ORACLE Architecture experts out there?" by 8596::BERENSON (Lex mala, lex nulla) Wed Oct 16 1991 00:23

My understanding of ORACLE is that the user process directly reads from
the database and reads/writes into the SGA.  Does the ORACLE code in the
user process run in Exec mode?  If not, how do they prevent a user
process from bypassing their security and reading anything in the SGA?
Or, for that matter, writing whatever they want into the SGA.  Or, into
the database system itself?

Do they have a major security hole here?

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
1006.1	try oracle ??	DATABS::DATABS::NEEDLEMAN	today nas/is, tomorrow...	`Wed Oct 16 1991 19:20`	3
	you should also ask in the BELFST::ORACLE_ON_UNIX conference. Barry
1006.2	Need VMS answer	COOKIE::BERENSON	Lex mala, lex nulla	`Wed Oct 16 1991 21:01`	2
	Well, I need the answer vis a vi VMS. Although perhaps there is an ORACLE on VMS expert in that conference as well.
1006.3	Supervisor mode	TAV02::ROTENBERG	Haim ROTENBERG - Israel Soft. Support	`Thu Oct 17 1991 11:22`	4
	I am not an expert on Oracle but they are running in supervisor mode. Hope this help. Haim
1006.4	Supervisor Mode	PRSSOS::LECORE	Guy, Database Country Support France	`Thu Oct 17 1991 16:05`	8
	If I remember rightly (but I'm sure no Oracle Expert), Oracle on VMS runs in supervisor mode, so their datastructures are probably protected in S mode too (otherwise I can't see the point) - the usual remark from DEC system specialists doing audits/tuning on Oracle sites is "why are you using DCL so much"... (when you see 90% supervisor CPU mode). - Or maybe Oracle was written in DCl - that's why it runs so fast ! Guy
1006.5	Only the DBWR writes to disk	KCBBQ::DUNCAN	Gerry Duncan @KCO 452-3445	`Sun Oct 20 1991 03:35`	3
	re: .0 - in Oracle V6, the DBWR (database writer) writes the SGA pages to the database. The user process only reads from the database.
1006.6	Can a user get around their security?	COOKIE::BERENSON	Lex mala, lex nulla	`Tue Oct 29 1991 18:40`	7
	But the user process reads the page and places it in the SGA, right? What I want to know is quite simply: Could a malicous user get around some or all of ORACLE's security by gaining access to the SGA from their own code? If not, I'd like to understand their firewall mechanism. Hal