CREATE ANY DIRECTORY to SYSDBA

[paul.wright () oracleforensics com]

I have found a serious privilege escalation in the Oracle DB that raises a lower privileged user with CREATE ANY 
DIRECTORY to that of SYSDBA by directly overwriting the hidden binary password file with a known binary password file 
via UTL_DIR. Full discussion of how to defend and respond to this are included and YES Oracle have been forewarned.
All Oracle DB folks should read this ASAP.
http://www.oracleforensics.com/wordpress/index.php/2008/10/10/create-any-directory-to-sysdba/