Release Notes contain important information about Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall Release 20.

1.1 New Features In Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall Release 20

Learn about new features and enhancements in Oracle AVDF 20.

New features in Oracle AVDF Release 20.11

Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall (AVDF) continues to expand support for enterprise-class features along with significant improvements in usability and operations.

Here is what’s new in the latest AVDF Release Update 11 (20.11):

Extended Enterprise Support:
  1. Integration with identity provider for single sign-on: Many of you implement single sign-on (SSO) using an enterprise identity service for your applications to minimize account proliferation and authentication mechanisms. Now, with AVDF 20.11, you can integrate with identity providers (IdP) such as Azure, Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS), and Oracle Access Manager (OAM) through SAML 2.0 integration. After integrating AVDF with your IdP, AVDF console users can be authenticated by your IdP using SSO.
  2. QuickCSV audit collector: In addition to the existing support to collect audit data from the database, network-based SQL traffic, OS, directory, Rest, JSON, XML, and custom tables, AVDF 20.11 can now collect audit logs in CSV format. We have seen that comma-separated value (CSV) is one of the most popular audit log formats used in applications, databases, and infrastructure components. With the new QuickCSV Collector in AVDF 20.11, you can easily import CSV audit files and map them to the AVDF audit schema as a one-time task. Once mapping is complete, audit data will be collected periodically from the CSV audit files like any other supported targets.

    For example, you may use the QuickCSV collector to collect audit data from MariaDB, EnterpriseDB (Postgres), and other systems that create audit data in CSV. This approach helps you generate audit reports and alerts and protect and manage audit logs within the AVDF repository.

  3. Expanding support for tracking before/after values: AVDF currently collects before/after values from Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server databases and helps customers meet compliance requirements where they need to track the value change. AVDF 20.11 now extends the same before/after value change auditing support for MySQL, helping customers meet their compliance requirements for MySQL database also.
Usability:
  1. Revamped alert UI workflow: AVDF’s alert policy creation is completely revamped in AVDF 20.11, providing an intuitive and user-friendly experience. New alert policies can be created with
    • the interactive report filters to define complex conditions
    • pre-defined templates
    • by modifying existing policies with new conditions

    You can have a quick view of all the alerts generated on the alert policy page without going away from the alert definition, improving the overall user experience of alert usability.

    In addition, we made it much easier to notify the recipients of any alerts raised. Now, your auditor dashboard provides multiple actionable insights on the generated alerts.

  2. Fleet-wide security assessment drift chart: In AVDF 20.9 and 20.10, we introduced fleet-wide security assessment and drift management, respectively. AVDF 20.11 now allows you to quickly see how the security posture of all your Oracle databases is changing by introducing the security assessment drift chart. The chart on the auditor’s dashboard compares the latest assessment with the defined baseline for all databases and quickly identifies any drift requiring attention.
  3. Finely scoped database firewall policies and reports Until now, Database Firewall (DBFW) policies and reports were based on command groups such as DML, DDL, and DCL, and customers could not easily create policies on just a specific command. With AVDF 20.11, the command class has been expanded to commands such as DELETE, INSERT, UPDATE, DROP TABLE, etc. This enhancement helps you define narrow alert conditions and create unified reports – irrespective of whether the event data was from the audit logs or network-based SQL.
  4. Use of global sets in all activity and GDPR reports: Until now, global sets of IP addresses, OS/DB users, sensitive objects, privileged users, and client programs have been used across Database Firewall policies, making it easier to apply the same rules. Starting in AVDF 20.11, you can now apply the same global set to filter all activity reports, including the compliance reports. For example, in GDPR compliance reports, you can use sensitive object sets to view user activity on sensitive data.
Operational Management:
  1. Audit trail migration: Customers have requested easy ways to migrate their audit trails to different agents due to aging agent hardware or the need for improved load balancing across agents. AVDF 20.11 provides flexibility to migrate the audit trail from one agent to another or agentless configuration and vice versa without losing any audit data and restarting the agent/trail.
  2. AVDF certificate rotation from UI: AVDF uses certificates for internal communication among various services. The current process was lengthy and only partially automated. Now, with 20.11, you can have a clear picture of the certificate validity status from the AVDF console, and you can rotate these certificates with a single click when needed.
Platform Updates and Improved Stability:
  1. Security and stability fixes from Oracle Database Release Update 19.22 (Jan 2024) for the underlying AVDF repository.
  2. Security and stability fixes for the embedded Oracle Linux 8.8 operating system.
  3. Includes the latest security and stability fixes for the underlying Oracle and non-Oracle components, including APEX, JRE, Oracle Clusterware, Oracle Instant Client, ORDS, etc.
  4. Fixed several internally discovered and customer-reported issues.

New features in Oracle AVDF Release 20.10

Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall (AVDF) Release Update 10 (RU10) focuses on usability improvements. We’ve also used this release to deliver several customer-requested enhancements. Here is what’s new in RU10.

Usability:
  1. Managing configuration drift with Database Security Posture Management: RU10 extends Database Security Posture Management (introduced in AVDF 20.9) to identify security configuration drift. Now you can define an assessment baseline and determine deviation from that baseline by viewing security assessment drift reports. Insights from the drift reports help you focus only on the changes since the last assessment.
  2. Tracking changes to business records: AVDF could already track before and after values for Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server Databases. Now with AVDF 20.10, the primary value for each row change is available to track business records and values such as the user, event time, and event status. This will help you sort and filter before and after value reports with the associated primary key(s).
  3. Audit insights: Audit Insight feature provides a bird’s-eye view of the top user activities across one or multiple databases with the option to drill down for further analysis. The audit insights dashboard now provides insights into both audit and network events. Additionally, in RU10, the summarized view of all events lets you drill down for more information.
  4. Remote and agentless audit collection for Microsoft SQL Server: In addition to Oracle Database, you can now collect audit data from Microsoft SQL Server in an agentless mode or a remote host without installing any agent on target machines. Agentless audit collection accelerates your AVDF deployment. For Microsoft SQL Server, this capability is available for directory audit trails for SQL audit (.sqlaudit) and extended audit events (.xel).
  5. Pre-upgrade agent checks: When updating from AVDF 20.9 to 20.10 or later, you can now run a pre-update check for Audit Vault Agent and Host Monitor to check issues that might cause problems with the update. For example, a pre-update agent check will verify that agent host machines have compatible operating systems and Java versions.
  6. Simplifying DBFW policy management with Global sets: AVDF RU9 introduced global sets of privileged user and sensitive objects across Oracle Database in database firewall (DBFW) policies. With AVDF 20.10, global sets can also include session context information, such as IP Address, OS User, Client Program, and Database User, simplifying DBFW policy management even further.
  7. Test connection during target creation: Now, you can test the database connection while registering Oracle Database and Microsoft SQL Server targets through the Audit Vault Server console. This helps you proactively address mistakes in the database connection information instead of carrying forward the misconfiguration at the audit trail collection level and then diagnosing issues later through the log files.
  8. System alert email notifications: RU9 introduced system alert capability; now, with RU10, administrators can receive email notifications for critical and high severity system alerts. For example, notifications are triggered if an audit trail goes down or becomes unreachable. AVDF 20.10 also introduces new alerts for Database Firewall certificate expiration, host monitoring, and audit collection.
Expanded Enterprise Support:
  1. Broaden audit log collection support for the following platforms.
    • Microsoft SQL Server 2022 Enterprise Edition and Standard Edition
    • PostgreSQL 14 and 15
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8 and 9 on IBM Z
  2. Transaction Log Collector using GoldenGate 21c for Oracle Database (19c) and Microsoft SQL Server ( 2017, 2019)
Platform Updates and Improved Stability:
  1. Security and stability fixes from Oracle Database Release Update 19.20 (July 2023) for the underlying AVDF repository.
  2. Security and stability fixes for the embedded Oracle Linux 8.8 operating system.
  3. Includes the latest security and stability fixes for the underlying Oracle and Non-Oracle components, including APEX, JRE, Oracle Clusterware, Oracle Instant Client, Oracle REST Data Services, and so on.
  4. Fixed several internally discovered and customer-reported issues.

New features in Oracle AVDF Release 20.9

Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall (AVDF) Release Update 9 (RU9) introduces many capabilities to help organizations advance their current security posture and increase their team's productivity. Here are some of the highlights:

  • Security Assessment: AVDF 20.9 introduces a centralized security assessment solution for enterprises by integrating the popular Database Security Assessment Tool (DBSAT) for Oracle Databases. The full-featured assessment with compliance mappings and recommendations will help organizations clearly understand their security posture for all their Oracle databases in one central place.
  • Discover sensitive objects and privileged users: AVDF 20.9 now helps customers discover sensitive data and privileged users in the Oracle database. Customers can also create Database Firewall global sets with the discovered privileged users and sensitive objects, and use them to create database firewall policy in just three steps.
  • Audit Insights: Customers can now get immediate insight into the top user activities across one or multiple databases. This feature offers a bird's-eye view with summary sections featuring counts and distribution charts and the option to drill down for further analysis with interactive reports.
  • Before/After reporting for Microsoft SQL Server: The Before/After report for the Microsoft SQL server is a valuable addition to the already available before/after report for the Oracle database, helping organizations improve their compliance posture.
  • Agentless Audit Collection: Customers can now accelerate the deployment of AVDF with the agentless audit collection service for Oracle databases. With this feature, there's no need for agent installation or upgrades on target Oracle databases, making deployment quick and effortless. The agentless audit collection service helps small or remote deployments and proof of concepts where time and resources are limited.
  • System Alerts: Administrators can now be alerted on the status of critical AVDF changes, such as high availability configuration, storage availability, certificate expiration, and password expiration.
  • Out-of-Place Upgrade: Increase system availability during updates and upgrades with minimal downtime, typically in minutes.
  • Data Retention: Administrators can streamline data retention with a simplified lifecycle management process and a target-focused view. The new feature provides single-click operations, such as release, retrieve, and move to remote, for both online and archived data.
  • Upgraded Platform: The operating system for the Oracle Audit Vault Server and Database Firewall Server has been updated to Oracle Linux 8, delivering enhanced security and stability to the embedded platform.

With the Security Assessment for enterprises and the discovery of sensitive data and privileged user capabilities, AVDF 20.9 is the most important release yet. It provides a comprehensive solution that covers all aspects of database security and helps organizations stay ahead of the ever-evolving security landscape.

Like every Release Update, AVDF 20.9 includes critical functional and security fixes. We strongly recommend that you apply the AVDF 20.9 release update to enhance the usability, stability, and security of your Oracle AVDF deployment.

New features in Oracle AVDF Release 20.8

The primary focus of Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall (AVDF) release 20.8 is quality and usability improvements, along with fixes for several customer-reported issues. We think this is the most important update to AVDF 20 since its initial release in September 2020.

Oracle AVDF Release 20.8 introduces many new features and enhancements, some of which are listed below.

Ease of Use: To improve the user experience, we have revised many pages of the AVDF console. Key highlights include:
  • Improved user experience with a more logical flow of the multistage Database Firewall policy
  • Consistent look-and-feel and column ordering across all reports
  • Simplified AD/LDAP configuration page
  • Included hints to simplify the flow of the activity and renamed several labels to provide more contextual meaning
Improved Security:
  • Introducing a read-only auditor role. This role improves the separation of duty between those who can configure and modify audit policies and those who merely need to analyze and report on audit data. Read-only Auditor Role
  • Users can block SQL traffic for undefined database service names in the Database Firewall. Block Traffic for Undefined Service Names
  • Fixes for several internally discovered and customer-reported issues
  • Customers can now rotate certificates for Audit Vault Server, Audit Vault Agents, and Database Firewalls
Expanded Enterprise Support:
Operational Enhancements:
Platform Updates:
  • VMWare VSphere 7.0 can now be used to install and run Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall
  • Audit Vault agents can now be installed on a host machine with JRE 17. For the AIX platform, we also support JRE 11. See Audit Vault agent: Supported and Tested Java Runtime Environment for complete information.
  • Includes security and stability fixes from Oracle Database Release Update 19.16 (July 2022) for the underlying Oracle AVDF repository.
  • Includes security and stability fixes for the embedded Oracle Linux 7.9 operating system.
  • Includes the latest security and stability fixes for the underlying Oracle and Non-Oracle components, including APEX, JRE, Oracle Clusterware, Oracle Instant Client, etc.

We strongly recommend that you apply the AVDF 20.8 release update to enhance the usability, stability, and security of your Oracle AVDF deployment.

New features in Oracle AVDF Release 20.7

New features in Oracle AVDF Release 20.6

New features in Oracle AVDF Release 20.5

New features in Oracle AVDF Release 20.4

  • Introducing capability to enable FIPS 140-2 for Audit Vault Server and Database Firewall. See Enabling FIPS 140-2 in Oracle AVDF for more information.
  • Support for audit collection and network monitoring (using Database Firewall) of Oracle Database 21.
  • Support for audit collection from Autonomous Data Warehouse (Dedicated) and Autonomous Transaction Processing (Dedicated).
  • 2X audit collection rate. See Registering Targets for more information.
  • Introducing support for audit collection from Oracle Linux and RHEL versions 7.9; 8.2; and 8.3.
  • Enable conditional auditing for Unified Audit policies. See Custom and Oracle Predefined Unified Policies for more information.
  • Support for profiles in Database Object rule in Firewall policy. See Creating and Managing Profiles and Database Object Rule for more information.
  • CSV format support for audit collection. See CSV File Collection Plug-ins for more information.
  • MongoDB 4.4 support for audit collection.
  • Additional user management capability through AVCLI. See AVCLI User Commands for more information.

New features in Oracle AVDF Release 20.3

New Features in Oracle AVDF Release 20.2

  • Audit Vault Agent can be associated with more than one IP address for Audit Vault Server communication. See section Deploying and Activating the Audit Vault Agent on Host Computers for complete information.
  • Supporting audit collection, Audit Vault Agent deployment, and Host Monitor deployment on Microsoft Windows Server (x86-64) version 2019.
  • Supporting audit records collection from DB2 instance level audit.

New Features in Oracle AVDF Release 20.1

Expanded Audit Collection

Simplified Database Firewall

Enhanced User Interface

  • A new redesigned user interface with simplified navigation for common workflows.
  • Rich dashboards for auditors and administrators.
  • Supports provisioning of recommended Unified audit policies. See Provisioning Unified Audit Policies for complete information.
  • Unified console for Audit and Firewall management. Registering a target for audit collection and Database Firewall monitoring is simplified. See Registering Targets for complete details.

Improved Enterprise Support

1.2 About Oracle AVDF Installable Files

Oracle AVDF software is installed using the .iso files.

Oracle AVDF software contains the following installation files:

  • Audit Vault Server install:

  • Database Firewall install:

    Vpart_number.iso Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall 20.x.0.0.0 - Database Firewall

    Note:

    Verify the checksum value for both (the Audit Vault Server ISO file and the Database Firewall ISO file). In case of any error or mismatch in the checksum values, download the ISO files and validate the checksum values again.

  • Database Firewall utility:

    Vpart_number.zip Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall 20.x.0.0.0 - Utilities. This bundle contains the following files:

    • Npcap installer required for Host Monitoring on Windows: npcap-utility.zip
    • Database Firewall utilities to examine Native Network Encryption traffic for Oracle Database and to gather session information from other database types: dbfw-utility.zip
    • Utilities_README: Instructions for deploying Npcap and Database Firewall utilities patch.

  • Deprecated cipher utility bundle:

  • Vpart_number.pdf Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall 20.x.0.0.0 - Release Notes

Note:

The installation process wipes out existing operating system on the machine on which you install the Audit Vault Server or Database Firewall, and automatically installs the new operating system that comes along.

1.3 Oracle AVDF 12.2 Premier Support Alert

End of premier support for Oracle AVDF release 12.2.

Upgrade to Oracle AVDF 20 at the earliest as premier support for release 12.2 ends in March 2021 as specified in the Oracle Lifetime Support Policy Guide. Refer to Oracle AVDF 20 Upgrade Documentation for complete information.

Before you begin the upgrade, be aware of the following issues:

  • For upgrading to Oracle AVDF version 20, you must be on 12.2.0.9.0 or above.
  • In case you have to perform multiple upgrades to 20, then a single backup operation prior to the first upgrade is enough.

1.4 Product Compatibility Matrix

Types of targets (databases and operating systems) supported by Oracle AVDF 20.

See section Product Compatibility Matrix in the Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall Installation Guide for information on supported targets and deployment options for Audit Vault Server.

1.5 Downloading Oracle AVDF Documentation

Learn how to access documentation for Oracle AVDF.

1.6 Known Issues

Learn how to fix some known issues with Oracle AVDF.

This section lists current known issues with workarounds if available. Be sure to apply the latest bundle patch. New installations include the latest bundle patch.

In general, if you experience a problem using the Audit Vault Server console, try running the same command using the AVCLI command line utility.

Note:

For additional known issues in Oracle AVDF 20 refer to the MOS note (Doc ID 2688423.1) and the README for specific release.

1.6.1 Error When Starting Audit Vault Agent as a Service on Windows in Oracle AVDF 20.5

Learn how to manage an issue when starting Audit Vault Agent as a service on Windows.

Issue

Audit Vault Agents on Windows machine do not start as service. After installing or upgrading to Oracle AVDF release 20.5, this issue is observed on the Windows host machine.

The following error is observed when attempting to start Agent service on Windows:

The application was unable to start correctly

Workaround

Follow these steps:

  1. After installing or upgrading Oracle AVDF 20.5, apply the patch 33492214 on Audit Vault Server. Then, download and redeploy the Audit Vault Agents on Windows host machine.
  2. Install Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2017 package from Microsoft on the Windows target machine. Ensure vcruntime140.dll file is available in the C:\Windows\System32 directory.
  3. If the vcruntime140.dll file is not present, then add it to the <Agent Home>/bin and <Agent Home>/bin/mswin-x86-64 directories.
  4. Follow the complete requirements as mentioned in Audit Vault Agent Requirements.
  5. Download and redeploy all the Audit Vault Agents on the Windows host machine.

1.6.2 Audit Data Collection is Stalled in High Availability

Learn how to fix the issue with Agents going into UNREACHABLE state after configuring high availability.

Issue

Agents may go to UNREACHABLE state in a high availability environment after multiple pairing or unpairing operations. Few of the Audit Vault Agents may go to UNREACHABLE state if multiple high availability operations like pairing or unpairing are performed within a period of one hour. Agents may also go to UNREACHABLE state if the failover occurs within one hour of pairing or unpairing.

Workaround

Avoid performing pairing or unpairing operations more than once in a period of one hour. Redeploy those Agents that have gone to UNREACHABLE state.

1.6.3 Database Firewall is Unable to Decrypt Native Network Encrypted Traffic

Learn how to fix the issue when Database Firewall is unable to decrypt Native Network Encrypted traffic.

Issue

Database Firewall is unable to decrypt Native Network Encrypted traffic. The issue is observed when the Oracle Database server and the SQL client are patched with July 2021 or October 2021 Critical Patch Updates.

Symptom

The Database Firewall Reports and All Activity reports will have the string extracted_from_protocol encrypted in the Command Text column.

Refer to the table to understand Database Firewall capability to decrypt Native Network Encrypted traffic.

Oracle Database Target Patched with July 2021 or October 2021 CPU SQL Client Patched with July 2021 or October 2021 CPU Capability of Database Firewall to Decrypt Native Network Traffic

No

No

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Note:

Oracle Database and SQL clients with versions starting 11.1 to 19c with July 2021 or October 2021 CPU may be impacted.

Workaround

Apply the Oracle Database January 2022 DBRU patch. This issue is not observed after applying the patch on the database, in Oracle AVDF release 20.5 or later.

1.6.4 Database Firewall is Unable to Monitor Root Container Database Targets With Native Encryption Enabled

Learn about the inability of Database Firewall to monitor root container database targets with native encryption enabled.

Issue

Database Firewall does not support decryption of traffic using with native encryption for root container databases. Running ASO advance security integration script on root container database does not work. Set up Database Firewall ASO integration on every pluggable databases and configure the Database Firewall to monitor them.

Workaround

None.

1.6.5 Secondary Audit Vault Server Upgrade Failed Due to Database Mounting Error

Issue: Upgrading secondary Audit Vault Server fails with an error.

Log in as root user, and run the command: 

/opt/avdf/bin/privmigutl --status

Check if the following errors are present in the /var/log/debug file:

upgrade_start_asm_db.py: Could not mount the database

upgrade_start_asm_db.py: Mounting the database

Workaround: Follow these steps to resolve this error:

  1. Check the status of dbfwdb service by running the following command as oracle user: 

    /usr/local/dbfw/bin/dbfwdb status

  2. Switch user to root.

  3. Edit /etc/sysconfig/avdf and change SYSTEM_STATE to UPGRADE.

  4. If the status is ORACLE instance is running, then run this command as oracle user to stop the process: 

    /usr/local/dbfw/bin/dbfwdb stop

  5. Start the dbfwdb service by running the command as oracle user: 

    /usr/local/dbfw/bin/dbfwdb start

  6. Run the following command to check if it is running:

    /usr/local/dbfw/bin/dbfwdb status

  7. Ensure the status is running. Then edit /etc/sysconfig/avdf and change SYSTEM_STATE to RECOVERY as root user.

  8. Resume the remaining upgrade process by running the following command as root user: 

    /opt/avdf/bin/privmigutl --resume –confirm

Note:

In case you are running the above commands through SSH, then ensure the SSH session does not timeout. Start the SSH session with ServerAliveInterval option and set to a reasonable value. For example, 20 minutes.

1.6.6 Archived Files Copied from Primary Path in High Availability Environment

Issue: The archived files exist for both the primary and secondary Audit Vault Servers in a high availability environment. When configuring the archival locations before pairing, the following path is set.

Primary Audit Vault Server: /dir1

Secondary Audit Vault Server: /dir2

There is an issue where the archive files pertaining to the secondary Audit Vault Server are copied to the path /dir1 instead of /dir2. When such a path (/dir1) does not exist in the secondary Audit Vault Server, it is created when they are paired during high availability configuration.

Workaround: None. The archived files are present in the path /dir1 of the secondary Audit Vault Server.

1.6.7 Error While Running Pre-upgrade RPM

Issue: The following error is observed when running the pre-upgrade RPM on the secondary Audit Vault Server in a high availability environment:

Unable to stop observer

Workaround: Follow these steps to resolve this error:

  1. Uninstall the pre-upgrade RPM.
  2. Re-install the RPM.

1.6.8 GoldenGate Integrated Extract fails to Clone Existing LogMiner Session and Invalid XML Records are Generated

Issue: The following issues are observed while configuring Oracle GoldenGate Integrated Extract:

  • GoldenGate Integrated Extract does not wrap the text data inside CDATA tag.
  • GoldenGate Integrated Extract failed to clone existing LogMiner session when the dictionary log is not available for a specific SCN.

Workaround: After installing Oracle GoldenGate, contact Oracle Support to create a Merge Label Request for applying the patch (Bug 32175609 and Bug 32063871). This patch needs to be applied on Oracle GoldenGate installation.

1.6.9 Unable to Access Audit Vault Server Console After Upgrade

Issue: After upgrading to Oracle AVDF 20.1 or later, the Audit Vault Server console cannot be launched. This may be due to inactive httpd service. Upon observing the /var/log/httpd/error_log file contains the following error message pertaining to httpd service restart:

AH00060: seg fault or similar nasty error detected in the parent process

Workaround: If this error is observed, then log in as root user and run the following command: 

systemctl start httpd

1.6.10 Unsupported Character Sets in Oracle Database Directory Trails

Issue: Oracle Database related DIRECTORY and SYSLOG audit trails do not support some of the database character sets.

They are NE8ISO8859P10, JA16DBCS, KO16DBCS, CE8BS2000, CL8BS2000, CL8EBCDIC1158R, EE8BS2000, EL8EBCDIC423R, SE8EBCDIC1143, WE8BS2000, WE8BS2000E, and WE8BS2000L5.

There are 5 characters that are not supported in WE8DEC database character set.

Workaround: None.

1.6.11 DIRECTORY and SYSLOG Audit Trails Do Not Stop

Issue: For Oracle DIRECTORY and SYSLOG audit trails, when the system is unable to determine the character set to open the audit file, the audit trails do not stop.

Workaround: None.

1.6.12 Unable to Set Custom Ports in Audit Vault Server

Issue: Unable to set custom ports in Audit Vault Server.

Workaround: Attempt to set the custom port again using same steps.

1.6.13 Unable to Access the AVS Console After Changing the AVS Time Manually or using NTP Server

Issue: After changing the Audit Vault Server time manually or using NTP server, there may be a difference in few minutes. This may bring down the Automatic Storage Management and the database. This results in an error and the Audit Vault Server console is not accessible.

Workaround:

  1. Log in to Audit Vault Server as root user.

  2. Run the following commands:

    systemctl stop monitor
    systemctl stop javafwk
    systemctl stop dbfwdb

    Note:

    Check the exit status of the command by running the echo $? command. If the exit status is non-zero, then contact Oracle Support. If the exit status is zero, then only proceed with running the next commands.

  3. Run the remaining commands in a sequence and proceed only if the exit status is zero:

    systemctl stop asmdb
    systemctl start asmdb
    systemctl start dbfwdb
    systemctl start javafwk
    systemctl start monitor

1.6.14 Archive Location Is Not Accessible During Archiving Or Retrieving

Issue: The archive location is not accessible. This issue may be encountered during archiving or retrieving post upgrade or installation.

Workaround: This may be due to a "-" (dash or hyphen) in the export directory name for NFS archiving locations. Check for "-" (dash or hyphen) in the export directory name and delete that filesystem from the Audit Vault Server.

Note:

  • Oracle AVDF 20.1 and later supports archive and retrieve functionality with Network File System (NFS) server which support both versions v3 and v4.

  • Only NFS version v3 is not supported for releases 20.3 and prior. It is supported starting Oracle AVDF release 20.4.

  • If your NFS server supports and permits both v3 and v4 for archive or retrieve, then no action is required.

  • In case you have NFS v4 only in your environment for archive or retrieve, then set the _SHOWMOUNT_DISABLED parameter to TRUE using the following steps:

    1. Log in to the Audit Vault Server as root.
    2. Switch user to oracle: su - oracle
    3. Start SQL*Plus connection as sqlplus /nolog without the username or password.
    4. In SQL*Plus execute the command: connect <super administrator>
    5. Enter the password when prompted. Alternatively, execute the command: connect <super administrator/password>
    6. Execute the command: exec avsys.adm.add_config_param('_SHOWMOUNT_DISABLED','TRUE');

1.6.15 Unable To SSH Into Oracle Audit Vault And Database Firewall After Upgrade

Issue: SSH no longer connects after upgrade to Oracle Audit Vault And Database Firewall 12.2.0.11.0.

Workaround: Upgrade SSH client to a version that supports SHA-256.

1.6.16 AVS Reboot with SAN Storage Can Cause Proxy Errors

Cause: If the same iSCSI target is shared between more than one AVS instance, it can cause proxy errors.

Workaround: Ensure that each iSCSI target is exclusive to an AVS instance.

1.6.17 Pre-Upgrade Process Failed After Remove and Re-Install

Cause: The RPM process can hold open file descriptors after it has removed the pre-upgrade RPM, making it produce an error when attempting to re-install.

Workaround: Reboot the appliance and reinstall the pre-upgrade RPM to work round this issue.

1.6.18 Rebooting After Running Pre-Upgrade RPM Results in /var/dbfw/upgrade Not Mounted

Cause: After the pre-upgrade RPM is installed, you must manually mount the upgrade media partition if the appliance is rebooted.

Workaround: Run mount /var/dbfw/upgrade to remount the partition.

1.6.19 Check For Busy Devices Before Starting The Upgrade Process

Cause: Check for any busy devices before starting the upgrade process. The upgrade may not check for busy volumes and may result in an error.

Workaround: Run lsof against /tmp and /usr/local/dbfw/tmp to discover any open temporary files. Ensure that no logs are open when starting the upgrade process.

1.6.20 Upgrade Fails If The Time Settings For The Primary And Standby Servers Are Out Of Synch By More Than 3 Minutes

Cause: If the primary and standby server time settings are out of sync by more than 3 minutes, then upgrade will fail raising the following error: ORA-29005: The certificate is invalid.

Workaround: You must synchronize the time on the primary and standby servers before commencing upgrade.

1.6.21 "Failed Install Or Upgrade" Dialog Box Appears During Installation Or Upgrade

Problem: I see a blue screen that states:

The system has encountered a problem, and will start minimal services so that you can log in and recover.

It provides the current status of the installation or upgrade and asks you to check the system log for more information and contact Oracle Support.

Workaround: Upon seeing this blue screen, perform the following:

  1. Log in as root user.

  2. Execute the following command to install the diagnostic tool:

    rpm -i /usr/local/dbfw/packages/avs-diagnostic-20.1.0.0.0-0_*.x86_64.rpm

  3. Capture the diagnostics archive by running the following diagnostics package to output the name of the archive file:

    /usr/local/dbfw/bin/priv/dbfw-diagnostics-package.rb

    Note:

    If this command creates a file diagnostics-not-enabled.readme follow the instructions in that file to enable the diagnostics and generate the archive.

  4. File a Service Request (SR) and attach the archive to the SR.

Note:

Once Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall detects an error in the installation or upgrade, it will not start any more services, but it will retain any started services so that they can be debugged.

1.6.22 Oracle Audit Vault And Database Firewall May Fail To Install On Sun X4-2

Symptoms: The pre-reboot part of install is normal. However, after reboot, the system presents the user with a black screen containing only the text Hard disk error.

Cause: These servers include a small internal USB drive for the Oracle System Assistant. This device contains a Linux installation, which conflicts with the bootloader in Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall 20.1 and later.

Solution: To install Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall 20.1 or later, you must first disable Oracle System Assistant from the BIOS menu. If the option to disable the OSA is greyed out, reset the BIOS to enable it.

See Also:

https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E36975_01/html/E38042/z40000091408680.html for more information.

1.6.23 Before Re-booting The System During The Upgrade Process, Check The Group Status Volume To Ensure Only A Single Instance Of VG (vg_root) Exists

Cause: Re-using storage from a previous installation. Having two instances of vg_root in the (VG), may result in kernel panic or upgrade failure upon reboot of the system. The cases may include iSCSI or re-using the hard drives.

In addition, it is possible for the system to go into kernel panic mode if the additional storage to vg_root VG is iSCSI-based storage.

Solution: Only a single instance of VG (vg_root) can exist. In case there are more instances, they must be removed. Failure to comply may result in kernel panic or upgrade failure.

Contact Oracle Support for assistance.

1.6.24 Error While Pairing Database Firewall With Audit Vault Server

Cause: An error OAV-46599: internal error Unable to remove data from previous paring of this firewall with AVS is encountered while pairing Database Firewall which impacts registration of a newly installed Database Firewall with Audit Vault Server.

Workaround: Reboot Firewall and register Firewall again on the Audit Vault Server.

1.6.25 Missing Data File In The Archive Page Post Upgrade Of Oracle Audit Vault And Database Firewall

Cause: In case there are archive files in the Audit Vault Server that are not encrypted post upgrade followed by restore and release operations, it may result in missing data file.

Workaround:

  1. Execute the encryption script. See section Data Encryption on Upgraded Instances.

  2. In case the archive files are remote, click Set Tablespaces Available on the Audit Vault GUI to encrypt the remote data file.

  3. The data file is now listed on the archive page.

1.6.26 Unable To Remove Pre-Upgrade RPM

Cause: It may not be possible to remove the pre-upgrade RPM if there are open SSH connections on the appliance.

Workaround: Close all the open SSH connections and attempt to remove the pre-upgrade RPM.

1.6.27 Host Monitor Selects Wrong Net Device On Windows With Multiple Preferred

Host Monitor might choose incorrect network device if multiple preferred devices exist.

This can occur when the default network adapter that the host monitor uses (of type Intel(R) PRO/1000 MT Network Adapter) is for the wrong network.

Workaround:

Change the network adapter the host monitor uses so that traffic is captured from the correct network for the target. Follow these steps:

  1. Check the Host Monitor log file and look for a section similar to:

    The selected network device for capturing is:
\Device\NPF_{22E6D6FF-43E2-4212-9970-05C446A33A35}. To change the device update the network_device_name_for_hostmonitor attribute at Collection Attributes to any one value from the list:
\Device\NPF_{17C832B3-B8FC-44F4-9C99-6ECFF1706DD1},
\Device\NPF_{22E6D6FF-43E2-4212-9970-05C446A33A35},
\Device\NPF_{60611262-3FCC-4374-9333-BD69BF51DEEA} and restart the trail

    This indicates which device is being used, and which devices are available. For more information on the available devices, you can run the host monitor in debug mode.

  2. In the Audit Vault Server console, Targets tab, click the target you want.

  3. In the Modify Collection Attributes section, Attribute Name field, enter: 

    network_device_name_for_hostmonitor

  4. In the Attribute Value field, enter the device name. For example: \Device\NPF_{17C832B3-B8FC-44F4-9C99-6ECFF1706DD1}

  5. Click Add, and then Save.

  6. Restart the audit trail for this target.

Note:

Alternatively follow the steps documented in section Create a Network Audit Trail for Windows hosts in Administrators Guide.

1.6.28 Custom Collection Plugin Packaged on Windows Does Not Work on Linux

The avpack plug-in that is packaged on Windows does not work on Linux. In other words, you cannot run the avpack plug-in on Linux after you have packaged it on Windows. To produce this error:

  1. Download the Oracle AVSDK on Windows.

  2. Package the plug-in on Windows.

  3. Deploy the plug-in on Oracle AVDF.

  4. Install an Oracle AVDF Agent on Linux.

  5. Start an audit trail for this Linux host. However, the audit trail cannot start.

Workaround: If you want to run the Agent and audit trail collection on Linux, then package the plug-in on Linux, not on Windows. If you package the plug-in on Linux, then Agent and audit trail collection can run on either Linux or Windows.

1.6.29 Microsoft SQL Server Extended Events Collector is in Unreachable State

Learn how to fix the issue when Microsoft SQL Server extended events collector is in UNREACHABLE state.

Issue

In case the size of the extended events file is more than 400 MB, then during recovery of the audit trail or when stopping the trail, may leave the collector in UNREACHABLE state for a short duration.

Workaround

Enable only the necessary events in the extended events session of the target database. Maintain the extended events file in smaller size (not exceeding 400 MB).

1.6.30 Recovery Issues in Microsoft SQL Server Extended Events Collector

Learn about recovery issues in Microsoft SQL Server collector.

Issue

In case there are extended events with same event timestamp, and if all the fields are the same between the events, then only one of the event is collected by Oracle AVDF during recovery and others are omitted.

Workaround

None.

1.6.31 Audit Data Collection Issue in Microsoft SQL Server Event Log

Learn how to fix audit data collection issue in Microsoft SQL Server.

Issue

Audit data collection issue from the event log is observed in Oracle AVDF releases 20.4 and 20.5. Audit events with Event ID 33205 are not being collected by the SQL collector.

Workaround

This issue is fixed in Oracle AVDF release 20.6 and later. Upgrade to Oracle AVDF 20.6 and later at the earliest.

In Oracle AVDF release 20.5, apply the patch available in MOS Note Doc ID 24676845.

1.6.32 Unable to Use the Audit Vault Server Console to Associate a Standby Audit Vault Server with a Database Firewall for High Availability

Learn how to associate a standby Audit Vault Server with the Database Firewall when the primary Audit Vault Server is already registered with a Database Firewall.

Issue

When pairing an Audit Vault Server with another Audit Vault Server for high availability, if the Database Firewall is already registered with the potential primary Audit Vault Server, there is no way to use the Audit Vault Server console to configure the standby Audit Vault Server in the firewall.

Workaround

  1. Connect to the Database Firewall appliance through SSH and switch to the root user. 

    su - root

  2. Copy the server certificate to the Database Firewall appliance using one of the following options.

    If the Audit Vault Server is not yet paired with another Audit Vault Server, follow these steps:

    1. Log in to the standby Audit Vault Server console as an administrator.
    2. Select the Settings tab.
    3. Select the Security tab in the left navigation menu.
    4. Select the Certificate tab on the main page.
    5. Click Copy Certificate on the Server Certificate subtab.
    6. Copy the server certificate of the Audit Vault Server into a file on the Database Firewall appliance.

    If the Audit Vault Server is already paired, follow these steps:

    1. Log in to the primary Audit Vault Server console as an administrator.
    2. Select the Settings tab.
    3. Select the System tab in the left navigation menu.
    4. Click High Availability in the Configuration section.
    5. Copy the standby server certificate of the Audit Vault Server into a file on the Database Firewall appliance.

  3. Run the following command on the Database Firewall appliance:

    /opt/avdf/config-utils/bin/config-avs set avs=secondary address=<IP address of standby Audit Vault Server> certificate=<location of certificate>

1.6.33 Error OAV-47842 When Changing the IP Address for the Database Firewall

Learn how to resolve error OAV-47842 when trying to change the IP address for the Database Firewall.

Issue

When monitoring points are enabled and you try to change the IP address for the Database Firewall, the following error appears:

OPERATION FAILED OAV-47842: DATABASE FIREWALL (FW91) REPORTED AN ERROR. THE NETWORK DEVICE &#X27;ENP0S3&#X27; USED BY EP: [1, 2].

Workaround

If any monitoring points are associated with this firewall, stop them first and then try to change the IP address of the Database Firewall. See Starting, Stopping, or Deleting Database Firewall Monitoring Points.

1.6.34 Transaction Log Audit Trail Before-After Report Issues with CSV Format

Learn how to resolve issues with the transaction log audit trail before-after report in CSV format.

Issue

When downloading the CSV report from the Audit Vault Console UI, the before-after data does not download.

Workaround

Before downloading the CSV report, click the Actions menu and select Select Columns. Move the Column Name, Old Value, and New Value columns to the Display in Report box below the Data Modification column.

1.6.35 Error with Gateway Value Not Showing and Not Being Updated in Database Firewall Network Settings

Issue

The IP value for the gateway field in the Database Firewall Network Settings does not save save properly and remains blank.

Workaround

As a root user on the Database Firewall execute following command: config-route set device=NICNAME gateway=GATEWAY. After executing the command the Database Firewall gateway will be changed, but the gateway field will remain blank in the Audit Vault Server UI.

For example,

/opt/avdf/config-utils/bin/config-route set device=enp0s3 gateway=192.168.0.1

1.6.36 In a High Availability Environment, Audit Vault Server GUI Is Not Accessible After Reboot of Standby Audit Vault Server

Issue

In a high availability environment, Audit Vault Server GUI is not accessible after reboot of standby Audit Vault Server.

Workaround

  1. Check the status of the database, listener, httpd, and ords services on the primary Audit Vault Server. All these services should be up/active. Run all the commands as the root user on the primary Audit Vault Server. 
    systemctl status dbfwdb
systemctl status dbfwlistener
systemctl status httpd
systemctl status ords
  2. Check the status of the database and listener services on the standby Audit Vault Server. Both services should be up/active. Run all the commands as the root user on the standby Audit Vault Server.
    systemctl status dbfwdb
systemctl status dbfwlistener
  3. If any of the services on the primary or standby servers are down, start the service(s) by running the following command as the root user on the respective server.
    systemctl start <service name>
    • Check the status of the service again to confirm it's up.
      systemctl status <service name>
  4. Once all the services are up, try to access the GUI. If the GUI is accessible, the issue is resolved and there is no need to complete the remaining steps. If the GUI is still not accessible, login to the primary Audit Vault Server as the oracle user and run the following command: 
    dgmgrl /

    The dgmgrl command prompt will start.

  5. In the prompt, run the following command to check the configuration:
     show configuration verbose;

    If the configuration shows the following error, continue with the remaining steps, otherwise contact Oracle Support.

    Potential Targets: "DBFWDB_HA<N>"
DBFWDB_HA<N> invalid - member is disabled
OR
DBFWDB_HA<N> - (*) Physical standby database (disabled)
ORA-16906: The member was shutdown.
    For example: 
    Potential Targets: "DBFWDB_HA2"
DBFWDB_HA2 invalid - member is disabled
OR
DBFWDB_HA2 - (*) Physical standby database (disabled)
ORA-16906: The member was shutdown.
  6. Get the primary database name from the dgmgrl configuration output from step 5. The configuration will have an entry like 
    DBFWDB_HA<N> - Primary database.

    For example:

    DBFWDB_HA1 - Primary database.
  7. Run the following command on dgmgrl command prompt: 
    show database <Primary Database>;
    For example:
    show database DBFWDB_HA1;

    If the above command shows the following error, continue with the remaining steps, otherwise contact Oracle Support.

    Database Error(s):
    ORA-16820: fast-start failover observer is no longer observing this database
Database Warning(s):
    ORA-16735: primary redo generation suspended
  8. Enable the standby database, which is listed in the potential targets from the configuration output from step 5. To do this, run the following command on dgmgrl prompt:
    enable database <Standby Database>;
    For example:
    enable database DBFWDB_HA2;
  9. Wait for five minutes, after this the GUI should be accessible. If the GUI is still not accessible, contact Oracle Support.

1.6.37 Error messages in /var/log/messages for Oracle AVDF 20.9

Issue

When you run diagnostics on the Diagnostics page, the output shows the following errors in the /var/log/messages:
systemd[1]: Starting acfssihamount.service...
acfssihamount[908]: Unable to locate Oracle binaries, exiting...
systemd[1]: acfssihamount.service: Control process exited, code=exited
status=1
systemd[1]: acfssihamount.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
systemd[1]: Failed to start acfssihamount.service.

For more information on the Diagnostics page, see Managing Diagnostics.

Workaround

These errors have no impact on your Oracle AVDF system. Continue using your Oracle AVDF system as normal.

1.6.38 "Start At Does Not Match Format" Message When Scheduling or Retrieving Jobs in Oracle AVDF 20.9

Issue

If you're using the Audit Vault Server console and your browser is set to any language other than English, you might see the following message when you schedule or retrieve a job for a target on the Schedule Retrieval Jobs page.

"Start At does not match format DS HH12:MI:SS AM."

This message prevents you from saving your changes. It appears when one or more jobs are already scheduled and you attempt to schedule or retrieve any job on this page. For example, if an audit policy job is already scheduled and you attempt to retrieve a user entitlements job immediately, you might see this message.

Workaround

  1. Log in to the Audit Vault Server console as an auditor.
  2. Click the Targets tab.
  3. Click the Schedule Retrieval Jobs icon for the target.

  4. On the Schedule Retrieval Jobs page, complete the following steps under each section that already has a scheduled job.

    If a job is scheduled, it has a date in the Next Scheduled Run field.

    1. Select Create/Update Schedule.

    2. If you see the "Start At does not match format DS HH12:M1:SS AM" message, then select a new date in the Start At field, and click Close.

      You can select any date because you don't need to save the changes.

    3. Deselect Create/Update Schedule.
  5. Repeat the preceding steps for each section that already has a scheduled job.
  6. Proceed with scheduling or retrieving the job that originally resulted in the error. When you click Save, the error should no longer appear.

1.6.39 Download and Run Target Setup Scripts Only for Auditing Oracle Database

Issue

When you're configuring an Oracle Database target in the Audit Vault Server console and you click the Target Setup Script button, a dialog box displays the following message:

"Download and execute target setup script only for Oracle Database user."

You only need to download and run the target setup script for auditing Oracle Database targets. The scripts aren't required for Database Firewall monitoring.

Workaround

If you plan to configure auditing for the Oracle Database target, click OK in the dialog box and download the scripts. Otherwise, click Cancel.

1.6.40 Data Retention UI Error

Issue

After submitting any of the retrieve, move to remote, or release jobs on Data Retention page, the Data Retention page may throw UI errors:
ORA-01187: cannot read from file because it failed verification tests
ORA-01157: cannot identify/lock data file 4 - see DBWR trace file

Workaround

Please refresh the page and the check the status of the submitted job in the Jobs page. To view the jobs page:
  1. Click the Settings tab.
  2. Click the Jobs tab is the left navigation.

1.6.41 Upgrade of Standby Audit Vault Server Delaying and Causing Errors

Issue

The upgrade of the standby Audit Vault Server (AVS) never completes and the following message is the last update in the /var/log/debug file in the standby AVS: 
DEBUG - secure_sql_privs: System altered.
DEBUG - secure_sql_privs:
DEBUG - Stopping managed recovery process

Workaround

Run the following steps on the standby AVS:

  1. Login as the root user.
  2. Switch to oracle user.
    su - oracle
  3. Run:
    sqlplus / as sysdba
shutdown abort;
exit;
/usr/local/dbfw/bin/dbfwdb restrict
  4. Switch to the root user:
    su - root
  5. Run:
    /opt/avdf/bin/privmigutl --resume --confirm

1.6.42 Error ORA-00001 When Creating Sensitive Object Sets in Data Discovery

Issue

When creating a Sensitive Objects Set in Data Discovery, after selecting the target, some categories are selected by default and sensitive objects are loaded accordingly. But it may take time to load sensitive objects and if you select more categories while the sensitive objects are loading, then the following error is thrown: Ajax call returned server error ORA-00001: unique constraint.

Workaround

You need to wait until the sensitive objects are loaded before selecting more categories.

1.6.43 Install/Uninstall of Pre-Upgrade RPM Gives "Database not mounted" Error

When patching to the most recent RU pre-upgrade RPM file needs to be installed and uninstalled as per Run the Pre-upgrade RPM. When patching from Oracle AVDF 20.3 to 20.10 the uninstallation of the Pre-Upgrade RPM file causes a "Database not mounted" error.

Problem

When patching from Oracle AVDF 20.3 to 20.10 the installation and uninstallation of the Pre-Upgrade RPM file causes a "Database not mounted" error.

Workaround

Reboot the system after uninstalling the pre-upgrade RPM file to bring back the services to normal.

1.6.44 During Installation and Upgrade Database User ORDS_PUBLIC_USER Gets Locked

Problem

Intermittently during install and upgrade of Oracle AVDF 20.8-20.10 ORDS_PUBLIC_USER database user account gets locked resulting in this error in the web UI:

"The username or password for the connection pool named |default|lo|, are invalid, expired, or the account is locked".

Workaround

Rotate the password of the ORDS_PUBLIC_USER database user before it expires.

  1. Log in to the Audit Vault Server through SSH as the support user.

    Note:

    If you're using the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) marketplace image, connect through SSH as the OPC user. 
    ssh support@<audit_vault_server_ip_address>

  2. Switch to the root user.

    su - root

    Note:

    If you're using the OCI marketplace image, use the sudo su - command.

  3. Switch to the oracle user.

    su - oracle

  4. Run the following command:

    mkstore -wrl /var/lib/oracle/ords_conf/databases/default/wallet -modifyEntry oracle.security.client.password1 <New Password>
  5. Unlock the ORDS_PUBLIC_USER account.

    1. Switch to the dvaccountmgr user. 

      su - dvaccountmgr

    2. Start SQL*Plus without the user name and password.

      sqlplus /

    3. Run the following command to unlock ORDS_PUBLIC_USER: 

      alter user ORDS_PUBLIC_USER identified by Password from step 4 account unlock;

    4. Exit SQL*Plus.

      exit

  6. Switch to the root user.

    su - root

    Note:

    If you're using the OCI marketplace image, use the sudo su - command.
  7. Run the following command:
    systemctl stop ords
  8. Run the following command:
    systemctl start ords

1.6.45 If ANONYMOUS Password is Changed, Expired, or Account is Locked Then The Audit Vault Server UI Can't Be Accessed

Problem

In Oracle AVDF 20.7-20.10 the Audit Vault Server UI can't be accessed if ANONYMOUS password is changed, expired, or account is locked.

Workaround

Rotate the password of the ANONYMOUS user before it expires.

  1. Log in to the Audit Vault Server through SSH and switch to the root user.

    See Logging In to Oracle AVDF Appliances Through SSH.

  2. Unlock the ANONYMOUS account.

    1. Switch to the dvaccountmgr user. 

      su - dvaccountmgr

    2. Start SQL*Plus without the user name and password.

      sqlplus /
    3. Run the following command to unlock ANONYMOUS:
      alter user ANONYMOUS identified by <New Password> account unlock;

    4. Exit SQL*Plus.

      exit

  3. Switch to the root user.

    su - root

    Note:

    If you're using the OCI marketplace image, use the sudo su - command.
  4. Run the following commands:
    systemctl stop monitor
systemctl stop ords
systemctl stop dbfwdb
systemctl start dbfwdb
systemctl start ords
systemctl start monitor

  1. Log in to the Audit Vault Server through SSH and switch to the root user.

    See Logging In to Oracle AVDF Appliances Through SSH.

  2. Unlock the ANONYMOUS account.

    1. Switch to the dvaccountmgr user. 

      su - dvaccountmgr

    2. Start SQL*Plus without the user name and password.

      sqlplus /
    3. Run the following command to unlock ANONYMOUS:
      alter user ANONYMOUS identified by <New Password> account unlock;

    4. Exit SQL*Plus.

      exit
  3. Navigate to the directory of the apex.xml file.
    cd /var/lib/oracle/ords/conf/ords/conf
  4. Update the apex.xml file with the same password, adding ! before the password string. The password will be encrypted after restarting the services.
    <entry key="db.password">!<New Password></entry>

  5. Switch to the root user.

    su - root

    Note:

    If you're using the OCI marketplace image, use the sudo su - command.
  6. Run the following commands:
    systemctl stop monitor
systemctl stop ords
systemctl stop dbfwdb
systemctl start dbfwdb
systemctl start ords
systemctl start monitor

1.6.46 Security Assessment Excel Reports Fail to Generate

Issue

In Oracle AVDF 20.9 the below security assessment Excel reports failed to generate if they contained more than 32,767 characters:
  • Security Assessment Detailed Report
  • STIG Security Assessment Report
  • GDPR Security Assessment Report

Solution

To prevent this issue, apply the patch to update Oracle AVDF to the latest release update (RU). See Patching Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall Release 20.

1.6.47 When Broswer Language is Set to Spanish, the Option to Enable or Disable FIPS 140-2 is Not Available For the Database Firewall

Issue

For AVDF 20.10 when the internet browser language is set to Spanish, the pop-up dialog where you typically enable or disable FIPS 140-2 on your Database Firewall does not contain the checkbox required to make the selection.

Workaround

Set your interest browser to a different language when enabling or disable FIPS 140-2 on your Database Firewall.

1.6.48 Removing Pre-upgrade RPM for AVDF 20.10 May Not Bring the Services Back Up

Before upgrade, you must install the pre-upgrade RPM to prepare the system for upgrade. However, sometimes rpm -e avdf-pre-upgrade is required to bring the system back to the original state, but it may fail to bring up the Audit Vault Server.

Issue

Before upgrade, you must install the pre-upgrade RPM to prepare the system for upgrade. Sometimes you may need to execute rpm -e avdf-pre-upgrade to remove the pre-upgrade RPM and bring the system back online to fix some issues before doing upgrade. However, sometimes rpm -e avdf-pre-upgrade fails to bring up Audit Vault Server.

If you run the following command as the root user
systemctl status asmdb
and receive this output: Failed to start Start the oracle asm instance, then you are encountering this known issue.

Workaround

Perform the following steps to bring the Audit Vault Server back up:

  1. Run the following as the root user:
    rpm -qa|grep avdf-pre-upgrade
  2. If avdf-pre-upgrade-20.10.0.0.0-0_* is in the output of the previous step, run the following as the root user: 
    rpm -e avdf-pre-upgrade
    1. If rpm -e avdf-pre-upgrade throws the following error:
      error: %preun(avdf-pre-upgrade-20.10.0.0.*) scriptlet failed, exit status 1
error: avdf-pre-upgrade-20.10.0.0.*: erase failed
      Run the following as the root user:
      /bin/bash /usr/local/dbfw/bin/pre_upgrade_set_python.sh
    2. Run the following as the root user: 
      rpm -e avdf-pre-upgrade

    If this brings up the Audit Vault Server and it is accessible through the UI, then you don't need to complete the rest of the steps. Otherwise, continue with these steps.

  3. Run the following as the root user:
    systemctl status asmdb
  4. If the previous step results still shows Failed to start Start the oracle asm instance. Run the following as the root user:
    systemctl stop asmdb
systemctl stop ohasd
systemctl stop oracle-ohasd
  5. Run the following as the root user:
    systemctl start oracle-ohasd
systemctl start ohasd
  6. Switch to the grid user:
    su - grid
  7. Run the following as the grid user:
    csrctl check has
    If ohasd is online with this message CRS-4638: Oracle High Availability Services is online, it is ready for the next step.
  8. Run the following as the grid user:
    crsctl status resource ora.cssd
    Wait until you get the state: STATE=ONLINE on <AVSname>.

    If you get the state STATE=OFFLINE or STATE=UNKNOWN, go to step three and repeat steps three through seven.

  9. Run the following as the root user:
    systemctl start https
  10. Run the following as the root user:
    systemctl isolate avdf-runtime
    This will take some time, wait until it finishes.
  11. Check on the database service by running the following as the root user:
    systemctl status dbfwdb

    If the output of this command includes Started Start the oracle database, then the Audit Vault Server database is up.

  12. Test the Audit Vault Server by accessing the GUI:

    Log in to the Audit Vault Server Console as an administrator.

    The Audit Vault Server will be back up and running as it was before running rpm -i vdf-pre-upgrade-20.10.0.0.0-0_*.

1.6.49 Insufficient Space Error in / File System Reported by Pre-upgrade RPM

Learn how to fix insufficient space error issue in the / file system reported by pre-upgrade RPM.

Problem

An error similar to the below message is observed when running pre-upgrade RPM. There is insufficient space in the / file system. 
Checking upgrade preconditions
This upgrade requires at least 2.35GiB free on / (actual: 2.29GiB)

    AVDF::Installer::Upgrade::InvalidPreconditions

Precondition: 'space-check.rb'
    Result: 'Please follow the instructions in the Administrator's Guide to add storage, then retry.
    Summary: AVDF::Installer::Upgrade::InvalidPreconditions
        System is not ready for upgrade.

Solution

Extend / using the free space from vg_root:
lvextend --resizefs -L+2.35G /dev/vg_root/lv_ol8root

1.6.50 Receiving Error OAV-46502 When Registering a Target and Creating a Monitoring Point with a Named Network Interface Card

Issue

You may encounter the error OAV-46502: NULL IN TRAFFIC SOURCES when registering a target and creating a monitoring point with a named network interface card (NIC) in Oracle AVDF 20.10.

Workaround

To avoid this issue, perform one of the following workarounds:

Fix

  1. Go to My Oracle Support and sign in.
  2. Click the Patches & Updates tab.
  3. Use the Patch Search box to search for the patch.
    1. Click the Product or Family (Advanced) link on the left.
    2. In the Product field, enter Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall.
    3. In the Release field, select the 20.10 Oracle AVDF release from the drop-down list.
    4. Click Search.
  4. In the Patch Name column of the search results, click the link for the 35861954 patch number.
  5. Click Download.
  6. Download and extract the contents of the p35861954_2010000_Linux-x86-64.zip file.

1.6.51 Error Indicating Passwords Do Not Match In SMTP Settings

Attempting to save password in SMTP settings results in an error due to Bug 34349964. To resolve this error, upgrade to AV 20.8 to successful save the SMTP settings.

Issue

This issue arises while trying to save Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) settings, when attempting to configure an SMTP server. Users are logged in as AVADMIN and click the Settings tab. In the left navigation menu, they click System; under Configuration, click Connectors. Further details related to this process can be found at Configuring Email Notifications. After entering the necessary details, the SMTP server is registered successfully, however, after entering password and clicking save, an error arises: Passwords do not match.

Workaround

This issue is only present in Oracle AVDF release 20.7.

To prevent this issue, apply the patch to update Oracle AVDF to the latest release update (RU). See Patching Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall Release 20.

1.6.52 Starting with AVDF 20.10, the Upgrade or Installation Will Fail with Oracle Linux 6

Upgrading the Audit Vault Server to 20.10 or later or installing the Host Monitor Agent will fail if using Oracle Linux 6.

Issue

Oracle Linux 6 was deprecated in Oracle AVDF 20.10, and it will be desupported in one of the future releases.

Because of this, upgrading the Audit Vault Server to 20.10 or later or installing the Host Monitor Agent will fail if using Oracle Linux 6.

Workaround

To prevent this issue, apply patch 36286507 before upgrading the Audit Vault Server to 20.10 or later or during Host Monitor Agent installation.

Related Topics

1.6.53 ORA-22835 Error During Upgrade of Audit Vault Server to Version 20.3

When upgrading the Audit Vault Server to 20.3, users may encounter the following error: "ORA-22835: Buffer too small for CLOB to CHAR or BLOB to RAW conversion."

Issue

When upgrading to AVS version 20.3, users may encounter the ORA-22835: Buffer too small for CLOB to CHAR or BLOB to RAW conversion error caused by the changeset_191016_ZUJYPYZENY migration.

Workaround

To prevent this issue, apply the patch to update Oracle AVDF to the latest release update (RU). See Patching Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall Release 20.

If encountering the above error, it is recommended to restore from the upgrade or revert to a before-upgrade snapshot. Consider upgrading to Oracle AVDF version 20.4 instead of 20.3.

To recover from the upgrade failure, complete the following steps:
  1. Edit /usr/local/dbfw/bin/migration/2019/changeset_191016_ZUJYPYZENY/database.sql by commenting out all the lines in the file.
  2. Add the following at the end of the file:
    UPDATE avsys.fw_cluster SET representation=SUBSTR(representation, 1, 32767) WHERE LENGTH(representation) > 32767; 
CREATE INDEX avsys.fw_cluster_rep_hash_idx ON avsys.fw_cluster(ora_hash( CAST(representation AS VARCHAR2(32767)) ));
  3. Complete the database migration by running as root:
    /opt/avdf/install/privileged_migration/database-migrations.rb
  4. Complete the AVS upgrade procedure by running as root:
    /opt/avdf/bin/privmigutl --resume --confirm

Note:

It is recommended to run the commands directly from the terminal console to avoid errors due to SSH session timeout or broken network connectivity.

1.6.54 AVDF 20.3-20.6 Character Limit in Alert Condition Is Exceeded at 4,000 Characters

Issue

In Oracle AVDF 20.3-20.6, the character limit in the Condition field when attempting to create alerts is restricted to 4,000 characters. This limit is lower than in previous versions such as Oracle AVDF 12.2. When attempting to create alerts, you may experience an error stating the character limit has been exceeded.

Solution

The character limit issue in the alert condition has been resolved in Oracle AVDF 20.7 and later.

To prevent this issue, apply the patch to update Oracle AVDF to the latest release update (RU). See Patching Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall Release 20.

1.7 Documentation Accessibility

For information about Oracle's commitment to accessibility, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program website at http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=docacc.

Access to Oracle Support

Oracle customers that have purchased support have access to electronic support through My Oracle Support. For information, visit http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=info or visit http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=trs if you are hearing impaired.

Oracle is fully committed to diversity and inclusion. Oracle respects and values having a diverse workforce that increases thought leadership and innovation. As part of our initiative to build a more inclusive culture that positively impacts our employees, customers, and partners, we are working to remove insensitive terms from our products and documentation. We are also mindful of the necessity to maintain compatibility with our customers' existing technologies and the need to ensure continuity of service as Oracle's offerings and industry standards evolve. Because of these technical constraints, our effort to remove insensitive terms is ongoing and will take time and external cooperation.