QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: WebUtil, WEBUTIL_HOST, Oracle provided JARs, JavaScript

Will this issue impact any other Forms versions?

Yes.  All versions of Forms (WebUtil) will be impacted by this change.  However, because of Oracle Support Policy and some product end-of-life dates, fixes will only be made available for Forms 11.1.1.6 and newer.

Will this have any impact on webutil?

Some WebUtil HOST calls may not work.  Specifically those which include strings that contain spaces and/or special characters (e.g. > < * & |).  Refer to the Java Release Notes section titled "Changes to Runtime.exec" for details.  Also, note that beginning with JRE 1.7.0_21 some restrictions were made that required some modification to existing WEBUTIL_HOST commands.  Please see Note 1547133.1 WEBUTIL_HOST.HOST (as well as CLIENT_HOST) Stops Working when Using JRE 8+ or 1.7.0_21+ or JRE 1.6.0_45+ With Either No Errors or WUC-15.

If you are using the webutil ole feature then jacob.jar will need to be signed in some manner and manifest entries added.  See <Note 1594575.1> for details about this.

What impact will this have on Forms jar files?

JAR file manifest files will now require two new entries.  Without these entries, warnings will be displayed in the Java Console although application functionality will not be impacted.  This applies to all jar files so includes fundamental jar files such as frmall.jar, frmwebutil.jar, etc.  Do not attempt to alter/update the Oracle provided JARs.  Contact Oracle Support to obtain new JAR files if desired.

For example, if the java console and tracing is enabled, you will see messages like the following for jar files ->

Missing Permissions manifest attribute for: http://machinename:port/forms/java/frmall.jar
Missing Codebase manifest attribute for: http://machinename:port/forms/java/frmall.jar

New JAR files have been created and are available from Patch 17448420.

Note:  If on 11.1.1.4 the manifest fix for Oracle provided jar files is in Patch 17974937.

As for custom JAR files, it will be up to the customer to ensure they properly build their JAR files in accordance with the JRE requirments. Also, if you have third party, non-Oracle jar files that are exhibiting this behavior, you should contact the third party vendor and request updated jar files.   Again, not having the new manifest entries should not prevent the application from working.  It will only cause the console warnings.  Refer to the Java 7U25 Release Notes section titled "New JAR Manifest File Attributes."

More information is also available in the Java SE Documentiation.

Will this have any impact on JavaScript?

Calls made from the form and sent to the surrounding html likely will not throw a warning.  However, calls from html Java script into a form may throw a warning with the question, "Block potentially unsafe components from being run?". 

This is expected behavior.  Refer to the Java 7U25 Releases Notes section titled "LiveConnect Blocked" for details.