Should trace files contain clear text for queries?

Question

Hi:
I've set up a JDBC connection pool in Oracle WLS 10.3.3 and want to verify that the traffic is in fact encrypted. (I am not going for authentication, just encryption). So I have turned tracing on in the server and I run an application in WLS. In the trace file I see the following:
2011-09-27 18:11:50.248292 : na_tns:Secure Network Services is available.
2011-09-27 18:11:50.248307 : nau_adi:entry
2011-09-27 18:11:50.248324 : nau_adi:exit
2011-09-27 18:11:50.248333 : na_tns:    authentication is not active
2011-09-27 18:11:50.248346 : na_tns:    encryption is active, using AES256
2011-09-27 18:11:50.248356 : na_tns:    crypto-checksumming is active, using SHA1
2011-09-27 18:11:50.248365 : na_tns:exitI am taking this to mean that in fact the application is using an encrypted JDBC connection. Later on in this file though, I see the clear text of the query (everything is clear text actually). I believe this is correct because by the time the query makes it into the trace file the DB has decrypted it and executed it. Is this correct?
Thanks.

Answer 1

Are you referring to the database session trace file (e.g. generated by SQL_TRACE=TRUE, event 10046, DBMS_SESSION.SESSION_TRACE_ENABLE etc) ?
What is dumped (ie. SQL statements) is always clear text. (There used to be an issue with passwords from ALTER USER commands still present in the shared pool but I believe that has been fixed so the password is not dumped in clear text).
SQLNet traffic between an Application Server and Database Server is encrypted.
Hemant K Chitale