FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
1.6.0_18

ADDITIONAL OS VERSION INFORMATION :
bash-3.00# uname -a
SunOS zcydsd768 5.10 Generic_142900-11 sun4u sparc SUNW,Netra-240

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
non-root user can't successfully exec java if it called from a ksh shell script ( with user set-ID be set ).



STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
Please see below reproduce case:
1. 6 test shell scripts:
test_ksh_setuid.sh
test_ksh_nosetid.sh
test_bash_setuid.sh
test_bash_nosetuid.sh
test_sh_setuid.sh
test_sh_nosetuid.sh

with following contents and permissions which are only include a line to exec java -version cmd.

bash-3.00# ls -l test*.sh
-r-xr-x--- 1 root other 51 Aug 5 11:21 test_bash_nosetuid.sh
-r-sr-x--- 1 root other 51 Aug 5 11:21 test_bash_setuid.sh
-r-xr-x--- 1 root other 50 Aug 5 11:22 test_ksh_nosetuid.sh
-r-sr-x--- 1 root other 50 Aug 5 11:22 test_ksh_setuid.sh
-r-xr-x--- 1 root other 49 Aug 5 11:22 test_sh_nosetuid.sh
-r-sr-x--- 1 root root 49 Aug 5 11:27 test_sh_setuid.sh

bash-3.00# cat test_bash_nosetuid.sh
#!/bin/bash
/opt/jre/jre1.6.0_18/bin/java -version
bash-3.00# cat test_bash_setuid.sh
#!/bin/bash
/opt/jre/jre1.6.0_18/bin/java -version
bash-3.00# cat test_ksh_nosetuid.sh
#!/bin/ksh
/opt/jre/jre1.6.0_18/bin/java -version
bash-3.00# cat test_ksh_setuid.sh
#!/bin/ksh
/opt/jre/jre1.6.0_18/bin/java -version
bash-3.00# cat test_sh_nosetuid.sh
#!/bin/sh
/opt/jre/jre1.6.0_18/bin/java -version
bash-3.00# cat test_sh_setuid.sh
#!/bin/sh
/opt/jre/jre1.6.0_18/bin/java -version

Please note, the jre1.6.0_18 under /opt/jre installed by exec j2re-solaris-sparc.sh and j2re-solaris-sparcv9.sh.

All these scripts are works well if run by root user.

However if change to executed by non-root user, for example, a user belongs to the 'other' group which also has the execute permission, error happens.

Please see the result:
$ ./test_bash_nosetuid.sh
java version "1.6.0_18"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_18-b07)
Java HotSpot(TM) Server VM (build 16.0-b13, mixed mode)
$ ./test_bash_setuid.sh
java version "1.6.0_18"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_18-b07)
Java HotSpot(TM) Server VM (build 16.0-b13, mixed mode)
$ ./test_ksh_nosetuid.sh
java version "1.6.0_18"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_18-b07)
Java HotSpot(TM) Server VM (build 16.0-b13, mixed mode)
$ ./test_ksh_setuid.sh
ld.so.1: java: fatal: libjli.so: open failed: No such file or directory
/bin/ksh[2]: 18030 Killed
$ ./test_sh_nosetuid.sh
java version "1.6.0_18"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_18-b07)
Java HotSpot(TM) Server VM (build 16.0-b13, mixed mode)
$ ./test_sh_setuid.sh
java version "1.6.0_18"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_18-b07)
Java HotSpot(TM) Server VM (build 16.0-b13, mixed mode)

We can see only script: test_ksh_setuid.sh failed.

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
java version "1.6.0_18"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_18-b07)
ACTUAL -
ld.so.1: java: fatal: libjli.so: open failed: No such file or directory
/bin/ksh[2]: 18030 Killed

REPRODUCIBILITY :
This bug can be reproduced always.

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
create a softlink under /usr/lib: ln -s /opt/jre/jre1.6.0_18/lib/sparc/jli/libjli.so libjli.so