CVE-2008-5452 in PeopleSoft Enterprise
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in the PeopleSoft Enterprise HRMS component in Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise and JD Edwards EnterpriseOne 8.9.18 allows remote authenticated users to affect confidentiality and integrity via unknown vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/25/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2008-5452 resides within the PeopleSoft Enterprise HRMS component of Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise and JD Edwards EnterpriseOne version 8.9.18, representing a significant security weakness that affects organizations relying on these enterprise resource planning systems. This unspecified vulnerability operates at the intersection of authentication and data integrity concerns, creating potential exposure points for malicious actors who have already gained legitimate access to the system. The nature of the vulnerability suggests a fundamental flaw in how the system processes or validates certain operations, particularly those involving user authentication and data manipulation within the human resources management subsystem.
The technical flaw manifests as an unspecified weakness that permits authenticated users to compromise either confidentiality or integrity of data within the PeopleSoft HRMS environment. While the exact nature of the vulnerability remains unspecified in the public record, the classification indicates a critical security gap that could be exploited through various attack vectors. This type of vulnerability typically stems from improper input validation, inadequate access controls, or flawed privilege management mechanisms within the application layer. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond simple data theft to include potential data corruption, unauthorized modifications, and manipulation of HR-related information that could significantly affect organizational operations and compliance requirements.
The operational impact of CVE-2008-5452 is substantial for organizations utilizing PeopleSoft Enterprise HRMS, as it creates opportunities for insider threats or compromised accounts to cause significant damage to sensitive human resources data. The vulnerability affects both confidentiality and integrity, meaning that attackers could potentially read sensitive employee information such as personal identification details, salary records, performance evaluations, or other confidential HR data, while simultaneously having the capability to modify or corrupt this information. This dual impact creates cascading effects throughout the organization, potentially leading to compliance violations under regulations such as gdpr, hipaa, or soc 2 requirements, while also undermining trust in the HR management system's reliability and data integrity.
Organizations should consider implementing comprehensive mitigation strategies that include regular security assessments, enhanced monitoring of user activities, and strict access control policies to limit the potential impact of such vulnerabilities. The vulnerability aligns with common attack patterns documented in the attack tree model, particularly those involving privilege escalation and data manipulation attacks. From a cwes perspective, this vulnerability could map to multiple weakness categories including cwE-20 for improper input validation, cwE-284 for improper access control, or cwE-311 for insufficient data protection during transmission. Security professionals should prioritize patch management, network segmentation, and continuous monitoring of the affected systems to prevent exploitation while maintaining operational continuity. The vulnerability underscores the importance of maintaining up-to-date security measures in enterprise applications and highlights the critical need for organizations to conduct thorough security assessments of their PeopleSoft implementations to identify and remediate similar weaknesses before they can be exploited by malicious actors.