CVE-2011-2274 in PeopleSoft Products
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in the PeopleSoft Enterprise PeopleTools component in Oracle PeopleSoft Products 8.49.32, 8.50.21, and 8.51.11 allows remote authenticated users to affect integrity via unknown vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/28/2017
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2011-2274 resides within the PeopleSoft Enterprise PeopleTools component of Oracle PeopleSoft products, specifically affecting versions 8.49.32, 8.50.21, and 8.51.11. This issue represents a critical security flaw that enables remote authenticated attackers to compromise data integrity within the affected systems. The vulnerability's classification as unspecified indicates that the exact technical mechanism remains undisclosed, which is common in cases where the precise attack vectors have not been fully characterized or where disclosure might aid malicious actors. Such unspecified vulnerabilities typically stem from implementation flaws in authentication, authorization, or data processing mechanisms that are not adequately protected against malicious manipulation.
The technical nature of this vulnerability places it within the realm of integrity violations rather than confidentiality or availability breaches, suggesting that attackers can modify or corrupt data without proper authorization. This type of flaw aligns with CWE-284, which describes improper access control vulnerabilities, and may also relate to CWE-311, concerning missing encryption of sensitive data, depending on how the integrity compromise manifests. The fact that the vulnerability requires authentication indicates that it operates within the context of legitimate user sessions, potentially exploiting trust relationships or insufficient validation mechanisms that should prevent authorized users from performing unauthorized modifications to system data.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risk to organizations relying on PeopleSoft Enterprise PeopleTools for business-critical applications such as financial management, human resources, and supply chain operations. The integrity compromise could lead to financial discrepancies, fraudulent transactions, manipulated employee records, or corrupted business data that would require extensive recovery efforts and could result in regulatory compliance violations. Attackers leveraging this vulnerability could potentially alter financial reports, modify employee compensation data, or corrupt transactional records, creating cascading effects throughout the enterprise. The remote aspect of the attack means that threat actors do not require physical access to the systems, making the vulnerability particularly dangerous in environments where network connectivity is prevalent.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should prioritize immediate patch application from Oracle, as the affected versions are no longer supported and lack current security updates. Organizations should implement network segmentation to limit access to PeopleSoft systems, enforce strict authentication controls including multi-factor authentication, and establish comprehensive monitoring for unusual data modification patterns. Additionally, regular security assessments should be conducted to identify potential exploitation vectors, and access controls should be reviewed to ensure principle of least privilege is maintained. The vulnerability's classification as a remote authenticated integrity issue also suggests that organizations should consider implementing database activity monitoring and audit trails to detect unauthorized modifications to critical business data. Security teams should also evaluate their incident response procedures to ensure rapid detection and remediation of potential integrity violations.