CVE-2011-3520 in PeopleSoft Enterprise PeopleTools
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in the PeopleSoft Enterprise PeopleTools component in Oracle PeopleSoft Products 8.49, 8.50, and 8.51 allows remote authenticated users to affect integrity via unknown vectors related to Personalization.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/06/2017
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2011-3520 resides within the PeopleSoft Enterprise PeopleTools component of Oracle PeopleSoft Products affecting versions 8.49, 8.50, and 8.51. This represents a significant security weakness that falls under the category of integrity violations, where authenticated remote attackers can potentially manipulate system data through unspecified vectors related to the personalization feature. The affected component specifically pertains to PeopleTools which serves as the foundational development and runtime environment for PeopleSoft applications, making this vulnerability particularly concerning for enterprise deployments.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient validation and sanitization mechanisms within the personalization functionality of PeopleTools. Personalization features typically allow users to customize their user interfaces and application experiences, but in this case, the implementation contains flaws that permit authenticated attackers to inject malicious data or manipulate existing personalization settings. This weakness creates opportunities for data integrity compromise where attackers can modify stored personalization configurations or potentially influence how application data is presented to other users. The unspecified vectors suggest that the exact technical mechanism remains undisclosed, but it likely involves improper input handling or privilege escalation within the personalization subsystem.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability poses substantial risks to organizations utilizing affected PeopleSoft versions, particularly in enterprise environments where personalization features are heavily utilized. The ability to affect integrity means that attackers could potentially alter user preferences, modify application behavior, or corrupt personalization data that might be used for access control decisions. This could lead to unauthorized data manipulation, disruption of business processes, or even facilitate further attacks by compromising user-specific configurations that might be leveraged for privilege escalation. Organizations relying on PeopleSoft for mission-critical applications face potential operational disruptions and data integrity breaches that could affect compliance with regulatory requirements and business continuity objectives.
Security professionals should consider this vulnerability in relation to CWE-20, which covers "Improper Input Validation," and potentially CWE-345, "Insufficient Verification of Data Authenticity," given the integrity aspects of the flaw. The attack surface aligns with ATT&CK techniques involving privilege escalation and data manipulation, particularly T1078 for valid accounts and T1566 for social engineering. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying Oracle security patches, reviewing personalization configurations, and monitoring for unauthorized modifications to user settings. Additionally, network segmentation and access controls should be strengthened around PeopleSoft environments, while security teams should conduct thorough assessments of personalization-related code and configurations to identify potential additional vulnerabilities in similar functionality. The vulnerability underscores the importance of comprehensive security testing for personalization features and proper input validation mechanisms in enterprise application platforms.