CVE-2013-6860 in Adaptive Server Enterprise
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in SAP Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) before 15.0.3 ESD#4.3, 15.5 before 15.5 ESD#5.3, and 15.7 before 15.7 SP50 or 15.7 SP100 allows remote authenticated users to obtain sensitive information via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/20/2018
SAP Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise represents a critical enterprise database management system widely deployed in financial services, telecommunications, and government sectors where data confidentiality and integrity are paramount. The vulnerability identified as CVE-2013-6860 affects multiple version streams of this database server, specifically targeting ASE versions prior to 15.0.3 ESD#4.3, 15.5 before 15.5 ESD#5.3, and 15.7 before 15.7 SP50 or 15.7 SP100. This unspecified weakness creates a significant information disclosure risk that could compromise sensitive data assets across enterprise environments. The vulnerability impacts remote authenticated users, meaning that attackers who have legitimate access credentials can exploit this flaw to extract confidential information from the database system. This particular vulnerability falls under the CWE-200 category of "Information Exposure" and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1005 which focuses on data from local system repositories. The attack vector suggests that the exploitation does not require special privileges beyond authentication, making it particularly dangerous as it can be leveraged by insider threats or compromised legitimate users. Organizations utilizing these older ASE versions face substantial risk as the vulnerability allows for unauthorized data extraction without detection, potentially exposing customer records, financial data, or proprietary business information.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from inadequate access controls or insufficient input validation within the database server's authentication and authorization mechanisms. While the exact implementation details remain unspecified in the CVE description, such information disclosure vulnerabilities typically arise from improper handling of database metadata, session information, or internal system states that should remain confidential to authorized users. The affected versions indicate that this was a persistent issue across multiple release trains, suggesting a fundamental flaw in the database server's information protection mechanisms rather than a one-time coding error. Attackers could potentially exploit this vulnerability to gain insights into database structures, user permissions, or other sensitive operational details that would normally be restricted to privileged administrators. The remote nature of the attack means that exploitation can occur from any network location where the database is accessible, eliminating the need for physical proximity or network infiltration. This characteristic significantly broadens the potential attack surface and makes the vulnerability particularly attractive to threat actors seeking to gather intelligence before launching more sophisticated attacks. The fact that the vulnerability affects multiple version streams indicates that SAP may have failed to properly address the underlying issue across their release cycles, creating a prolonged window of exposure for affected organizations.
Organizations running the vulnerable ASE versions face potentially severe operational consequences including regulatory violations, financial losses, and reputational damage from data breaches. The information disclosure could enable attackers to map database schemas, identify user accounts, or discover system configurations that would facilitate subsequent attacks such as privilege escalation or data manipulation. This vulnerability particularly impacts industries governed by strict compliance frameworks such as pci dss, hipaa, and soc 2, where unauthorized data access can result in significant penalties and legal consequences. The attack scenario becomes more concerning when considering that the vulnerability affects database servers that likely contain highly sensitive information such as customer financial records, personal identification data, or business-critical operational data. Organizations may experience cascading security incidents where initial information disclosure leads to more severe compromises, as attackers can use the discovered information to plan targeted attacks against specific users or database components. The long timeframe between vulnerability disclosure and patch availability for affected versions suggests that many organizations may have remained exposed for extended periods, increasing the likelihood of successful exploitation and potential data breaches.
The recommended mitigation strategy centers on immediate patch application to the affected ASE versions, with organizations prioritizing the upgrade to the latest supported releases that contain the vulnerability fixes. SAP released patches and service packs specifically addressing this issue in the subsequent releases, and organizations should immediately implement these updates to eliminate the exposure. Network segmentation and access control measures should be enhanced to limit the attack surface, particularly restricting database access to only essential users and systems. Implementing robust monitoring and logging for database activities can help detect unusual access patterns or attempts to exploit the information disclosure vulnerability. Organizations should conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments to identify all instances of affected ASE versions within their infrastructure and prioritize remediation efforts based on risk exposure. Additionally, implementing database activity monitoring solutions can provide visibility into potential exploitation attempts and aid in incident response efforts. Security teams should also review and strengthen authentication mechanisms, ensuring that all database users have appropriate access controls and that privilege escalation paths are properly managed. The vulnerability highlights the importance of maintaining current security patches and the need for continuous monitoring of third-party software components to prevent exploitation of known vulnerabilities. Organizations should also consider implementing database encryption for sensitive data at rest to provide additional protection layers even if database-level access controls are compromised.