CVE-2015-4781 in Berkeley DB
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in the Data Store component in Oracle Berkeley DB 11.2.5.1.29, 11.2.5.2.42, 11.2.5.3.28, and 12.1.6.0.35 allows local users to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability via unknown vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-2583, CVE-2015-2624, CVE-2015-2626, CVE-2015-2640, CVE-2015-2654, CVE-2015-2656, CVE-2015-4754, CVE-2015-4764, CVE-2015-4775, CVE-2015-4776, CVE-2015-4777, CVE-2015-4778, CVE-2015-4780, CVE-2015-4782, CVE-2015-4783, CVE-2015-4784, CVE-2015-4785, CVE-2015-4786, CVE-2015-4787, CVE-2015-4789, and CVE-2015-4790.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/27/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2015-4781 represents a significant security weakness within Oracle Berkeley DB's Data Store component, affecting multiple version releases including 11.2.5.1.29, 11.2.5.2.42, 11.2.5.3.28, and 12.1.6.0.35. This unspecified flaw resides within the foundational data storage infrastructure that millions of applications rely upon for persistent data management, creating a potential attack surface that could compromise the fundamental security properties of confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The vulnerability's classification as unspecified indicates that Oracle did not provide detailed technical information about the precise mechanism or attack vector, which is typical for certain classes of memory corruption or logic flaws that may manifest in complex ways depending on system configuration and usage patterns.
The Data Store component in Oracle Berkeley DB serves as a critical backend for applications requiring high-performance database operations, particularly in environments where data persistence and transactional integrity are paramount. This component handles core database functions including data storage, retrieval, indexing, and transaction management, making it a prime target for attackers seeking to compromise system security. The unspecified nature of the vulnerability suggests that it may involve complex interactions between multiple system components or may be triggered through various pathways that were not fully enumerated in the initial disclosure. Such ambiguities in vulnerability descriptions often indicate sophisticated flaws that could potentially be exploited through multiple attack vectors, complicating both detection and remediation efforts for system administrators.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability presents substantial risks to organizations relying on Oracle Berkeley DB for critical data operations. The potential compromise of confidentiality means that sensitive data could be accessed by unauthorized local users, while integrity violations could result in data corruption or manipulation that goes undetected. The availability impact suggests that attackers might be able to disrupt database services through denial-of-service conditions or other mechanisms that prevent legitimate access to stored information. The vulnerability's presence in multiple versions indicates that organizations using any of these specific releases face similar risks, requiring comprehensive assessment and remediation across their deployed environments. This type of vulnerability is particularly concerning in enterprise environments where database systems often contain sensitive information including personal data, financial records, and proprietary business information.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability likely involves sophisticated attack techniques that leverage local user privileges to gain unauthorized access to database resources. According to cybersecurity frameworks such as CWE (Common Weakness Enumeration), this vulnerability may relate to weaknesses in data storage or memory management within database systems, potentially involving buffer overflows, improper access controls, or other fundamental security flaws in the data handling mechanisms. The ATT&CK framework would classify this vulnerability within the context of privilege escalation and data access techniques, where attackers could leverage local access to expand their control over database resources. Organizations should consider implementing comprehensive monitoring solutions to detect anomalous database access patterns or unauthorized modifications that might indicate exploitation attempts.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2015-4781 should focus on immediate patch management to upgrade to patched versions of Oracle Berkeley DB, while also implementing additional security controls including strict access controls, regular security assessments, and monitoring for suspicious database activities. System administrators should conduct thorough inventory assessments to identify all systems running affected versions, and implement network segmentation to limit local user access to database servers. The vulnerability's unspecified nature suggests that organizations should also consider implementing intrusion detection systems and behavioral analytics to identify potential exploitation attempts, as traditional signature-based detection methods may be insufficient to identify all attack vectors. Regular vulnerability scanning and security audits should be conducted to ensure that no other related vulnerabilities exist within the database environment, particularly given the multiple CVE identifiers mentioned in the description that suggest a pattern of related security issues within the same product line.