CVE-2016-0441 in GlassFish Server
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in the Oracle GlassFish Server component in Oracle Fusion Middleware 3.1.2 allows remote authenticated users to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability via unknown vectors related to Embedded Server.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/04/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-0441 resides within Oracle GlassFish Server component of Oracle Fusion Middleware version 3.1.2, representing a critical security flaw that compromises the fundamental security principles of confidentiality, integrity, and availability. This issue specifically affects the Embedded Server functionality and impacts remote authenticated users who can exploit the vulnerability through unspecified attack vectors. The GlassFish Server serves as a robust application server platform that supports enterprise Java applications and web services, making it a critical component in enterprise infrastructure deployments where it handles sensitive business data and processes.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from weaknesses in the Embedded Server implementation that allows authenticated attackers to potentially manipulate system resources and data. While the exact technical details remain unspecified, such vulnerabilities typically involve flaws in access controls, input validation, or resource management mechanisms within the server's embedded components. The unspecified nature of the attack vectors suggests that the vulnerability may manifest through multiple pathways including but not limited to privilege escalation, data manipulation, or denial of service conditions. The embedded server functionality within GlassFish is designed to provide lightweight server capabilities, yet this feature introduces additional attack surface that can be exploited by malicious actors with valid authentication credentials.
The operational impact of CVE-2016-0441 extends beyond simple data compromise as it affects all three core security tenets. Confidentiality breaches could allow unauthorized access to sensitive enterprise data, integrity violations might enable data corruption or manipulation of business-critical information, and availability disruptions could result in service outages affecting business operations. Organizations utilizing Oracle Fusion Middleware 3.1.2 are particularly vulnerable since this version represents a widely deployed enterprise platform where the embedded server functionality is commonly used for development, testing, and production environments. The remote authenticated nature of the vulnerability means that attackers do not require physical access to the system but can exploit the flaw from network locations, significantly expanding the potential attack surface.
Security professionals should consider this vulnerability in the context of the MITRE ATT&CK framework, particularly focusing on privilege escalation and defense evasion techniques that attackers might employ through such server-side vulnerabilities. The Common Weakness Enumeration CWE catalog would likely classify this under weaknesses related to access control or resource management failures within application servers. Organizations should implement immediate mitigation strategies including applying Oracle's security patches, restricting network access to the GlassFish server, implementing network segmentation, and monitoring for suspicious authentication patterns. The vulnerability underscores the importance of maintaining up-to-date security configurations and conducting regular security assessments of enterprise application servers to prevent exploitation of embedded components that may not receive the same level of security attention as primary server functionalities.