CVE-2016-0572 in WebLogic Server
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in the Oracle WebLogic Server component in Oracle Fusion Middleware 10.3.6, 12.1.2, 12.1.3, and 12.2.1 allows remote attackers to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability via unknown vectors related to Coherence Container.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/04/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-0572 resides within Oracle WebLogic Server component of the Oracle Fusion Middleware suite, specifically affecting versions 10.3.6, 12.1.2, 12.1.3, and 12.2.1. This issue manifests within the Coherence Container functionality, which serves as a distributed caching and data management system integral to Oracle WebLogic Server deployments. The Coherence Container enables applications to distribute data across multiple server instances while maintaining consistency and providing high availability. The unspecified nature of the vulnerability indicates that the exact technical flaw remains undisclosed, though its classification suggests a critical security weakness that could potentially be exploited remotely without authentication.
The technical flaw within the Coherence Container component represents a significant concern for enterprise environments that rely on Oracle WebLogic Server for their application infrastructure. This distributed caching system operates as a critical component in many enterprise applications, managing shared data across multiple nodes and providing fault tolerance mechanisms. The vulnerability's impact spans all three fundamental principles of information security confidentiality, integrity, and availability, suggesting that an attacker could potentially gain unauthorized access to sensitive data, modify critical system information, or disrupt service availability. The Coherence Container's role in managing distributed data makes it particularly attractive to attackers seeking to compromise entire application clusters or extract confidential information from distributed caches.
From an operational standpoint, this vulnerability poses severe risks to organizations utilizing affected Oracle WebLogic Server versions, particularly those with extensive distributed caching implementations. The remote exploitation capability means that attackers can potentially compromise systems from outside the network perimeter without requiring valid credentials, making the attack surface significantly larger than typical internal vulnerabilities. Organizations relying on Coherence Container for mission-critical applications face potential data breaches, service disruptions, and system instability that could result in substantial financial losses and regulatory compliance issues. The vulnerability's presence in multiple versions indicates a widespread impact across different Oracle Fusion Middleware releases, requiring comprehensive remediation efforts across affected environments.
The attack surface for CVE-2016-0572 aligns with the ATT&CK framework's tactics related to initial access and privilege escalation, as attackers could potentially leverage this vulnerability to gain deeper system access. This vulnerability may be classified under CWE categories related to insufficient input validation or improper access control within distributed systems. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying Oracle's security patches, network segmentation to isolate WebLogic Server instances, and monitoring for suspicious network activity related to Coherence Container communications. The vulnerability's classification as a remote code execution risk places it within the critical severity category, warranting immediate attention from security teams and potentially triggering compliance requirements under standards such as pci dss and iso 27001. Regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to identify similar weaknesses in distributed caching systems and ensure comprehensive protection against similar threats.