CVE-2017-3496 in FLEXCUBE Enterprise Limits
Summary
by MITRE
Vulnerability in the Oracle FLEXCUBE Enterprise Limits and Collateral Management component of Oracle Financial Services Applications (subcomponent: Infrastructure). Supported versions that are affected are 12.0.0 and 12.1.0. Easily "exploitable" vulnerability allows unauthenticated attacker with network access via HTTP to compromise Oracle FLEXCUBE Enterprise Limits and Collateral Management. Successful attacks require human interaction from a person other than the attacker and while the vulnerability is in Oracle FLEXCUBE Enterprise Limits and Collateral Management, attacks may significantly impact additional products. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized update, insert or delete access to some of Oracle FLEXCUBE Enterprise Limits and Collateral Management accessible data as well as unauthorized read access to a subset of Oracle FLEXCUBE Enterprise Limits and Collateral Management accessible data. CVSS 3.0 Base Score 6.1 (Confidentiality and Integrity impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/19/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-3496 resides within Oracle FLEXCUBE Enterprise Limits and Collateral Management, a critical component of Oracle Financial Services Applications that governs financial risk management operations. This vulnerability specifically affects versions 12.0.0 and 12.1.0 of the software, representing a significant security weakness that can be exploited by unauthenticated attackers with network-level access through HTTP protocols. The vulnerability's classification as easily exploitable indicates that the attack surface requires minimal technical expertise or resources to compromise, making it particularly dangerous in production environments where such systems handle sensitive financial data and regulatory compliance requirements.
The technical flaw manifests as a security weakness in the infrastructure layer of the FLEXCUBE application, allowing attackers to perform unauthorized operations against the system's data management capabilities. The vulnerability operates through HTTP network access without requiring authentication credentials, which means that any attacker with network connectivity to the affected system could potentially exploit this weakness. The CVSS 3.0 scoring system assigns this vulnerability a base score of 6.1, reflecting moderate severity with specific impacts to both confidentiality and integrity. The attack vector AV:N indicates network-based exploitation, while AC:L suggests low attack complexity, making the vulnerability accessible to a broad range of potential threat actors.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond the immediate compromise of the FLEXCUBE system itself, as successful exploitation can result in unauthorized modification of critical financial data including updates, inserts, and deletions of information within the limits and collateral management framework. Additionally, attackers can gain unauthorized read access to subsets of sensitive data, potentially exposing confidential financial information that could be used for fraudulent activities or regulatory violations. The vulnerability's potential to affect additional products within the Oracle Financial Services ecosystem means that compromise of this single component could create cascading security issues across interconnected financial applications and services. This characteristic aligns with the ATT&CK framework's concept of privilege escalation and lateral movement, where initial access through one vulnerable component can lead to broader system compromise.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including network segmentation to restrict access to the affected FLEXCUBE components, deployment of web application firewalls to monitor and filter HTTP traffic, and implementation of strict access controls for administrative functions. The vulnerability's requirement for human interaction suggests that security awareness training for system administrators and financial personnel is crucial to prevent social engineering attacks that could exploit this weakness. Patch management procedures should be prioritized to ensure timely deployment of Oracle's security patches and updates. The CWE classification for this vulnerability would likely fall under CWE-284 (Improper Access Control) or CWE-352 (Cross-Site Request Forgery), reflecting the fundamental weakness in access control mechanisms that allows unauthorized data manipulation and read operations. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify similar weaknesses in other financial applications within the organization's infrastructure.