CVE-2017-3501 in Primavera Unifier
Summary
by MITRE
Vulnerability in the Primavera Unifier component of Oracle Primavera Products Suite (subcomponent: Platform). Supported versions that are affected are 9.13, 9.14, 10.0, 10.1, 15.1 and 15.2. Easily "exploitable" vulnerability allows unauthenticated attacker with network access via HTTP to compromise Primavera Unifier. Successful attacks require human interaction from a person other than the attacker and while the vulnerability is in Primavera Unifier, attacks may significantly impact additional products. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized update, insert or delete access to some of Primavera Unifier accessible data as well as unauthorized read access to a subset of Primavera Unifier 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 • 12/20/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-3501 affects the Primavera Unifier component within Oracle Primavera Products Suite, specifically within the Platform subcomponent. This security flaw exists in multiple versions including 9.13, 9.14, 10.0, 10.1, 15.1, and 15.2, representing a significant exposure across the product lifecycle. The vulnerability's classification as easily exploitable indicates that attackers can leverage it without requiring specialized skills or extensive preparation, making it particularly dangerous in production environments where such systems are often accessible over networks.
The technical nature of this vulnerability lies in its ability to allow unauthenticated network-based attacks through HTTP protocols, which means that any attacker with access to the network can potentially exploit this weakness without requiring valid credentials or prior authentication. This characteristic places the vulnerability squarely within the Common Weakness Enumeration category CWE-287, which deals with authentication failures and improper authentication mechanisms. The attack vector requires network access via HTTP, making it particularly concerning for enterprise environments where such services are often exposed to external networks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond the immediate Primavera Unifier environment and can significantly affect additional products within the Oracle Primavera ecosystem. This cross-product impact suggests that the vulnerability may serve as a foothold for broader attacks or may enable privilege escalation across interconnected systems. The successful exploitation of this vulnerability enables attackers to perform unauthorized operations including updates, inserts, and deletes on sensitive data within the system, while also allowing unauthorized read access to specific subsets of data that should remain protected. The CVSS 3.0 base score of 6.1 reflects the moderate severity of the impact, with confidentiality and integrity being the primary affected components, though availability remains relatively unaffected as indicated by the score of zero.
The requirement for human interaction from a person other than the attacker indicates that this vulnerability may involve some form of social engineering or user manipulation component, potentially requiring users to perform actions such as clicking on malicious links or opening compromised attachments. This human factor component makes the vulnerability particularly challenging to defend against since it cannot be mitigated purely through technical controls. The CVSS vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N) clearly demonstrates that the attack requires network access with low complexity, no prior privileges, and human interaction, while the scope expansion (S:C) indicates that the impact can extend beyond the immediate system to affect additional products.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including network segmentation to limit access to Primavera Unifier services, deploying web application firewalls to monitor and filter HTTP traffic, and ensuring that all systems are updated to patched versions of the software. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of principle of least privilege implementations and regular security assessments to identify similar authentication and authorization weaknesses. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing network monitoring solutions to detect anomalous access patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts, and establish incident response procedures specifically tailored to address vulnerabilities that enable unauthorized data manipulation and access.