CVE-2018-2377 in HANA Extended Application Services
Summary
by MITRE
In SAP HANA Extended Application Services, 1.0, some general server statistics and status information could be retrieved by unauthorized users.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/04/2020
SAP HANA Extended Application Services version 1.0 contains a critical information disclosure vulnerability that allows unauthorized users to access sensitive server statistics and status information. This vulnerability exists within the extended application services component of SAP HANA, which provides web application hosting capabilities and serves as a foundation for enterprise application deployment. The flaw stems from insufficient access controls and authentication mechanisms within the server status reporting functionality, enabling malicious actors to gather operational details about the system without proper authorization. The affected component operates as part of SAP HANA's application server infrastructure, handling requests from web applications and providing runtime services for enterprise applications.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability resides in the server statistics and status information retrieval mechanisms within the Extended Application Services framework. When unauthorized users send specific requests to the application server, the system fails to properly validate user credentials or authorization levels before returning detailed server metrics, performance data, and operational status information. This includes but is not limited to memory usage statistics, process information, connection details, and other diagnostic data that could reveal critical system architecture and operational characteristics. The vulnerability is classified as an information disclosure issue where proper access controls are bypassed, allowing unauthorized information access through the application layer.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant as it provides attackers with valuable reconnaissance information that could be used to plan more sophisticated attacks against the SAP HANA environment. The leaked server statistics and status information may reveal system configurations, resource utilization patterns, and operational behaviors that could aid in identifying system weaknesses, planning targeted attacks, or conducting further reconnaissance. This information disclosure could enable attackers to understand the system's capacity, identify potential resource exhaustion points, or discover misconfigurations that might lead to additional vulnerabilities. The exposure of such operational details reduces the overall security posture of the SAP HANA environment and could facilitate privilege escalation or other advanced attack vectors. According to CWE classification, this vulnerability maps to CWE-200 Information Exposure, while the ATT&CK framework would categorize this under T1082 System Information Discovery as attackers could gather intelligence about the target system's operational characteristics.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should immediately implement access control measures and authentication checks within the Extended Application Services component. The recommended mitigations include applying the relevant SAP security patches and updates, implementing proper authorization controls for status information retrieval, and configuring network-level access restrictions to limit exposure of the application server endpoints. System administrators should also review and tighten the security configuration of the SAP HANA Extended Application Services, ensuring that only authorized personnel can access server statistics and status information. Additionally, network segmentation and monitoring of access patterns to these endpoints should be implemented to detect potential unauthorized access attempts. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper access control implementation within application server components and highlights the need for comprehensive security testing of enterprise application platforms. Organizations should conduct thorough security assessments of their SAP HANA environments to identify and remediate similar information disclosure vulnerabilities that could compromise system integrity and confidentiality.