CVE-2018-2596 in WebCenter Content
Summary
by MITRE
Vulnerability in the Oracle WebCenter Content component of Oracle Fusion Middleware (subcomponent: Content Server). Supported versions that are affected are 11.1.1.9.0, 12.2.1.2.0 and 12.2.1.3.0. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows unauthenticated attacker with network access via HTTP to compromise Oracle WebCenter Content. Successful attacks require human interaction from a person other than the attacker and while the vulnerability is in Oracle WebCenter Content, attacks may significantly impact additional products. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized creation, deletion or modification access to critical data or all Oracle WebCenter Content accessible data as well as unauthorized read access to a subset of Oracle WebCenter Content accessible data. CVSS 3.0 Base Score 8.2 (Confidentiality and Integrity impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:N).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/30/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-2596 resides within Oracle WebCenter Content component of Oracle Fusion Middleware, specifically within the Content Server subcomponent. This flaw affects multiple supported versions including 11.1.1.9.0, 12.2.1.2.0, and 12.2.1.3.0, representing a significant security gap in enterprise content management systems. The vulnerability's classification as easily exploitable indicates that attackers can leverage this weakness without requiring specialized skills or extensive resources, making it particularly dangerous in production environments where such systems handle sensitive organizational data.
The technical nature of this vulnerability allows unauthenticated attackers to compromise Oracle WebCenter Content through HTTP network connections, eliminating the need for valid credentials or prior access to the system. This represents a critical flaw in the authentication and authorization mechanisms of the content management platform. The CVSS 3.0 score of 8.2 reflects the severity of impact, with the vector AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:N indicating network-based attack surface with low attack complexity, no privilege requirements, and requiring human interaction for successful exploitation. The score emphasizes both confidentiality and integrity impacts while noting the potential for significant consequences across multiple products.
Operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond the immediate compromise of Oracle WebCenter Content data. The successful exploitation enables attackers to perform unauthorized creation, deletion, or modification operations on critical data, potentially leading to complete data corruption or loss. Additionally, attackers can gain unauthorized read access to sensitive subsets of accessible data, creating exposure risks for confidential information. The requirement for human interaction suggests that attackers may need to trick users into performing specific actions, such as clicking malicious links or visiting compromised web pages, which aligns with social engineering tactics commonly employed in advanced persistent threat campaigns. This vulnerability's potential to affect additional products demonstrates the interconnected nature of enterprise systems and how a single weakness can propagate across multiple components.
Mitigation strategies should focus on immediate patch deployment for affected versions, implementing network-level controls such as firewalls and access control lists to restrict HTTP access to Content Server components, and conducting comprehensive security assessments of all content management systems. Organizations should also review and strengthen their user education programs to reduce the risk of social engineering attacks that could exploit this vulnerability. The implementation of proper monitoring and logging mechanisms becomes critical for detecting unauthorized access attempts. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-287 (Improper Authentication) and may be categorized under ATT&CK techniques related to credential access and privilege escalation. Regular vulnerability assessments and security audits should be conducted to identify similar weaknesses in other enterprise applications and systems. Organizations must also consider implementing network segmentation strategies to limit the blast radius of potential exploitation and establish incident response procedures specifically designed to address content management system compromises.