CVE-2018-2636 in Hospitality Simphony
Summary
by MITRE
Vulnerability in the Oracle Hospitality Simphony component of Oracle Hospitality Applications (subcomponent: Security). Supported versions that are affected are 2.7, 2.8 and 2.9. Difficult to exploit vulnerability allows unauthenticated attacker with network access via HTTP to compromise Oracle Hospitality Simphony. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in takeover of Oracle Hospitality Simphony. CVSS 3.0 Base Score 8.1 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/16/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-2636 resides within the Oracle Hospitality Simphony component of Oracle Hospitality Applications, specifically within the Security subcomponent. This critical flaw affects versions 2.7, 2.8, and 2.9 of the software, representing a significant risk to hospitality organizations that rely on this platform for their operational systems. The vulnerability manifests as a difficult-to-exploit issue that enables unauthenticated attackers to compromise the target system through HTTP network access, making it particularly dangerous given the widespread use of HTTP protocols in enterprise environments.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient authentication mechanisms within the Oracle Hospitality Simphony application, allowing unauthorized network access to potentially execute malicious code or gain full control over the system. The CVSS 3.0 scoring of 8.1 reflects the high severity of the impact, with scores of 8.1 for confidentiality, integrity, and availability, indicating that successful exploitation could result in complete system compromise. This vulnerability operates under the CVSS vector AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H, which demonstrates that network-based attacks require high complexity but offer full system compromise without requiring user interaction or privileged access.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data theft or system disruption, as it could lead to complete takeover of the Oracle Hospitality Simphony environment. This level of compromise would allow attackers to manipulate guest data, financial transactions, and operational systems, potentially causing significant financial loss and reputational damage to hospitality organizations. The attack surface is particularly concerning given that the vulnerability affects multiple versions simultaneously, suggesting a fundamental flaw in the security architecture that would require comprehensive patching across affected systems.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including network segmentation to restrict access to the affected systems, deployment of web application firewalls to monitor and filter HTTP traffic, and implementation of strict access controls to limit who can reach the vulnerable components. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-287, which addresses improper authentication issues, and maps to ATT&CK techniques related to initial access through network service exploitation. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify similar weaknesses in the broader hospitality application ecosystem, while incident response procedures must be updated to address potential compromise scenarios involving this specific vulnerability.