CVE-2018-2672 in Hospitality Simphony
Summary
by MITRE
Vulnerability in the Oracle Hospitality Simphony component of Oracle Hospitality Applications (subcomponent: POS). Supported versions that are affected are 2.7, 2.8 and 2.9. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows unauthenticated attacker with network access via HTTP to compromise Oracle Hospitality Simphony. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized access to critical data or complete access to all Oracle Hospitality Simphony accessible data. CVSS 3.0 Base Score 7.5 (Confidentiality impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/31/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-2672 resides within the Oracle Hospitality Simphony component, specifically within the Point of Sale subcomponent of Oracle Hospitality Applications. This critical security flaw affects versions 2.7, 2.8, and 2.9 of the software, representing a significant risk to hospitality organizations that rely on this system for their operational infrastructure. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and represents a classic example of an insecure direct object reference issue that has been classified under CWE-284, which deals with improper access control mechanisms. The flaw stems from insufficient authentication requirements for specific API endpoints, allowing attackers to bypass normal access controls without proper credentials.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through unauthenticated network access via HTTP protocols, making it particularly dangerous as it requires no prior authentication or privileged access to initiate attacks. The CVSS 3.0 scoring of 7.5 reflects the high severity of the flaw, with a base score of 7.5 indicating a high impact on confidentiality without affecting integrity or availability. The attack vector AV:N indicates network-based exploitation, while AC:L demonstrates that the attack requires low complexity to execute successfully. The lack of privileges required PR:N and absence of user interaction UI:N suggest that the vulnerability can be exploited automatically without any human intervention, making it particularly concerning for enterprise environments. The scope of the vulnerability S:U indicates that it affects the same security scope as the vulnerable component, meaning the compromise affects the targeted system's data confidentiality directly.
The operational impact of successful exploitation can be devastating for hospitality organizations, potentially leading to unauthorized access to critical financial data, customer information, transaction records, and other sensitive business data stored within the Simphony system. This vulnerability essentially provides an attacker with complete access to all data accessible through the compromised system, creating potential for significant financial loss, data breaches, and regulatory compliance violations. Organizations using this software may face substantial reputational damage, legal consequences, and financial penalties if customer data is compromised. The vulnerability's classification under the ATT&CK framework would fall under T1071.004 for application layer protocol usage and potentially T1046 for network service scanning that might be used to identify vulnerable systems. The attack surface is particularly concerning for organizations that process sensitive payment information and personal customer data, as the vulnerability could enable attackers to extract complete transaction histories and customer records.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigations including network segmentation to isolate the affected systems, implementing strict firewall rules to restrict access to the vulnerable HTTP endpoints, and applying the official Oracle patches released to address this vulnerability. Additional protective measures should include monitoring network traffic for suspicious HTTP requests, implementing intrusion detection systems, and conducting regular vulnerability assessments to identify similar issues within the broader IT infrastructure. The remediation process should involve thorough testing of patches in controlled environments before deployment to production systems, ensuring that critical business operations are not disrupted while addressing the security gap. Organizations should also consider implementing additional access controls and authentication mechanisms for any exposed APIs to reduce the attack surface and provide defense in depth. Regular security awareness training for IT staff and management is essential to ensure proper incident response procedures are followed when similar vulnerabilities are discovered in other systems.