CVE-2018-2704 in Banking Payments
Summary
by MITRE
Vulnerability in the Oracle Banking Payments component of Oracle Financial Services Applications (subcomponent: Payments Core). Supported versions that are affected are 12.3.0 and 12.4.0. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows low privileged attacker with network access via HTTP to compromise Oracle Banking Payments. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized creation, deletion or modification access to critical data or all Oracle Banking Payments accessible data and unauthorized ability to cause a hang or frequently repeatable crash (complete DOS) of Oracle Banking Payments. CVSS 3.0 Base Score 8.1 (Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/30/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-2704 resides within the Oracle Banking Payments component of Oracle Financial Services Applications, specifically within the Payments Core subcomponent. This flaw affects Oracle Financial Services Applications versions 12.3.0 and 12.4.0, representing a critical security gap that exposes financial institutions to significant operational risks. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and demonstrates the inherent dangers present in complex financial software ecosystems where multiple interconnected components must maintain strict security boundaries. Organizations utilizing these specific versions face potential exposure to sophisticated attacks that could compromise their entire payment processing infrastructure.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through HTTP network access, requiring only a low privileged attacker to initiate successful compromises. This attack vector aligns with common web application exploitation techniques and represents a significant concern for financial institutions that rely heavily on web-based payment processing systems. The vulnerability's classification as easily exploitable indicates that the attack surface is well-understood and that minimal technical expertise is required to leverage the flaw effectively. The CVSS 3.0 scoring system assigns this vulnerability a base score of 8.1, reflecting the substantial impact across both integrity and availability domains, while the attack complexity is rated as low, making it particularly dangerous for organizations with insufficient security controls.
The operational impact of successful exploitation encompasses unauthorized modification, creation, and deletion access to all critical data within the Oracle Banking Payments system. This level of access allows attackers to manipulate payment records, alter transaction histories, and potentially redirect funds through the compromised payment processing infrastructure. The availability impact extends beyond simple data corruption to include the potential for complete denial of service conditions, where attackers can cause system hangs or frequent crashes that render the payment processing system completely unusable. This dual impact on both data integrity and system availability creates cascading operational problems that can severely disrupt financial operations and customer service delivery. The vulnerability's potential to cause complete system crashes represents a serious concern for financial institutions that require 24/7 payment processing capabilities and cannot afford extended downtime.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigation strategies including applying the relevant Oracle security patches and updates to address the vulnerability in affected versions. Network segmentation and access controls should be strengthened to limit HTTP access to only authorized personnel and systems. Security monitoring should be enhanced to detect unusual patterns of access or modification attempts within the payment processing environment. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of maintaining current security patches and implementing defense-in-depth strategies that protect critical financial infrastructure from both external and internal threats. Compliance with industry standards such as those outlined in the CWE (Common Weakness Enumeration) catalog and ATT&CK framework should be considered to ensure comprehensive protection against similar vulnerabilities. Financial institutions must also review their incident response procedures to ensure rapid detection and remediation of similar threats that may exploit weaknesses in their payment processing systems.