CVE-2018-2848 in Hospitality Simphony First Edition
Summary
by MITRE
Vulnerability in the Oracle Hospitality Simphony First Edition component of Oracle Hospitality Applications (subcomponent: Client Application Loader). Supported versions that are affected are 1.6 and 1.7. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows unauthenticated attacker with network access via HTTP to compromise Oracle Hospitality Simphony First Edition. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized access to critical data or complete access to all Oracle Hospitality Simphony First Edition 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).
Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/02/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-2848 resides within the Oracle Hospitality Simphony First Edition component, specifically within the Client Application Loader subcomponent. This flaw affects versions 1.6 and 1.7 of the Oracle Hospitality Applications suite, which are widely deployed in hospitality environments for managing point-of-sale systems and customer transactions. The vulnerability represents a critical security weakness that fundamentally compromises the integrity of hospitality management systems where these applications are implemented.
This vulnerability manifests as an authentication bypass flaw that operates through the HTTP protocol, allowing attackers to exploit the system without requiring any valid credentials or prior authentication. The technical nature of this flaw stems from insufficient input validation and inadequate access controls within the Client Application Loader component, which fails to properly authenticate incoming requests before granting access to sensitive system resources. The vulnerability's exploitability score of 7.5 on the CVSS 3.0 scale indicates a high-risk threat that can be executed with minimal technical expertise and network access.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data access, as it provides attackers with the capability to gain unauthorized access to critical data within the Oracle Hospitality Simphony environment. This includes sensitive customer information, transaction records, payment data, and potentially system configuration details that could enable further compromise of the broader hospitality infrastructure. The confidentiality impact rating of high (C:H) demonstrates that successful exploitation can result in complete exposure of all accessible data within the system, potentially affecting thousands of customer transactions and personal information records. The lack of user interaction requirements (UI:N) and the ability to exploit from remote network locations (AV:N) make this vulnerability particularly dangerous in production environments where these systems are exposed to external networks.
Organizations utilizing affected versions of Oracle Hospitality Simphony should immediately implement mitigations including network segmentation to restrict access to the vulnerable components, deployment of web application firewalls to filter malicious HTTP requests, and implementation of strong access controls for the Client Application Loader. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 (Improper Access Control) and can be mapped to ATT&CK techniques including T1190 (Exploit Public-Facing Application) and T1071.004 (Application Layer Protocol: DNS) for network reconnaissance activities. Regular patch management procedures should be established to ensure timely deployment of Oracle's security patches, while network monitoring should be enhanced to detect anomalous access patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date security controls in hospitality environments where customer data protection is paramount and regulatory compliance requirements are stringent.