CVE-2018-2849 in Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management
Summary
by MITRE
Vulnerability in the Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management component of Oracle Construction and Engineering Suite (subcomponent: Web Access). Supported versions that are affected are 16.2 and 17.1 - 17.12. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows low privileged attacker with network access via HTTP to compromise Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management. While the vulnerability is in Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management, attacks may significantly impact additional products. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized access to critical data or complete access to all Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management accessible data. CVSS 3.0 Base Score 7.7 (Confidentiality impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/28/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-2849 resides within Oracle Construction and Engineering Suite's Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management component, specifically within the Web Access subcomponent. This security flaw affects versions 16.2 and 17.1 through 17.12 of the software, representing a significant concern for organizations utilizing project portfolio management solutions. The vulnerability's classification as easily exploitable indicates that attackers with minimal technical expertise can leverage this weakness, making it particularly dangerous in production environments where such systems handle sensitive project data and business-critical information. The attack vector requires only network access via HTTP, eliminating the need for physical access or complex prerequisites that would typically limit exploitation scope.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient authentication and authorization controls within the web access interface of Primavera P6. Attackers with low privileges can exploit this weakness to gain unauthorized access to critical data within the system, potentially compromising the entire project portfolio management environment. This flaw operates at the application layer and specifically targets the web interface components that manage user access and data retrieval. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond the immediate system as it can affect additional products within the Oracle Construction and Engineering Suite ecosystem, creating cascading security implications. The CVSS 3.0 base score of 7.7 reflects the high severity of this weakness, with the confidentiality impact rated as high, indicating that successful exploitation could result in unauthorized access to all accessible data within the Primavera P6 environment.
The operational impact of this vulnerability presents substantial risks to organizations relying on Primavera P6 for project portfolio management. Successful exploitation could lead to complete data compromise, potentially exposing sensitive project information, resource allocations, budget details, and strategic planning data that organizations consider critical business assets. The security implications extend to potential intellectual property theft, competitive disadvantage, and regulatory compliance violations that organizations may face. The vulnerability's ability to significantly impact additional products within the Oracle suite means that organizations may experience broader system compromise than initially anticipated. This could result in extended downtime, increased incident response costs, and potential legal ramifications from data breaches that may affect stakeholders and regulatory bodies.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying Oracle's security patches and updates as released for this vulnerability. Network segmentation and access controls should be strengthened to limit exposure of the affected system to unauthorized network access. Regular security assessments and monitoring of web access logs should be implemented to detect potential exploitation attempts. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 (Improper Access Control) and can be mapped to ATT&CK technique T1078 (Valid Accounts) as attackers may leverage compromised accounts to maintain access. Additionally, this vulnerability demonstrates characteristics of T1566 (Phishing) and T1190 (Exploit Public-Facing Application) in attack scenarios, emphasizing the need for comprehensive security controls. Organizations should also consider implementing network-based intrusion detection systems to monitor for exploitation attempts and establish incident response procedures specifically addressing this vulnerability type. The security community should also evaluate their existing security controls and consider adopting zero-trust security models to reduce the impact of such vulnerabilities in their environments.