CVE-2018-2861 in Retail Back Office
Summary
by MITRE
Vulnerability in the Oracle Retail Back Office component of Oracle Retail Applications (subcomponent: Security). Supported versions that are affected are 13.4.9, 14.0.4 and 14.1.3. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows unauthenticated attacker with network access via HTTP to compromise Oracle Retail Back Office. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized read access to a subset of Oracle Retail Back Office accessible data and unauthorized ability to cause a partial denial of service (partial DOS) of Oracle Retail Back Office. CVSS 3.0 Base Score 6.5 (Confidentiality and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:L).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/03/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-2861 resides within the Oracle Retail Back Office component of Oracle Retail Applications, specifically within the Security subcomponent. This flaw affects multiple version streams including 13.4.9, 14.0.4, and 14.1.3, representing a significant exposure across the Oracle Retail product lineage. The vulnerability's classification as easily exploitable indicates that attackers require minimal prerequisites to leverage this weakness, making it particularly dangerous in production environments where such systems are often accessible over network boundaries.
The technical nature of this vulnerability manifests through an insufficient authorization mechanism that allows unauthenticated attackers to gain access to sensitive data within the Oracle Retail Back Office system. The attack vector operates through HTTP network connections, which means that any system hosting the vulnerable component and exposing HTTP services to external networks becomes immediately susceptible to exploitation. This weakness enables attackers to perform unauthorized read operations against a subset of accessible data, potentially exposing sensitive business information, customer records, or operational data that should remain protected within the retail environment.
The impact of successful exploitation extends beyond mere data exfiltration to include partial denial of service conditions that can significantly disrupt retail operations. This dual impact affects both confidentiality and availability aspects of the system's security posture, with the CVSS 3.0 score of 6.5 reflecting the balanced severity of these combined effects. The partial denial of service capability means that attackers can potentially degrade system performance or functionality without completely shutting down services, creating ongoing operational disruptions that can affect point-of-sale systems, inventory management, and other critical retail functions.
From a cybersecurity framework perspective, this vulnerability maps directly to CWE-284 (Improper Access Control) and aligns with ATT&CK techniques related to credential access and privilege escalation. The lack of authentication requirements for exploitation represents a fundamental flaw in the system's access control implementation, allowing attackers to bypass normal security boundaries. Organizations should consider implementing network segmentation to limit exposure of vulnerable systems, deploying web application firewalls to monitor and filter HTTP traffic, and ensuring that all systems are patched according to Oracle's security advisories. The vulnerability underscores the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches and conducting regular vulnerability assessments to identify and remediate similar access control weaknesses that could compromise retail infrastructure.