CVE-2018-2869 in E-Business Suite
Summary
by MITRE
Vulnerability in the Oracle Human Resources component of Oracle E-Business Suite (subcomponent: General Utilities). Supported versions that are affected are 12.1.1, 12.1.2, 12.1.3, 12.2.3, 12.2.4, 12.2.5, 12.2.6 and 12.2.7. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows unauthenticated attacker with network access via HTTP to compromise Oracle Human Resources. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized read access to a subset of Oracle Human Resources accessible data. CVSS 3.0 Base Score 5.3 (Confidentiality impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/28/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-2869 resides within the Oracle Human Resources component of the Oracle E-Business Suite, specifically within the General Utilities subcomponent. This flaw represents a significant security weakness that affects multiple versions of the Oracle E-Business Suite including 12.1.1 through 12.2.7, indicating a prolonged period of exposure across the product lifecycle. The vulnerability's classification as easily exploitable means that malicious actors can leverage it without requiring specialized skills or privileged access, making it particularly dangerous in production environments where sensitive human resources data is stored.
The technical nature of this vulnerability involves an insufficient authorization mechanism that allows unauthenticated attackers to access Oracle Human Resources data through HTTP network connections. This weakness creates an unauthorized access vector where network-based adversaries can exploit the system without needing valid credentials or authentication tokens. The vulnerability's CVSS score of 5.3 reflects its medium severity impact, specifically targeting confidentiality aspects with a low attack complexity and no requirement for user interaction or privileges. The CVSS vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N) indicates network-based access, low attack complexity, no privilege requirements, no user interaction, and unscoped impact with only confidentiality implications.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data exposure, as it allows attackers to access a subset of Oracle Human Resources accessible data without authentication. This unauthorized read access can potentially expose sensitive employee information including personal details, compensation data, performance records, and other confidential human resources information. The scope of the compromised data subset suggests that while not all data is accessible, enough sensitive information exists to create substantial risk for organizations. The vulnerability's presence in multiple versions indicates that organizations maintaining older releases of the Oracle E-Business Suite remain at risk, potentially exposing decades of accumulated human resources data.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigation strategies including network segmentation to limit access to the Oracle E-Business Suite components, implementing strong firewall rules to restrict HTTP access, and applying the relevant Oracle security patches. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284, which describes improper access control issues, and represents a clear violation of the principle of least privilege in system security design. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques involving initial access through network service exploitation and credential dumping, as attackers can potentially escalate their access through additional exploitation once initial unauthorized access is achieved. The lack of required privileges or user interaction makes this vulnerability particularly attractive to automated attack tools and opportunistic threat actors seeking to compromise enterprise systems.