CVE-2018-2974 in FLEXCUBE Universal Banking
Summary
by MITRE
Vulnerability in the Oracle FLEXCUBE Universal Banking component of Oracle Financial Services Applications (subcomponent: Infrastructure). Supported versions that are affected are 11.3.0, 11.4.0, 12.0.1, 12.0.2, 12.0.3, 12.1.0, 12.2.0, 12.3.0, 12.4.0, 14.0.0 and 14.1.0. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows low privileged attacker with network access via HTTP to compromise Oracle FLEXCUBE Universal Banking. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized update, insert or delete access to some of Oracle FLEXCUBE Universal Banking accessible data as well as unauthorized read access to a subset of Oracle FLEXCUBE Universal Banking accessible data and unauthorized ability to cause a partial denial of service (partial DOS) of Oracle FLEXCUBE Universal Banking. CVSS 3.0 Base Score 6.3 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/10/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-2974 affects Oracle FLEXCUBE Universal Banking, a core component within Oracle Financial Services Applications that serves as a foundational infrastructure for banking operations. This particular flaw resides within the infrastructure subcomponent of the financial services platform and impacts multiple major versions including 11.3.0 through 14.1.0, representing a significant attack surface across the product lifecycle. The vulnerability is classified as easily exploitable, indicating that attackers with minimal technical sophistication can leverage this weakness to compromise the targeted system, making it particularly dangerous in production environments where financial data integrity and security are paramount.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient access controls and authentication mechanisms within the HTTP interface of the FLEXCUBE Universal Banking system. Attackers with low privilege levels and network access can exploit this weakness to gain unauthorized access to critical banking data and operations. The vulnerability specifically enables unauthorized update, insert, and delete operations against certain data accessible through the system, while also providing unauthorized read access to a subset of the data. Additionally, the flaw allows attackers to cause partial denial of service conditions, which can disrupt normal banking operations and potentially impact customer service availability.
From a security impact perspective, this vulnerability represents a serious concern for financial institutions using Oracle FLEXCUBE Universal Banking as it affects all three core security principles defined in the CIA triad. The confidentiality impact is rated as low, indicating that attackers can access sensitive financial data, though not all data within the system. The integrity impact is also rated as low, meaning attackers can modify data through unauthorized update, insert, or delete operations, potentially corrupting financial records or manipulating transactions. The availability impact is rated as low, suggesting partial denial of service conditions that could disrupt system operations but not completely incapacitate the banking platform. The CVSS 3.0 score of 6.3 indicates a medium severity vulnerability that requires immediate attention from security administrators.
The attack vector for this vulnerability is network-based HTTP access, which means that attackers can exploit this weakness remotely without requiring physical access to the system. This characteristic aligns with ATT&CK technique T1190 for exploiting vulnerabilities and T1071 for application layer protocols, as attackers can leverage HTTP communications to reach the vulnerable interface. The low privilege requirement (PR:L) indicates that the vulnerability does not require elevated access rights to exploit, making it accessible to attackers with basic user accounts or even unauthenticated access in some scenarios. This vulnerability also maps to CWE-284 (Improper Access Control) which directly addresses the insufficient authorization mechanisms that enable attackers to perform unauthorized operations.
Organizations utilizing affected versions of Oracle FLEXCUBE Universal Banking should prioritize immediate remediation through Oracle's official security patches and updates. The mitigation strategy should include implementing network segmentation to restrict access to the vulnerable HTTP interfaces, deploying web application firewalls to monitor and filter malicious traffic, and conducting comprehensive security assessments to identify any potential exploitation attempts. Additionally, organizations should review and strengthen their access control policies, implement proper network monitoring for unusual HTTP traffic patterns, and establish incident response procedures specifically designed to address this type of vulnerability. Regular vulnerability scanning and penetration testing should be conducted to identify similar weaknesses in the broader financial services infrastructure, as this vulnerability demonstrates the importance of maintaining up-to-date security controls in complex financial applications. The affected versions span multiple major releases, indicating that this vulnerability may have persisted across several iterations of the software, highlighting the need for comprehensive patch management processes and continuous security monitoring in financial environments.