CVE-2018-2982 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. Difficult to exploit 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 access to critical data or complete access to all Oracle FLEXCUBE Universal Banking accessible data. CVSS 3.0 Base Score 5.3 (Confidentiality impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/10/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-2982 resides within Oracle FLEXCUBE Universal Banking, a critical component of Oracle Financial Services Applications that serves as the backbone for banking operations. This particular flaw exists in the Infrastructure subcomponent and affects multiple versions including 11.3.0 through 14.1.0, representing a substantial attack surface across the product lifecycle. The vulnerability classification as difficult to exploit indicates that while sophisticated attackers can leverage it, the attack vector requires specific conditions and expertise. The CVSS 3.0 score of 5.3 with a vector of AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N establishes this as a medium-severity issue with network-based exploitation capabilities, low privilege requirements, and significant confidentiality impact.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and access control mechanisms within the FLEXCUBE Universal Banking infrastructure. Attackers with minimal privileges and network access via HTTP can potentially exploit this weakness to gain unauthorized access to sensitive banking data. The vulnerability's design flaw likely involves improper authentication checks or inadequate authorization controls that allow malicious actors to bypass normal security boundaries. This weakness manifests as a potential data breach vector that could expose critical financial information, customer data, or operational details that would normally be restricted to authorized personnel only.
From an operational perspective, the impact of successful exploitation represents a significant threat to financial institutions utilizing this software platform. The ability to achieve complete access to all accessible data means that attackers could potentially compromise entire customer databases, transaction records, or internal operational information. This vulnerability directly affects the confidentiality pillar of the CIA triad and could lead to severe financial losses, regulatory penalties, and reputational damage. The low privilege requirement combined with network accessibility makes this particularly dangerous as it could be exploited by attackers with minimal initial access, potentially escalating to full system compromise through lateral movement.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including network segmentation to restrict access to FLEXCUBE Universal Banking components, deployment of web application firewalls to monitor and filter HTTP traffic, and implementation of strict access controls with multi-factor authentication. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify potential exploitation attempts. The remediation process should involve applying Oracle's official security patches and updates as soon as they become available, while also reviewing and strengthening existing access control policies. Additionally, continuous monitoring of network traffic for suspicious HTTP requests and implementing robust logging mechanisms will help detect potential exploitation attempts and provide evidence for forensic analysis. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 (Improper Access Control) and could be categorized under ATT&CK technique T1078 (Valid Accounts) and T1046 (Network Service Scanning) when exploited by threat actors.