CVE-2018-3076 in PeopleSoft Enterprise CS Financial Aid
Summary
by MITRE
Vulnerability in the PeopleSoft Enterprise CS Financial Aid component of Oracle PeopleSoft Products (subcomponent: ISIR Processing). Supported versions that are affected are 9.0 and 9.2. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows high privileged attacker with network access via HTTP to compromise PeopleSoft Enterprise CS Financial Aid. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized read access to a subset of PeopleSoft Enterprise CS Financial Aid accessible data. CVSS 3.0 Base Score 2.7 (Confidentiality impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/17/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-3076 resides within Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise CS Financial Aid component, specifically within the ISIR Processing subcomponent. This flaw affects Oracle PeopleSoft Products versions 9.0 and 9.2, representing a significant security concern for organizations utilizing these financial aid management systems. The vulnerability manifests as an insufficient authorization mechanism that permits unauthorized access to sensitive financial aid data through the web interface. The attack vector requires network access via HTTP, making it accessible to attackers who can establish connections to the target system's web services.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate access control validation within the ISIR Processing functionality. When legitimate users attempt to access financial aid records through the PeopleSoft web interface, the system fails to properly verify that the requesting user possesses appropriate authorization levels for the specific data being accessed. This authorization bypass allows an attacker with high privileges to exploit the system's trust model and gain unauthorized read access to sensitive financial aid information. The vulnerability's classification as easily exploitable indicates that the attack requires minimal specialized access or expertise to execute successfully.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability creates substantial risk for financial aid administrators and institutions relying on PeopleSoft systems. The confidentiality impact of CVSS score 2.7 indicates that unauthorized users can access sensitive student financial aid data including personal identification information, financial records, and academic status details. Such unauthorized access could lead to identity theft, financial fraud, and privacy violations affecting thousands of students. The attack requires only network connectivity and high privilege access, making it particularly dangerous as it can be executed by insiders or external attackers who have already compromised administrative credentials. Organizations may face regulatory compliance violations under data protection laws such as FERPA and GDPR, along with potential legal and financial consequences.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying Oracle's security patches and updates specifically addressing this vulnerability. Network segmentation and access control measures should be enhanced to limit direct HTTP access to PeopleSoft applications. The implementation of multi-factor authentication and privileged access management solutions can reduce the risk of unauthorized high privilege access. Regular security audits and monitoring of web application logs should be conducted to detect potential exploitation attempts. Additionally, organizations should review and strengthen their access control policies to ensure proper principle of least privilege is enforced across all PeopleSoft components. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 which addresses improper access control, and represents a significant concern under ATT&CK framework category T1078 for valid accounts and T1566 for social engineering techniques that could lead to privilege escalation.