CVE-2018-3256 in E-Business Suite
Summary
by MITRE
Vulnerability in the Oracle Email Center component of Oracle E-Business Suite (subcomponent: Message Display). 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 Email Center. Successful attacks require human interaction from a person other than the attacker and while the vulnerability is in Oracle Email Center, attacks may significantly impact additional products. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized update, insert or delete access to some of Oracle Email Center accessible data. CVSS 3.0 Base Score 4.7 (Integrity impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/26/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-3256 resides within the Oracle Email Center component of Oracle E-Business Suite, specifically within the Message Display subcomponent. This flaw represents a significant security weakness that affects multiple version streams 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 suggests that attackers can leverage it with minimal technical sophistication, making it particularly dangerous in production environments where such systems handle sensitive business communications and data.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation within the email message display functionality, creating opportunities for malicious actors to manipulate the system through HTTP network connections without requiring authentication credentials. This unauthenticated access capability allows attackers to perform unauthorized operations against the affected Oracle Email Center system, specifically targeting data integrity through update, insert, or delete operations on accessible data. The CVSS 3.0 scoring of 4.7 reflects the moderate severity impact primarily focused on integrity concerns, though the potential for broader system compromise exists given the interconnected nature of enterprise applications.
Operational impact assessment reveals that successful exploitation requires human interaction from users other than the attacker, suggesting this vulnerability may be exploited through social engineering tactics or by targeting specific user workflows within the email center environment. The attack vector through HTTP network access indicates that organizations with exposed web services or insufficient network segmentation may be particularly vulnerable. While the immediate impact is limited to data modification operations, the broader implications extend beyond the isolated Email Center component as the attack may significantly affect other connected products within the Oracle E-Business Suite ecosystem, creating cascading security risks.
Security professionals should recognize this vulnerability as aligning with CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation) and potentially mapping to ATT&CK techniques involving privilege escalation and data manipulation. The vulnerability's characteristics suggest it may be exploited through techniques such as cross-site scripting or injection attacks that leverage the message display functionality to execute malicious payloads. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including network access controls to restrict HTTP access to the Email Center services, application firewalls to monitor and filter suspicious requests, and comprehensive patch management procedures to address the underlying validation flaws. Additionally, security monitoring should focus on detecting anomalous data modification patterns and unauthorized access attempts to identify potential exploitation attempts.
The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of input validation in web-based email systems and highlights the need for comprehensive security testing of message processing components within enterprise applications. Organizations should also consider implementing user access controls and privilege management to limit the scope of potential damage from such vulnerabilities, while maintaining regular security assessments to identify similar weaknesses in other components of their Oracle E-Business Suite deployments.