CVE-2019-2979 in FLEXCUBE Direct Banking
Summary
by MITRE
Vulnerability in the Oracle FLEXCUBE Direct Banking product of Oracle Financial Services Applications (component: Payments). Supported versions that are affected are 12.0.2 and 12.0.3. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows low privileged attacker with network access via HTTP to compromise Oracle FLEXCUBE Direct Banking. Successful attacks require human interaction from a person other than the attacker. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized creation, deletion or modification access to critical data or all Oracle FLEXCUBE Direct Banking accessible data. CVSS 3.0 Base Score 5.7 (Integrity impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/09/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2019-2979 affects Oracle FLEXCUBE Direct Banking, a critical component within Oracle Financial Services Applications that handles payment processing operations. This vulnerability resides within the payments subsystem of FLEXCUBE Direct Banking version 12.0.2 and 12.0.3, representing a significant security weakness that could compromise the integrity of financial transaction data. The flaw manifests as an insufficient authorization mechanism that allows attackers to manipulate payment processing workflows without proper credentials or elevated privileges. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and specifically targets the authentication and authorization controls that govern access to payment processing functions.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability requires an attacker to have network access via HTTP protocol and demonstrates a low privilege requirement for successful compromise. The attacker must initiate a specific sequence of HTTP requests that leverage the authorization bypass flaw to manipulate payment processing operations. The vulnerability's classification as easily exploitable indicates that the attack vector requires minimal technical sophistication, though it does demand human interaction from an authorized user who must perform actions that trigger the vulnerable code path. This human interaction component typically involves user authentication or transaction initiation that activates the flawed authorization mechanism. The attack surface is particularly concerning as it affects the core payment processing functionality of the financial application.
The operational impact of successful exploitation can result in unauthorized modification of critical financial data, including the ability to create, delete, or alter payment records and transaction details within the FLEXCUBE Direct Banking system. This integrity compromise represents a serious threat to financial institutions as it could enable attackers to manipulate payment flows, alter transaction amounts, or redirect funds to unauthorized accounts. The vulnerability's CVSS score of 5.7 reflects the significant integrity impact, with no direct impact on confidentiality or availability, though the potential for financial loss and operational disruption remains substantial. The affected system's critical nature means that any unauthorized modification of payment data could lead to substantial financial losses and regulatory compliance violations.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the relevant Oracle security patches and updates that address the authorization bypass flaw in FLEXCUBE Direct Banking. Network segmentation and access controls should be strengthened to limit HTTP access to the vulnerable application components, while monitoring systems should be enhanced to detect unusual patterns in payment processing activities. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 (Improper Access Control) and represents a variant of privilege escalation attacks that target authorization mechanisms within financial applications. Security teams should conduct thorough vulnerability assessments of all Oracle Financial Services Applications installations to identify similar authorization weaknesses and implement proper input validation and session management controls to prevent similar issues. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under privilege escalation techniques, specifically targeting application-level access control mechanisms that should prevent unauthorized data manipulation.