CVE-2020-14571 in BI Publisher
Summary
by MITRE
Vulnerability in the Oracle BI Publisher product of Oracle Fusion Middleware (component: Mobile Service). Supported versions that are affected are 11.1.1.9.0, 12.2.1.3.0 and 12.2.1.4.0. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows unauthenticated attacker with network access via HTTP to compromise Oracle BI Publisher. While the vulnerability is in Oracle BI Publisher, attacks may significantly impact additional products. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized update, insert or delete access to some of Oracle BI Publisher accessible data as well as unauthorized read access to a subset of Oracle BI Publisher accessible data. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 7.2 (Confidentiality and Integrity impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/01/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-14571 represents a critical security flaw within Oracle BI Publisher's Mobile Service component of Oracle Fusion Middleware. This vulnerability affects specific version ranges including 11.1.1.9.0, 12.2.1.3.0, and 12.2.1.4.0, making it a widespread concern for organizations utilizing these middleware versions. The flaw resides in the mobile service functionality that handles HTTP requests, creating an attack surface that can be exploited by unauthenticated remote adversaries. The CVSS 3.1 scoring system rates this vulnerability at 7.2, indicating a high-severity threat with significant implications for both confidentiality and integrity of affected systems.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient authentication and authorization controls within the Mobile Service component of Oracle BI Publisher. Attackers can exploit this weakness by sending specially crafted HTTP requests to the affected system without requiring any prior authentication credentials. This unauthenticated access capability enables adversaries to perform unauthorized operations against the vulnerable system, including read, update, insert, and delete actions on data accessible through the BI Publisher interface. The vulnerability's classification under CWE 287 (Improper Authentication) reflects the fundamental flaw in the system's credential verification mechanisms that allows unauthorized access to privileged operations.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond the immediate compromise of Oracle BI Publisher itself, potentially affecting multiple related Oracle products within the Fusion Middleware ecosystem. This cascading effect occurs because BI Publisher often integrates with other Oracle components, creating a chain reaction where exploitation of one vulnerable service can lead to broader system compromise. Successful exploitation can result in data exfiltration of sensitive information, modification of business intelligence reports, and potential disruption of critical business processes that depend on accurate reporting data. The confidentiality impact is rated as low to medium, while integrity impact is similarly rated, indicating that attackers can access and modify data within the system's scope.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including network segmentation to limit access to affected systems, deployment of web application firewalls to monitor and filter HTTP requests, and application-level authentication controls to prevent unauthorized access. The vulnerability's CVSS vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N) indicates that network-based attacks can be executed with low complexity and no user interaction required, making it particularly dangerous in environments where network exposure is unavoidable. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing network access controls to restrict HTTP access to only trusted sources and establish monitoring protocols to detect anomalous access patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts. The attack surface can be further reduced by disabling unnecessary mobile service functionality and ensuring that all systems are patched with the latest Oracle security updates to prevent exploitation of this vulnerability.