CVE-2020-14668 in E-Business Intelligence
Summary
by MITRE
Vulnerability in the Oracle E-Business Intelligence product of Oracle E-Business Suite (component: DBI Setups). Supported versions that are affected are 12.1.1-12.1.3. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows unauthenticated attacker with network access via HTTP to compromise Oracle E-Business Intelligence. Successful attacks require human interaction from a person other than the attacker and while the vulnerability is in Oracle E-Business Intelligence, attacks may significantly impact additional products. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized access to critical data or complete access to all Oracle E-Business Intelligence accessible data as well as unauthorized update, insert or delete access to some of Oracle E-Business Intelligence accessible data. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 8.2 (Confidentiality and Integrity impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/31/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-14668 resides within Oracle E-Business Suite's E-Business Intelligence component, specifically within the DBI Setups functionality. This critical security flaw affects Oracle E-Business Suite versions 12.1.1 through 12.1.3, representing a significant risk to organizations utilizing these legacy systems. The vulnerability operates at the network level and can be exploited through HTTP protocols without requiring authentication, making it particularly dangerous as it eliminates the need for prior access credentials or privileged accounts. The CVSS score of 8.2 reflects the high severity of this flaw, with a base score indicating high confidentiality impact and low integrity impact, suggesting that unauthorized access to sensitive data is the primary concern.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient access controls within the DBI Setups component, which allows unauthenticated attackers to gain unauthorized access to the E-Business Intelligence functionality. This flaw operates as a remote code execution vulnerability that can be triggered through HTTP requests, requiring only network connectivity to the affected system. The vulnerability's exploitability is classified as easily exploitable due to the lack of authentication requirements and the straightforward nature of HTTP-based attacks. The fact that successful exploitation requires human interaction from users other than the attacker indicates that social engineering or phishing tactics might be employed to facilitate the attack, potentially involving legitimate users unknowingly triggering the vulnerability through malicious links or attachments.
The operational impact of CVE-2020-14668 extends beyond the immediate compromise of the E-Business Intelligence component, as the attack can significantly affect additional Oracle products within the suite. This cascading effect demonstrates the interconnected nature of Oracle E-Business Suite components and highlights the potential for lateral movement within affected environments. Successful exploitation can lead to unauthorized access to critical business data, including financial records, customer information, and operational data that organizations rely upon for day-to-day operations. The vulnerability also permits unauthorized modification of data through update, insert, or delete operations, creating potential for data integrity compromise that could severely impact business operations and regulatory compliance. Organizations may face significant financial and reputational damage from such data breaches, particularly given the sensitive nature of the information typically stored within E-Business Intelligence systems.
From a cybersecurity framework perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-287 which addresses improper authentication issues, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1190 for exploitation of remote services. The vulnerability represents a classic example of insufficient input validation and access control mechanisms within enterprise applications. Organizations should implement immediate network segmentation to limit access to affected systems and deploy web application firewalls to monitor and filter HTTP traffic to the E-Business Intelligence components. Patch management should be prioritized with the official Oracle security patches, while monitoring for suspicious network activity and user behavior should be enhanced. The vulnerability's classification as requiring human interaction suggests that user education and awareness programs should be strengthened to prevent social engineering attacks that might exploit this weakness, particularly focusing on email security and link validation procedures that could prevent users from inadvertently triggering the exploit.