CVE-2020-14840 in Application Object Library
Summary
by MITRE • 10/21/2020
Vulnerability in the Oracle Application Object Library product of Oracle E-Business Suite (component: Diagnostics). Supported versions that are affected are 12.1.3 and 12.2.3 - 12.2.10. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows unauthenticated attacker with network access via HTTP to compromise Oracle Application Object Library. Successful attacks require human interaction from a person other than the attacker and while the vulnerability is in Oracle Application Object Library, attacks may significantly impact additional products. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized update, insert or delete access to some of Oracle Application Object Library accessible data. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 4.7 (Integrity impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/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 • 11/23/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-14840 resides within the Oracle Application Object Library component of Oracle E-Business Suite, specifically within the Diagnostics module. This flaw affects Oracle E-Business Suite versions 12.1.3 and 12.2.3 through 12.2.10, representing a significant security gap that could be exploited by unauthenticated attackers. The vulnerability's classification as easily exploitable indicates that attackers can leverage network-based HTTP access to compromise the targeted system without requiring authentication credentials. This represents a critical concern for organizations running Oracle E-Business Suite environments, as the attack surface extends beyond the immediate component to potentially impact additional products within the Oracle ecosystem.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient access controls within the diagnostics functionality of the Oracle Application Object Library. The flaw allows for unauthorized modification of data through update, insert, or delete operations against accessible database elements. The CVSS 3.1 scoring of 4.7 reflects the integrity impact severity, indicating that while the attack requires human interaction from an unwitting user, the potential for data manipulation remains significant. The attack vector requires network access via HTTP, making it particularly dangerous in environments where the Oracle E-Business Suite is exposed to external networks or where internal network segmentation is inadequate. The CVSS vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N) emphasizes that the vulnerability is remotely exploitable with low complexity, requires no privileges, and necessitates user interaction, while the scope change indicates potential impact across multiple products.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data integrity concerns to potentially compromise the entire Oracle E-Business Suite environment. Attackers could leverage this vulnerability to modify critical business data, potentially affecting financial records, inventory management, or human resources information. The requirement for human interaction suggests that social engineering or phishing techniques might be employed to initiate the attack, making it particularly insidious as it combines technical exploitation with human factors. Organizations may experience cascading effects where compromise of one component leads to broader system impacts, especially considering that the vulnerability can affect additional Oracle products that share common infrastructure or data repositories. The attack's potential to significantly impact additional products aligns with the CVSS scope change metric, indicating that the vulnerability could propagate beyond its initial target.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2020-14840 should focus on immediate patching of affected Oracle E-Business Suite versions, with particular attention to the specified vulnerable releases. Organizations should implement network segmentation to limit direct HTTP access to Oracle Application Object Library components and consider deploying web application firewalls to monitor and filter suspicious HTTP requests. Access controls should be strengthened through proper user authentication and authorization mechanisms, while regular security assessments should be conducted to identify similar vulnerabilities within the Oracle E-Business Suite environment. The vulnerability's classification aligns with CWE-284 (Improper Access Control) and may relate to ATT&CK techniques involving privilege escalation and credential access through web application exploitation. Organizations should also implement monitoring solutions to detect anomalous data modification patterns that could indicate exploitation attempts, while maintaining up-to-date threat intelligence to understand potential attack vectors and indicators of compromise associated with similar vulnerabilities in Oracle products.