CVE-2020-2556 in Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management
Summary
by MITRE
Vulnerability in the Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management product of Oracle Construction and Engineering (component: Core). Supported versions that are affected are 16.2.0.0-16.2.19.0, 17.12.0.0-17.12.16.0, 18.8.0.0-18.8.16.0, 19.12.0.0 and 20.1.0.0. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows low privileged attacker with logon to the infrastructure where Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management executes to compromise Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management. Successful attacks require human interaction from a person other than the attacker and while the vulnerability is in Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management, attacks may significantly impact additional products. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized creation, deletion or modification access to critical data or all Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management accessible data as well as unauthorized read access to a subset of Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management accessible data and unauthorized ability to cause a partial denial of service (partial DOS) of Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management. CVSS 3.0 Base Score 7.3 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:L).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/21/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-2556 resides within Oracle Construction and Engineering's Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management software, specifically within the Core component of the application. This vulnerability affects multiple version ranges including 16.2.0.0 through 16.2.19.0, 17.12.0.0 through 17.12.16.0, 18.8.0.0 through 18.8.16.0, 19.12.0.0, and 20.1.0.0, representing a significant attack surface across various product iterations. The vulnerability classification as easily exploitable indicates that an attacker with minimal technical expertise can leverage this weakness effectively. The attack vector requires a low-privileged user to have logon access to the infrastructure hosting the Primavera P6 application, which represents a common attack path in enterprise environments where internal network access may be less restricted than external access controls.
The technical flaw manifests as a privilege escalation vulnerability that allows an attacker with basic system access to gain unauthorized access to critical system resources within the Primavera P6 environment. This vulnerability operates through a combination of insufficient access controls and potentially flawed authentication mechanisms within the Core component. The attack requires human interaction from a person other than the attacker, suggesting that social engineering or insider threat scenarios may be particularly relevant. The CVSS 3.0 score of 7.3 reflects the severity of the impact across confidentiality, integrity, and availability domains, with a base score that indicates a high-risk vulnerability requiring immediate attention. The vector notation AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:L demonstrates that the attack requires local access with low complexity, low privilege requirements, but necessitates user interaction and can cause cascading effects across multiple systems.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data compromise to include potential system-wide disruption and unauthorized modification of critical project management data. Attackers can create, delete, or modify all accessible data within the Primavera P6 environment, potentially causing significant business disruption to project planning and execution. Additionally, the vulnerability permits unauthorized read access to subsets of data, which could expose sensitive project information, financial data, or strategic planning details. The partial denial of service component indicates that successful exploitation could degrade system performance or availability, affecting project management workflows and potentially causing delays in project delivery. This vulnerability particularly affects organizations that rely heavily on Primavera P6 for enterprise project portfolio management, where the compromise of project data could have cascading effects across multiple business units and projects.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the vendor-provided security patches and updates to address the vulnerability. Network segmentation and access control measures should be enhanced to limit local system access to only authorized personnel. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 (Improper Access Control) and may be related to ATT&CK technique T1078 (Valid Accounts) and T1484 (Group Policy Modification) which emphasize the importance of proper access controls and account management. Additional defensive measures should include enhanced monitoring of system access logs for unusual activity patterns, implementation of principle of least privilege access controls, and regular security assessments to identify potential privilege escalation pathways. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches across all enterprise applications, particularly those handling critical business data and processes. Organizations should conduct comprehensive risk assessments to determine the full scope of potential impact and implement layered security controls to reduce the attack surface and limit the potential damage from similar vulnerabilities in the future.