CVE-2020-2836 in Marketing
Summary
by MITRE
Vulnerability in the Oracle Marketing product of Oracle E-Business Suite (component: Marketing Administration). 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 Marketing. Successful attacks require human interaction from a person other than the attacker and while the vulnerability is in Oracle Marketing, 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 Marketing accessible data as well as unauthorized update, insert or delete access to some of Oracle Marketing accessible data. CVSS 3.0 Base Score 8.2 (Confidentiality and Integrity impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/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 • 05/08/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-2836 represents a critical security flaw within Oracle Marketing component of the Oracle E-Business Suite ecosystem. This vulnerability exists specifically in versions 12.1.1 through 12.1.3, making them susceptible to exploitation by malicious actors. The flaw manifests as an easily exploitable security weakness that allows unauthenticated attackers to compromise the Oracle Marketing functionality through standard HTTP network connections. This represents a significant risk to organizations utilizing these older versions of the Oracle E-Business Suite, as the vulnerability can be leveraged without requiring any authentication credentials from the attacker's perspective.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from inadequate access controls and authentication mechanisms within the Marketing Administration component. The flaw operates through HTTP protocols, enabling remote exploitation from any network location without requiring prior authentication. The CVSS 3.0 scoring system rates this vulnerability at 8.2 out of 10, indicating high severity with significant impact potential. The scoring reflects the combination of confidentiality and integrity impacts, where the vulnerability can lead to unauthorized access to critical data and potentially allow attackers to modify or delete sensitive information within the Oracle Marketing system. The attack vector AV:N indicates network-based exploitation, while AC:L shows low attack complexity, making it particularly dangerous as it requires minimal effort from attackers to exploit.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond the immediate Oracle Marketing component to potentially affect additional products within the Oracle E-Business Suite environment. Successful exploitation can result in unauthorized access to all Oracle Marketing accessible data, representing a complete compromise of the system's data integrity and confidentiality. Attackers can gain unauthorized update, insert, or delete access to data that should be restricted to authorized personnel, potentially leading to data corruption, manipulation, or theft. The requirement for human interaction from a person other than the attacker suggests that while the initial exploitation may be automated, some form of user involvement might be necessary to fully realize the attack's potential impact, though this does not mitigate the overall severity.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should immediately implement mitigations to protect their systems from exploitation. The primary recommendation involves upgrading to supported versions of Oracle E-Business Suite that contain patches for this vulnerability, as the affected versions 12.1.1-12.1.3 are no longer receiving security updates. Network segmentation and firewall rules should be implemented to restrict access to Oracle Marketing components, particularly limiting HTTP access to authorized networks and systems. Additionally, organizations should conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments to identify any additional systems that may be vulnerable due to the interconnected nature of the Oracle E-Business Suite. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284, which addresses improper access control, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1071.004 for application layer protocol usage, specifically HTTP communications. Regular monitoring of network traffic for suspicious HTTP requests and implementing intrusion detection systems can help identify potential exploitation attempts before they succeed.