CVE-2021-2013 in BI Publisher
Summary
by MITRE • 01/20/2021
Vulnerability in the Oracle BI Publisher product of Oracle Fusion Middleware (component: BI Publisher Security). Supported versions that are affected are 5.5.0.0.0, 11.1.1.9.0, 12.2.1.3.0 and 12.2.1.4.0. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows low privileged attacker with network access via HTTP to compromise Oracle BI Publisher. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized access to critical data or complete access to all Oracle BI Publisher accessible data as well as unauthorized update, insert or delete access to some of Oracle BI Publisher accessible data and unauthorized ability to cause a partial denial of service (partial DOS) of Oracle BI Publisher. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 7.6 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:L).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/16/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2021-2013 represents a critical security flaw within Oracle BI Publisher, a component of Oracle Fusion Middleware that serves as a comprehensive reporting and publishing platform. This vulnerability specifically resides within the BI Publisher Security component and affects multiple supported versions including 5.5.0.0.0, 11.1.1.9.0, 12.2.1.3.0, and 12.2.1.4.0, making it a widespread concern across various Oracle Fusion Middleware deployments. The vulnerability's classification as easily exploitable indicates that attackers with minimal privileges and network access can leverage this weakness to compromise the system, posing significant risks to organizations relying on BI Publisher for business intelligence and reporting operations.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient access controls and authentication mechanisms within the BI Publisher security framework, allowing low-privileged attackers to bypass normal security restrictions. The CVSS 3.1 scoring of 7.6 reflects the severity of potential impacts including high confidentiality risks that could expose critical business data, low integrity impacts enabling unauthorized modifications to data, and low availability impacts that could cause partial denial of service conditions. Attackers exploiting this vulnerability can gain unauthorized access to all data accessible through BI Publisher, including sensitive reports, data sources, and configuration information. Additionally, the vulnerability permits unauthorized update, insert, or delete operations against certain data accessible through the platform, while also providing the capability to cause partial denial of service that could disrupt business reporting operations.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability creates substantial risk for organizations utilizing Oracle BI Publisher for enterprise reporting and data analysis. The partial denial of service impact could disrupt critical business intelligence workflows, affecting decision-making processes and operational continuity. The confidentiality impact poses severe risks to intellectual property, financial data, and proprietary business information that organizations rely on for competitive advantage. The integrity impact allows attackers to modify or corrupt reports and data, potentially leading to incorrect business decisions based on compromised information. Organizations using these affected versions face significant exposure, as the vulnerability's low attack complexity and network-based exploitation methods make it particularly dangerous in environments where network access is not strictly controlled.
Security mitigations for this vulnerability should prioritize immediate patching of affected Oracle BI Publisher versions to address the underlying authentication and access control flaws. Organizations should implement network segmentation and access controls to limit exposure of BI Publisher systems to untrusted networks, while also deploying intrusion detection systems to monitor for exploitation attempts. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 (Improper Access Control) and follows attack patterns consistent with those documented in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the privilege escalation and credential access domains. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify any remaining exposure, while organizations should review and strengthen their access control policies to minimize the impact of potential exploitation. Additionally, implementing proper monitoring and logging of access attempts to BI Publisher systems can provide early detection of unauthorized activities and support forensic analysis in case of successful exploitation attempts.