CVE-2021-35581 in Applications Manager
Summary
by MITRE • 10/20/2021
Vulnerability in the Oracle Applications Manager product of Oracle E-Business Suite (component: View Reports). 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 Applications Manager. Successful attacks require human interaction from a person other than the attacker and while the vulnerability is in Oracle Applications Manager, attacks may significantly impact additional products. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized update, insert or delete access to some of Oracle Applications Manager 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 • 10/24/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2021-35581 resides within Oracle Applications Manager, a critical component of Oracle E-Business Suite that handles report viewing functionality. This weakness specifically affects Oracle E-Business Suite versions 12.1.3 and 12.2.3 through 12.2.10, representing a significant attack surface that spans multiple release branches. The vulnerability's classification as easily exploitable indicates that attackers can leverage it without requiring specialized skills or extensive preparation, making it particularly dangerous in production environments where such systems often operate with minimal network segmentation.
The technical flaw manifests as a lack of proper authentication mechanisms within the View Reports functionality, allowing unauthenticated attackers to access Oracle Applications Manager through standard HTTP network connections. This represents a fundamental failure in the principle of least privilege, where the system does not adequately verify user credentials before granting access to sensitive operational components. The vulnerability's CVSS score of 4.7 reflects its integrity impact potential, with the vector AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N indicating that network-based attacks require low complexity, no prior privileges, but do necessitate user interaction to succeed. The scope classification of C (changed) suggests that while the vulnerability is contained within Oracle Applications Manager, it can affect additional Oracle products through cascading impacts.
Operational impact assessment reveals that successful exploitation can result in unauthorized modification of data within Oracle Applications Manager, specifically enabling attackers to perform update, insert, or delete operations against accessible database records. This capability represents a significant threat to data integrity and can potentially disrupt business operations, compromise sensitive financial or operational data, and create audit trail inconsistencies. The requirement for human interaction indicates that attackers may need to convince users to perform specific actions, such as clicking on malicious links or opening compromised documents, which aligns with social engineering attack patterns and demonstrates the vulnerability's potential for phishing-based exploitation.
Mitigation strategies should focus on immediate network-level protections including implementing robust firewall rules to restrict access to Oracle Applications Manager components, deploying web application firewalls to monitor and filter HTTP traffic, and ensuring that all systems are patched with the latest Oracle security updates. Organizations should also consider implementing network segmentation to limit access to critical Oracle E-Business Suite components, establishing monitoring procedures for unusual database access patterns, and conducting regular security assessments to identify potential attack vectors. The vulnerability's characteristics align with CWE-287 (Improper Authentication) and may be categorized under ATT&CK techniques involving credential access and privilege escalation. Additionally, implementing multi-factor authentication mechanisms and regular security awareness training for personnel who interact with Oracle Applications Manager can significantly reduce the risk of successful exploitation through social engineering approaches.