CVE-2022-22535 in ERP HCM Portugal
Summary
by MITRE • 02/10/2022
SAP ERP HCM Portugal - versions 600, 604, 608, does not perform necessary authorization checks for a report that reads the payroll data of employees in a certain area. Since the affected report only reads the payroll information, the attacker can neither modify any information nor cause availability impacts.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/13/2022
SAP ERP HCM Portugal contains a significant authorization flaw identified as CVE-2022-22535 that affects versions 600, 604, and 608. This vulnerability resides in the payroll reporting functionality where the system fails to enforce proper access controls during data retrieval operations. The flaw specifically impacts a report designed to read payroll data for employees within specific geographic areas, creating a potential information disclosure risk that aligns with CWE-284 access control weakness classifications. The vulnerability represents a classic case of insufficient authorization checks where the system assumes that legitimate users can access payroll information without proper verification of their clearance levels.
The technical implementation of this flaw demonstrates a failure in the authorization framework where the affected report does not validate user permissions before executing data retrieval operations. This allows unauthorized users to access sensitive payroll information without proper authentication or authorization. The vulnerability operates at the application level within SAP ERP HCM components and specifically targets the human capital management module's payroll processing capabilities. According to ATT&CK framework, this represents a privilege escalation technique through insufficient authorization checks and data exposure. The flaw does not permit modification of payroll data or system availability impacts, but the unauthorized data access creates substantial confidentiality risks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data exposure as payroll information typically contains highly sensitive personal and financial data including salary details, tax information, and employee compensation structures. Attackers could potentially aggregate this information across different employee groups to identify patterns, salary ranges, or perform competitive analysis. The vulnerability affects organizations using SAP ERP HCM Portugal implementations where payroll data access controls are not properly enforced at the report level. This creates a significant risk for compliance violations under data protection regulations such as GDPR, where unauthorized access to employee payroll data could result in substantial penalties and reputational damage.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including enhanced user role definitions, proper access control configuration, and regular authorization reviews to address this vulnerability. The SAP security patches and updates should be applied promptly to remediate the authorization checking mechanism. Additional monitoring should be implemented to detect unauthorized access attempts to payroll reporting functions. Security teams should conduct comprehensive access control assessments to identify similar authorization gaps in other report modules and ensure that all data access operations properly validate user permissions. The vulnerability highlights the critical importance of proper authorization controls in financial and personnel data systems, aligning with security best practices for protecting sensitive enterprise information.