CVE-2023-21907 in Banking Virtual Account Management
Summary
by MITRE • 04/18/2023
Vulnerability in the Oracle Banking Virtual Account Management product of Oracle Financial Services Applications (component: OBVAM Trn Journal Domain). Supported versions that are affected are 14.5, 14.6 and 14.7. Difficult to exploit vulnerability allows high privileged attacker with network access via HTTP to compromise Oracle Banking Virtual Account Management. Successful attacks require human interaction from a person other than the attacker. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized access to critical data or complete access to all Oracle Banking Virtual Account Management accessible data as well as unauthorized update, insert or delete access to some of Oracle Banking Virtual Account Management accessible data and unauthorized ability to cause a hang or frequently repeatable crash (complete DOS) of Oracle Banking Virtual Account Management. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 6.0 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:H).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/11/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-21907 affects Oracle Banking Virtual Account Management within the Oracle Financial Services Applications suite, specifically within the OBVAM Trn Journal Domain component. This vulnerability represents a significant security weakness that impacts versions 14.5, 14.6, and 14.7 of the software. The flaw resides in the authentication and authorization mechanisms of the virtual account management system, creating potential pathways for unauthorized access to sensitive financial data and system operations. The vulnerability's classification as difficult to exploit indicates that while it requires specific conditions and circumstances to be successfully leveraged, the potential impact on financial institutions is severe given the nature of banking data and operations.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient access controls and authentication checks within the OBVAM Trn Journal Domain functionality. Attackers with high privileged network access via HTTP protocols can potentially exploit this weakness to gain unauthorized access to critical financial data stored within the virtual account management system. The vulnerability requires human interaction from users other than the attacker, suggesting that social engineering or targeted user manipulation may be necessary components of the attack vector. This characteristic places the vulnerability in the context of targeted attacks rather than automated mass exploitation attempts, though the potential for significant impact remains substantial.
The operational impact of successful exploitation of CVE-2023-21907 extends beyond simple data theft to encompass complete system compromise capabilities. Attackers can achieve unauthorized access to all accessible data within the Oracle Banking Virtual Account Management system, potentially exposing sensitive customer financial information, transaction records, and account details. The vulnerability also enables unauthorized modification capabilities, allowing attackers to insert, update, or delete data within the system, which could lead to financial fraud, data manipulation, or transactional integrity violations. Additionally, the ability to cause complete denial of service through system hangs or frequent crashes represents a severe availability impact that could disrupt critical banking operations and customer services.
From a security framework perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 (Improper Access Control) and CWE-311 (Missing Encryption of Sensitive Data) categories, reflecting both authentication and data protection failures. The ATT&CK framework would categorize this vulnerability under T1190 (Exploit Public-Facing Application) and potentially T1078 (Valid Accounts) as attackers would need legitimate network access and potentially compromised user credentials to fully exploit the weakness. The CVSS 3.1 scoring of 6.0 reflects the medium severity level with high confidentiality and availability impacts, indicating that while exploitation requires some prerequisites, the potential damage to financial institutions is considerable. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including patch management, network segmentation, and enhanced monitoring of HTTP traffic to protect against exploitation of this vulnerability.
The remediation approach for CVE-2023-21907 should prioritize the application of Oracle's official security patches and updates to the affected versions. Network administrators should implement additional security controls such as web application firewalls, access control lists, and enhanced monitoring of HTTP requests to the vulnerable system components. Regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to identify potential exploitation attempts and ensure that the implemented controls remain effective. Financial institutions should also review their user access controls and implement the principle of least privilege to minimize potential damage from any successful exploitation attempts. The vulnerability's requirement for human interaction suggests that employee security awareness training should be enhanced to prevent social engineering attacks that could lead to successful exploitation.