CVE-2023-21974 in Application Express Team Calendar Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 07/19/2023
Vulnerability in the Application Express Team Calendar Plugin product of Oracle Application Express (component: User Account). Supported versions that are affected are Application Express Team Calendar Plugin: 18.2-22.1. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows low privileged attacker with network access via HTTP to compromise Application Express Team Calendar Plugin. Successful attacks require human interaction from a person other than the attacker and while the vulnerability is in Application Express Team Calendar Plugin, attacks may significantly impact additional products (scope change). Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in takeover of Application Express Team Calendar Plugin. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 9.0 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/10/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-21974 represents a critical security flaw within Oracle Application Express Team Calendar Plugin, specifically affecting versions 18.2 through 22.1. This vulnerability resides within the User Account component of the application and demonstrates a significant risk to organizations utilizing this calendar plugin. The CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.0 indicates a high severity level with impacts across confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The vulnerability requires low privilege access and can be exploited through network-based HTTP connections, making it particularly dangerous in environments where network exposure is common.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient access controls within the User Account component of the Application Express Team Calendar Plugin. Attackers with minimal privileges can leverage this weakness to compromise the entire plugin system through network-based HTTP access. The vulnerability's exploitability requires human interaction from users other than the attacker, suggesting that social engineering or user manipulation may be necessary to initiate the attack vector. This characteristic places additional emphasis on user awareness and training as part of the overall security posture. The scope change aspect of this vulnerability means that successful exploitation could impact additional products beyond the immediate plugin, creating cascading security risks within the application ecosystem.
The operational impact of CVE-2023-21974 extends far beyond simple data compromise, as successful exploitation can result in complete takeover of the Application Express Team Calendar Plugin. This level of compromise allows attackers to potentially access sensitive calendar data, manipulate scheduling information, and potentially gain further access to related systems through the compromised plugin. The high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts reflect the comprehensive nature of the threat, where attackers could exfiltrate calendar information, modify scheduling data, or disrupt calendar operations entirely. Organizations relying on calendar-based workflows and scheduling systems face significant business disruption potential from this vulnerability, particularly in enterprise environments where calendar data often contains sensitive operational information.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2023-21974 should prioritize immediate patching of affected versions, as this represents the most effective approach to address the vulnerability. Organizations should implement network segmentation to limit access to the affected plugin and consider restricting HTTP access to authorized personnel only. Additional controls such as web application firewalls and enhanced monitoring of calendar plugin usage can help detect anomalous behavior that might indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 (Improper Access Control) and may relate to ATT&CK techniques involving privilege escalation and persistence mechanisms. Regular security assessments of Oracle Application Express implementations should be conducted to identify similar access control weaknesses. Security teams should also implement user access reviews to ensure least privilege principles are maintained and consider implementing multi-factor authentication for calendar plugin access to add additional security layers beyond the basic authentication mechanisms that may be vulnerable to this attack vector.