CVE-2023-21975 in Application Express Customers Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 07/19/2023
Vulnerability in the Application Express Customers Plugin product of Oracle Application Express (component: User Account). Supported versions that are affected are Application Express Customers Plugin: 18.2-22.2. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows low privileged attacker with network access via HTTP to compromise Application Express Customers Plugin. Successful attacks require human interaction from a person other than the attacker and while the vulnerability is in Application Express Customers Plugin, attacks may significantly impact additional products (scope change). Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in takeover of Application Express Customers 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 • 08/09/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-21975 represents a critical security flaw within Oracle Application Express Customers Plugin, specifically affecting user account functionality across versions 18.2 through 22.2. This vulnerability operates within the broader context of Oracle Application Express, a web-based development environment that enables rapid application development for enterprise environments. The flaw manifests in the customer plugin component, which handles user account management and related functionalities, making it a prime target for malicious actors seeking to compromise enterprise web applications. The vulnerability's classification as easily exploitable indicates that attackers can leverage relatively straightforward techniques to gain unauthorized access to the affected system.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient access controls and authentication mechanisms within the user account management subsystem of the Application Express Customers Plugin. Attackers with low privilege network access via HTTP protocols can exploit this weakness to execute unauthorized actions against the plugin. The CVSS 3.1 scoring of 9.0 reflects the severity of the potential impact, with high scores across confidentiality, integrity, and availability metrics. The vulnerability requires human interaction from users other than the attacker, suggesting that social engineering or phishing techniques may be employed to facilitate initial compromise. This requirement for user interaction does not diminish the threat level but rather indicates that the attack vector involves user engagement with malicious content or links.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond the immediate compromise of the Application Express Customers Plugin itself, as indicated by the scope change aspect of the attack. Successful exploitation can result in complete takeover of the plugin, potentially allowing attackers to escalate their privileges and access additional enterprise systems. The high confidentiality impact suggests that sensitive user data, customer information, and potentially proprietary business data could be accessed or exfiltrated. The integrity impact of high severity indicates that attackers could modify or corrupt user account information, potentially leading to unauthorized access to other system resources or disruption of legitimate business processes. The availability impact suggests that the system could be rendered unusable or that legitimate users might be denied access to critical customer management functions.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigations including applying the latest Oracle security patches and updates, implementing network segmentation to limit access to the affected plugin, and conducting thorough security audits of user account management processes. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-287, which addresses improper authentication issues, and maps to ATT&CK techniques involving credential access and privilege escalation. Additional defensive measures should include monitoring for unusual user account activities, implementing multi-factor authentication for administrative accounts, and establishing robust network access controls to prevent unauthorized HTTP access to the plugin components. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify and remediate similar weaknesses in the broader Oracle Application Express ecosystem, as this vulnerability demonstrates the potential for cascading impacts across interconnected enterprise applications.