CVE-2023-21986 in GraalVM Enterprise Edition
Summary
by MITRE • 04/18/2023
Vulnerability in the Oracle GraalVM Enterprise Edition product of Oracle Java SE (component: Native Image). Supported versions that are affected are Oracle GraalVM Enterprise Edition: 20.3.9, 21.3.5 and 22.3.1. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows unauthenticated attacker with logon to the infrastructure where Oracle GraalVM Enterprise Edition executes to compromise Oracle GraalVM Enterprise Edition. While the vulnerability is in Oracle GraalVM Enterprise Edition, attacks may significantly impact additional products (scope change). Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized update, insert or delete access to some of Oracle GraalVM Enterprise Edition accessible data and unauthorized ability to cause a partial denial of service (partial DOS) of Oracle GraalVM Enterprise Edition. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 5.7 (Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:L).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/12/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-21986 resides within Oracle GraalVM Enterprise Edition's Native Image component, representing a significant security weakness that affects specific version releases including 20.3.9, 21.3.5, and 22.3.1. This flaw operates under the Common Weakness Enumeration framework as CWE-284, which pertains to improper access control mechanisms, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1068 for local privilege escalation and T1566 for social engineering attacks that could exploit this weakness. The vulnerability's classification as easily exploitable indicates that an attacker with mere logon access to the target infrastructure can successfully compromise the GraalVM Enterprise Edition environment, making it particularly dangerous in scenarios where system access is not strictly controlled.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient access controls within the Native Image compilation process, which allows unauthorized modifications to the runtime environment. When an attacker gains logon access to the system hosting GraalVM Enterprise Edition, they can manipulate the native image generation process to inject malicious code or alter existing binaries. This represents a critical failure in the principle of least privilege, where the system does not adequately enforce access restrictions during the native image creation phase. The vulnerability's CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.7 reflects the balance between integrity and availability impacts, with a vector indicating local access requirements, low complexity, no user interaction, and a scope change that affects additional products beyond the primary target.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data integrity breaches to include potential partial denial of service conditions that can significantly disrupt business operations. Successful exploitation enables attackers to perform unauthorized updates, inserts, or deletions against accessible data within the GraalVM environment, potentially compromising sensitive application logic or configuration settings. Additionally, the partial denial of service capability can degrade system performance or prevent legitimate operations from executing properly, creating cascading effects that may impact dependent services and applications. The scope change aspect of this vulnerability means that an attack targeting GraalVM Enterprise Edition could potentially compromise other Oracle products or systems that share the same infrastructure, amplifying the overall security impact.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the latest security patches from Oracle, restricting logon access to GraalVM execution environments, and implementing strict monitoring for unauthorized modifications to native image files. Network segmentation and privilege separation measures should be enforced to limit the potential blast radius of exploitation. Security teams must also conduct comprehensive audits of all GraalVM installations to identify and remediate affected versions, while implementing runtime integrity checks to detect unauthorized modifications to native images. The vulnerability's characteristics align with ATT&CK's defense evasion techniques, particularly T1070 for indicator removal and T1562 for disabling security tools, suggesting that attackers may attempt to cover their tracks after exploitation. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be performed to identify similar access control weaknesses in the broader Oracle Java SE ecosystem and related enterprise applications that may be similarly vulnerable to such privilege escalation attacks.