CVE-2024-20910 in Audit Vault and Database Firewall
Summary
by MITRE • 01/17/2024
Vulnerability in Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall (component: Firewall). Supported versions that are affected are 20.1-20.9. Difficult to exploit vulnerability allows high privileged attacker with network access via Oracle Net to compromise Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall. While the vulnerability is in Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall, attacks may significantly impact additional products (scope change). Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized read access to a subset of Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall accessible data. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 3.0 (Confidentiality impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/04/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-20910 affects Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall components within versions 20.1 through 20.9, representing a significant security concern for organizations relying on Oracle's database protection solutions. This vulnerability resides within the Firewall component of the Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall suite, which serves as a critical security control for monitoring and protecting database environments. The affected product line operates as a comprehensive database security solution that combines audit collection, analysis, and firewall capabilities to protect against unauthorized database access and data exfiltration attempts. Organizations implementing this solution typically deploy it as a central security control for database environments, making the exploitation of such vulnerabilities particularly concerning from a risk management perspective.
The technical flaw manifests as a difficulty to exploit condition that requires a high privileged attacker with network access through Oracle Net protocols to successfully compromise the system. This attack vector specifically leverages Oracle Net connectivity, which represents Oracle's network protocol stack used for communication between database clients and servers, as well as between various Oracle components. The vulnerability's classification as CVSS 3.1 Base Score 3.0 with a vector of AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N indicates that while the attack requires network access, it demands high privilege levels from the attacker, and the scope of impact extends beyond the primary component to potentially affect additional products within the Oracle ecosystem. The low confidentiality impact score of C:L suggests that successful exploitation would result in unauthorized read access to only a subset of the accessible data, rather than complete data exposure. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 (Improper Access Control) and may relate to ATT&CK technique T1071.004 (Application Layer Protocol: DNS) or T1046 (Network Service Scanning) when attackers attempt to establish the necessary network connectivity for exploitation.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond the immediate Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall components, as indicated by the scope change aspect of the vulnerability description. This means that successful exploitation could potentially affect additional Oracle products or systems within the organization's infrastructure, creating cascading security implications. The attack requires an attacker to possess elevated privileges, suggesting that internal threat actors or attackers who have already compromised a high-privilege account within the network environment pose the most significant risk. Organizations deploying Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall may face unauthorized data access to database audit information, which could include sensitive operational data, access logs, and security event information that would normally be protected. The relatively low CVSS score indicates that while the vulnerability exists, it represents a moderate risk level compared to more critical vulnerabilities that might allow for complete system compromise or privilege escalation. This vulnerability particularly impacts organizations that rely heavily on database security monitoring and audit capabilities, as the compromise of the firewall component could undermine the integrity of their database security posture and potentially expose sensitive audit data to unauthorized parties.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2024-20910 should focus on network segmentation and access control measures to limit the attack surface available to potential attackers. Organizations should implement strict network access controls to ensure that Oracle Net communications are properly secured and monitored, including implementing network access control lists and firewall rules that restrict access to Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall components. The implementation of principle of least privilege should be enforced to ensure that only authorized personnel have access to the high-privilege accounts required to exploit this vulnerability. Network monitoring and intrusion detection systems should be configured to detect unusual Oracle Net traffic patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. Regular security updates and patches from Oracle should be applied promptly to address this vulnerability, and organizations should consider implementing additional database security controls beyond the Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall solution to provide defense-in-depth. The vulnerability's scope change characteristic necessitates a comprehensive security assessment to identify all Oracle products that might be potentially impacted by exploitation of this vulnerability, ensuring that the entire Oracle ecosystem within the organization maintains appropriate security controls. Additionally, organizations should conduct regular security assessments and penetration testing to validate their defenses against this specific vulnerability and similar threats that could potentially leverage network access to compromise database security solutions.