CVE-2024-21265: Oracle E-Business Suite Auth Bypass Vulnerability

CVE-2024-21265 Overview

CVE-2024-21265 is an authorization vulnerability [CWE-863] in the Oracle Site Hub product of Oracle E-Business Suite, specifically within the Site Hierarchy Flows component. The flaw affects supported versions 12.2.3 through 12.2.13. A low-privileged attacker with network access over HTTP can compromise Oracle Site Hub without user interaction. Successful exploitation allows unauthorized creation, deletion, or modification of critical data, along with unauthorized read access to all Oracle Site Hub accessible data. Oracle addressed the issue in the October 2024 Critical Patch Update.

Critical Impact
An authenticated remote attacker with low privileges can read and modify all data accessible to Oracle Site Hub, breaching both confidentiality and integrity of business-critical records.

Affected Products

Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2.3
Oracle E-Business Suite versions 12.2.4 through 12.2.12
Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2.13

Discovery Timeline

2024-10-15 - CVE-2024-21265 published to NVD as part of Oracle's October 2024 Critical Patch Update
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-21265

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability resides in the Site Hierarchy Flows component of Oracle Site Hub, part of Oracle E-Business Suite. It is classified under [CWE-863: Incorrect Authorization]. The flaw allows a network-adjacent, authenticated user with minimal privileges to perform actions that should require higher authorization.

The HTTP-based attack surface enables straightforward exploitation without user interaction. Because Site Hub controls hierarchical site definitions used across E-Business Suite modules, unauthorized modifications propagate to downstream business processes that consume that hierarchy data.

Oracle rates the confidentiality and integrity impacts as high, while availability is unaffected. The scope remains unchanged, meaning impact is limited to the vulnerable component, but that component holds sensitive enterprise configuration data.

Root Cause

The root cause is improper authorization enforcement within the Site Hierarchy Flows. The application does not adequately validate whether the authenticated user has permission to invoke privileged flow operations. Oracle has not published detailed technical internals beyond the advisory.

Attack Vector

An attacker requires network access to the HTTP interface of Oracle E-Business Suite and a valid low-privileged account. The attacker issues crafted HTTP requests against Site Hierarchy Flow endpoints to trigger create, read, update, or delete operations on records outside their authorization scope.

No verified proof-of-concept code is publicly available. Refer to the Oracle Security Alert - October 2024 for vendor-published details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-21265

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected create, update, or delete events on Site Hub hierarchy tables originating from non-administrative user accounts.
HTTP request patterns targeting Site Hierarchy Flow endpoints from user sessions that lack corresponding responsibility assignments.
Anomalous audit-trail entries in Oracle E-Business Suite showing Site Hub data mutations outside normal business hours.

Detection Strategies

Enable Oracle E-Business Suite auditing on Site Hub tables and correlate row-level changes against user responsibility assignments.
Deploy a web application firewall in front of Oracle E-Business Suite and log HTTP requests to Site Hub URL paths for retrospective analysis.
Baseline normal Site Hierarchy Flow usage patterns per user and alert on deviations in request volume or endpoint diversity.

Monitoring Recommendations

Forward Oracle E-Business Suite application, database, and web-tier logs to a centralized SIEM for cross-source correlation.
Monitor privileged and low-privileged session activity for lateral access to Site Hub after initial authentication.
Track patch level of every E-Business Suite environment and alert when instances remain on unpatched 12.2.x versions.

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-21265

Immediate Actions Required

Apply the October 2024 Critical Patch Update from Oracle to all affected E-Business Suite 12.2.3 through 12.2.13 environments.
Inventory every Oracle E-Business Suite instance, including development and test tiers, to confirm patch coverage.
Restrict network exposure of Oracle E-Business Suite HTTP interfaces to trusted internal networks and VPN clients.
Review Site Hub responsibility assignments and revoke unnecessary access from general user accounts.

Patch Information

Oracle released the fix for CVE-2024-21265 in the October 2024 Critical Patch Update. Customers should download and apply the applicable patch as documented in the Oracle Security Alert - October 2024. Oracle strongly recommends applying Critical Patch Update fixes without delay.

Workarounds

Place Oracle E-Business Suite behind a reverse proxy or WAF that enforces authentication and rate limiting on Site Hub endpoints.
Disable or restrict access to the Site Hub responsibility for users who do not require site hierarchy management.
Require multi-factor authentication for all E-Business Suite logins to reduce risk from compromised low-privileged credentials.

bash

# Configuration example: restrict Site Hub URLs at the web tier
# Example Apache mod_rewrite rule to limit access to trusted subnets
<Location /OA_HTML/OA.jsp>
    Require ip 10.0.0.0/8
    Require ip 192.168.0.0/16
</Location>

# Verify patch level after applying October 2024 CPU
sqlplus apps/<password> <<EOF
SELECT bug_number, last_update_date
  FROM ad_bugs
 WHERE bug_number IN ('<CPU_OCT2024_BUG_ID>');
EOF