CVE-2023-4501(microfocus / cobol_server)

LOWCVSS 9.8 · CRITICAL

Immediate actions

  • Track advisory updates for patch or workaround availability

Recommended action window: Monitor and triage in normal cycle

NVD description

User authentication with username and password credentials is ineffective in OpenText (Micro Focus) Visual COBOL, COBOL Server, Enterprise Developer, and Enterprise Server (including product variants such as Enterprise Test Server), versions 7.0 patch updates 19 and 20, 8.0 patch updates 8 and 9, and 9.0 patch update 1, when LDAP-based authentication is used with certain configurations. When the vulnerability is active, authentication succeeds with any valid username, regardless of whether the password is correct; it may also succeed with an invalid username (and any password). This allows an attacker with access to the product to impersonate any user. Mitigations: The issue is corrected in the upcoming patch update for each affected product. Product overlays and workaround instructions are available through OpenText Support. The vulnerable configurations are believed to be uncommon. Administrators can test for the vulnerability in their installations by attempting to sign on to a Visual COBOL or Enterprise Server component such as ESCWA using a valid username and incorrect password.

0.5/ 10 priority

Sources & remediation

Weakness type (CWE)
CWE-253CWE-287CWE-305CWE-358

Priority

LOW

Exploitation

NONE

PoC

NONE

Patch

NONE

Momentum

NONE

Are you affected?

If you run products in this scope, you should treat this CVE as relevant to your environment.

  • cobol_server
  • enterprise_developer
  • enterprise_server
  • enterprise_test_server

Affected systems

Vendors
Products
cobol_serverenterprise_developerenterprise_serverenterprise_test_servervisual_cobol

3 versions affected across 5 products

Deep dive

Full discourse1 post
  • Шон Талбот 🇺🇦 Sean Talbot 🇺🇸 🌊@SeanPTalbot

    CVE-2019-16395. CVE-2019-16396. CVE-2023-4501. Buffer overflows, use-after-free, authentication bypass. The difference is attack surface. PHP powers an enormous amount of public-facing infrastructure. COBOL generally doesn't. Less exposure doesn't mean fewer bugs, let alone immunity. Thanks for playing 🖖🏻

    10030258
    1.5K followersView on X
CPE platform detail25 entries

25 of 25 entries

PartVendorProductVersionTarget SWTarget HW
Appmicrofocuscobol_server7.0--
Appmicrofocuscobol_server7.0--
Appmicrofocuscobol_server8.0--
Appmicrofocuscobol_server8.0--
Appmicrofocuscobol_server9.0--
Appmicrofocusenterprise_developer7.0--
Appmicrofocusenterprise_developer7.0--
Appmicrofocusenterprise_developer8.0--
Appmicrofocusenterprise_developer8.0--
Appmicrofocusenterprise_developer9.0--
Appmicrofocusenterprise_server7.0--
Appmicrofocusenterprise_server7.0--
Appmicrofocusenterprise_server8.0--
Appmicrofocusenterprise_server8.0--
Appmicrofocusenterprise_server9.0--
Appmicrofocusenterprise_test_server7.0--
Appmicrofocusenterprise_test_server7.0--
Appmicrofocusenterprise_test_server8.0--
Appmicrofocusenterprise_test_server8.0--
Appmicrofocusenterprise_test_server9.0--
Appmicrofocusvisual_cobol7.0--
Appmicrofocusvisual_cobol7.0--
Appmicrofocusvisual_cobol8.0--
Appmicrofocusvisual_cobol8.0--
Appmicrofocusvisual_cobol9.0--

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