Vulnerability · Published Sep 12, 2023 · Assigned by OpenText

CVE-2023-4501Authentication bypass in OpenText (Micro Focus) Enterprise Server

Critical 9.8

In plain English

A critical-severity improper authentication in Visual COBOL, COBOL Server, Enterprise Developer, Enterprise Server from OpenText. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.8% (higher than 55% of all known vulnerabilities).

Severity (CVSS 3.1)9.8Critical
Exploit odds (30 days)0.8%top 44.6% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official 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.

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
OpenText Visual COBOL, COBOL Server, Enterprise Developer, Enterprise Server 7.0.19 – before 7.0.218.0.8 – before 8.0.109.0.1 – before 9.0.2

Weakness: CWE-287, CWE-305, CWE-358, CWE-253 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

References