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Database ServerDatabase / datastore · Oracle

CVE-2015-4863

HIGH · 10.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2015-10-21
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Unspecified vulnerability in the Portable Clusterware component in Oracle Database Server 11.2.0.4, 12.1.0.1, and 12.1.0.2 allows remote attackers to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability via unknown vectors.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

Unspecified vulnerability in Oracle Database Portable Clusterware component affecting versions 11.2.0.4, 12.1.0.1, and 12.1.0.2 allows remote unauthenticated attackers to achieve complete compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability via unknown attack vectors.

MitigationApply Oracle Critical Patch Update (CPU) October 2015 or later which addresses this vulnerability in the Portable Clusterware component. No public workaround available.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Database ServerDatabase / datastore
Affected:= 11.2.0.4= 12.1.0.1= 12.1.0.2

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Oracle Database installation and version
    Run 'sqlplus -v' or check the Oracle inventory: 'opatch lsinventory' from $ORACLE_HOME/OPatch. On Linux/Unix, also check $ORACLE_HOME/oracle/orapwd and bin/oracle binaries for version strings.
    Affected if Installed version is exactly 11.2.0.4, 12.1.0.1, or 12.1.0.2
  2. Confirm Portable Clusterware component is present
    Check if Oracle Clusterware (Grid Infrastructure) is installed by running 'crsctl query crs activeversion' or 'crsctl check crs' from Grid Infrastructure home. Also verify cluster configuration files exist in $GRID_HOME/crs/config.
    Affected if Clusterware is installed and running (CRS active)
  3. Verify network exposure of Clusterware
    Check if the Clusterware ports (typically 49895/tcp for port forwarding, 8888/tcp forons or scan ports) are listening on non-localhost interfaces. Use 'netstat -anp | grep -E "(49895|8888)"' or 'ss -tlnp | grep -E "(49895|8888)"'.
    Affected if Clusterware listeners are bound to 0.0.0.0 or external IP addresses rather than only 127.0.0.1
  4. Check for unauthenticated remote access vectors
    Examine Oracle Clusterware configuration for remote listener endpoints: 'srvctl config listener' and review OCR (Oracle Cluster Registry) contents via 'ocrcheck'. Verify if any cluster resources allow unauthenticated network access.
    Affected if Clusterware allows unauthenticated remote connections without requiring Oracle authentication

If Oracle Database version is exactly 11.2.0.4, 12.1.0.1, or 12.1.0.2 AND Portable Clusterware is installed and network-accessible, the environment is affected by this CVE.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch www.oracle.com →
Interim mitigation

Apply Oracle Critical Patch Update (CPU) October 2015 or later which addresses this vulnerability in the Portable Clusterware component. No public workaround available.

Recommended fix High confidence

Apply Oracle October 2015 Critical Patch Update (CPU) or migrate to a later Oracle Database version (e.g., 12.2.0.x or 19c)

  1. Navigate to Oracle Support and download the October 2015 Critical Patch Update (CPU) from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/cpuoct2015-2367953.html
  2. Review the patch matrix to locate the specific patch ID for Oracle Database Server Portable Clusterware for your version (11.2.0.4, 12.1.0.1, or 12.1.0.2)
  3. Download the appropriate patch using the Oracle Patch ID found in the CPU advisory
  4. Apply the patch using OPatch (Oracle Patch Tool) by running 'opatch apply' from the patch directory
  5. Verify the patch was applied successfully by running 'opatch lsinventory' to confirm the patch is listed
  6. Restart Oracle Database services as required by the patch installation
Caveat Patches typically do not introduce breaking changes but may require downtime for application; always test in non-production first

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Database Server Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
Get the patch applied

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2015-4863 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data