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FineractApplication · Apache

CVE-2018-1291

HIGH · 8.1 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-04-20
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
87/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable Zero-click

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
Apache Fineract 1.0.0, 0.6.0-incubating, 0.5.0-incubating, 0.4.0-incubating exposes different REST end points to query domain specific entities with a Query Parameter 'orderBy' which are appended directly with SQL statements. A hacker/user can inject/draft the 'orderBy' query parameter by way of the "order" param in such a way to read/update the data for which he doesn't have authorization.

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 · high confidence

Apache Fineract REST endpoints accept a 'orderBy' query parameter that gets directly concatenated into SQL statements without sanitization or parameterization. This allows attackers to inject malicious SQL via the orderBy parameter to read or modify data they shouldn't have access to.

MitigationImplement an allowlist of permitted field names for the orderBy parameter, or refactor the affected queries to use parameterized queries/prepared statements instead of direct string concatenation.

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
FineractApplication
Affected:= 0.4.0= 0.5.0= 0.6.0= 1.0.0

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
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

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 Apache Fineract installation
    Check for Fineract deployment by locating typical installation directories (such as /opt/fineract, /usr/share/fineract, or application servers like Tomcat hosting fineract.war), or by querying running processes for 'fineract' or 'java' processes running the application.
    Affected if Apache Fineract software is found running in the environment
  2. Determine installed Fineract version
    Check the version by examining the WAR file name (fineract-VERSION.war), the build.gradle or pom.xml file in the deployment directory, or by querying the application's API version endpoint if available.
    Affected if The installed version matches 0.4.0, 0.5.0, 0.6.0, or 1.0.0 exactly
  3. Confirm REST API endpoints are accessible
    Verify that the Fineract REST API is exposed by attempting to access common endpoints such as /api/fineract-provider/api/v1/clients or checking the application's exposed network ports (usually 8080, 8443, or configured application server ports).
    Affected if The REST API endpoints are accessible from a network perspective
  4. Verify orderBy parameter handling
    Examine the application logs or code if accessible to confirm whether the orderBy query parameter is being used in database queries, or test the vulnerability by sending a request with a suspicious orderBy value such as 'orderBy=id; DROP TABLE--' to a list endpoint.
    Affected if The orderBy parameter can be supplied to REST API queries and is processed without sanitization or allowlist validation

The environment is affected if Apache Fineract versions 0.4.0, 0.5.0, 0.6.0, or 1.0.0 are installed and the REST API is accessible, allowing unsanitized orderBy parameters in SQL queries.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Implement an allowlist of permitted field names for the orderBy parameter, or refactor the affected queries to use parameterized queries/prepared statements instead of direct string concatenation.

Fix this in Fineract Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
25.0 hours of engineering $4,400
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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-2018-1291 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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