Business Intelligence PublisherApplication · Oracle

CVE-2020-14879

HIGH · 8.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-10-21
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
91/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
Vulnerability in the BI Publisher product of Oracle Fusion Middleware (component: E-Business Suite - XDO). Supported versions that are affected are 5.5.0.0.0, 11.1.1.9.0, 12.2.1.3.0 and 12.2.1.4.0. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows low privileged attacker with network access via HTTP to compromise BI Publisher. While the vulnerability is in BI Publisher, attacks may significantly impact additional products. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized access to critical data or complete access to all BI Publisher accessible data as well as unauthorized update, insert or delete access to some of BI Publisher accessible data. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 8.5 (Confidentiality and Integrity impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N).

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

Vulnerability in Oracle BI Publisher's XDO (XML Publisher) component allows low-privileged attackers with network access via HTTP to compromise the system. Successful attacks enable unauthorized access to critical or all BI Publisher accessible data, as well as unauthorized update, insert, or delete access to some data.

MitigationApply the relevant Oracle Critical Patch Update (CPU) containing the fix for CVE-2020-14879 to affected BI Publisher versions. Additionally, restrict network access to BI Publisher endpoints and enforce least-privilege user accounts.

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
Business Intelligence PublisherApplication
Affected:= 5.5.0.0.0= 11.1.1.9.0= 12.2.1.3.0= 12.2.1.4.0

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
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:L/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 Oracle BI Publisher version
    Access the Oracle BI Publisher administration console or About page (typically at /xmlp/admin/about.jsp or /xmlpserver/about.jsp) to retrieve the installed version number
    Affected if Version equals 5.5.0.0.0, 11.1.1.9.0, 12.2.1.3.0, or 12.2.1.4.0
  2. Confirm XDO component is accessible
    Verify the XML Publisher (XDO) servlet endpoint is reachable over the network - common paths include /xmlp/services/XDO or /xmlpserver/services/XDO
    Affected if XDO HTTP endpoints respond without authentication or with low-privilege credentials
  3. Check network exposure of BI Publisher
    Determine if BI Publisher HTTP ports (typically 7001, 8080, or 443) are exposed to untrusted networks by reviewing firewall rules or load balancer configurations
    Affected if BI Publisher HTTP interface is accessible from untrusted network segments without network-level restrictions

You are affected if your Oracle BI Publisher version matches 5.5.0.0.0, 11.1.1.9.0, 12.2.1.3.0, or 12.2.1.4.0 AND the XDO component is network-accessible to low-privileged users.

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

Apply the relevant Oracle Critical Patch Update (CPU) containing the fix for CVE-2020-14879 to affected BI Publisher versions. Additionally, restrict network access to BI Publisher endpoints and enforce least-privilege user accounts.

Fix this in Business Intelligence Publisher Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,080
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2020-14879 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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
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