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Business Intelligence PublisherApplication · Oracle

CVE-2021-2051

HIGH · 7.6 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-01-20
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
82/100
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
Vulnerability in the Oracle 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 Oracle BI Publisher. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized access to critical data or complete access to all Oracle BI Publisher accessible data as well as unauthorized update, insert or delete access to some of Oracle BI Publisher accessible data and unauthorized ability to cause a partial denial of service (partial DOS) of Oracle BI Publisher. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 7.6 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:L).

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

Authenticated vulnerability in Oracle BI Publisher's XDO (XML Publisher) component allowing low-privileged attackers with network access via HTTP to access critical/all data, modify data (insert/update/delete), and cause partial denial of service. The attack requires valid low-level credentials but no user interaction.

MitigationApply the Oracle Critical Patch Update (CPU) containing the fix for CVE-2021-2051. Until patched, restrict network access to BI Publisher interfaces and enforce least-privilege access controls.

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
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
Low
Availability
Low

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:L

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. Confirm Oracle BI Publisher installation
    Locate the BI Publisher installation directory, check for Oracle BI services running, or query the Oracle Enterprise Manager for BI Publisher components. Typical paths include $ORACLE_HOME/bi/bipublisher/ or check the Oracle Inventory for installed products.
    Affected if Oracle BI Publisher is not found in the environment, the system is not affected by this specific CVE.
  2. Identify installed BI Publisher version
    Access the BI Publisher Administration page, typically at /xmlpserver/pages/systeminformation or check the Oracle BI Enterprise Manager console. You can also use OPatch: cd $ORACLE_HOME/OPatch and run ./opatch lsinventory -detail | grep -i 'Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher'.
    Affected if The installed version exactly matches 5.5.0.0.0, 11.1.1.9.0, 12.2.1.3.0, or 12.2.1.4.0 as listed in the affected versions.
  3. Verify XDO (XML Publisher) component is enabled
    Access BI Publisher's XML Publisher administrator settings via the web interface at /xmlpserver, or check the XDO configuration files in the BI Publisher data directory. Confirm the XDO processor module is active in the BI Publisher configuration.
    Affected if The XDO/XML Publisher component is present and enabled in the BI Publisher installation.
  4. Check HTTP network accessibility of BI Publisher
    Verify that BI Publisher HTTP endpoints are accessible over the network by attempting to reach the XMLP server pages (such as /xmlpserver/services) from a remote location. Check firewall rules and load balancer configurations exposing BI Publisher ports (typically 9500, 9704, or 80/443).
    Affected if BI Publisher HTTP interfaces are reachable from untrusted networks, enabling remote attackers to send malicious requests.
  5. Review user account privileges
    Examine the BI Publisher user repository or integrated LDAP/SSO to identify accounts with low-level privileges. Check which user roles are assigned to standard users versus administrators. The vulnerability requires only low-privileged valid credentials.
    Affected if There exist low-privileged user accounts with network-accessible credentials that can authenticate to BI Publisher.

The environment is affected if Oracle BI Publisher is installed with a version matching exactly 5.5.0.0.0, 11.1.1.9.0, 12.2.1.3.0, or 12.2.1.4.0, the XDO component is enabled, the HTTP interface is network-accessible, and low-privileged authenticated users exist.

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 Oracle Critical Patch Update (CPU) containing the fix for CVE-2021-2051. Until patched, restrict network access to BI Publisher interfaces and enforce least-privilege access controls.

Fix this in Business Intelligence Publisher Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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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-2021-2051 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data