dbcve.org
Erp Financial AccountingApplication · Sap

CVE-2021-38164

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-09-14
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
60/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
SAP ERP Financial Accounting (RFOPENPOSTING_FR) versions - SAP_APPL - 600, 602, 603, 604, 605, 606, 616, SAP_FIN - 617, 618, 700, 720, 730, SAPSCORE - 125, S4CORE, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, allows a registered attacker to invoke certain functions that would otherwise be restricted to specific users. These functions are normally exposed over the network and once exploited the attacker may be able to view and modify financial accounting data that only a specific user should have access to.

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

This is an authorization bypass vulnerability in SAP ERP Financial Accounting (RFOPENPOSTING_FR). A registered attacker with standard user credentials can invoke certain functions that should be restricted to specific privileged users. These functions are exposed over the network, and exploitation allows viewing and modifying financial accounting data that should only be accessible to authorized personnel.

MitigationApply the relevant SAP security note/patch for CVE-2021-38164. Additionally, review and enforce proper role-based access controls (RBAC) for the RFOPENPOSTING_FR functions and restrict network exposure of sensitive SAP functions.

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
Erp Financial AccountingApplication
Affected:= 100= 101= 102= 103= 104= 105= 602= 603= 604= 605= 606= 616

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
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/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 SAP ERP Financial Accounting component version
    Use SAP transaction code SPAM or SAINT to view installed software components. Look for the RFOPENPOSTING_FR component in the component list and record its version number.
    Affected if The installed version matches 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 602, 603, 604, 605, 606, or 616.
  2. Check if RFOPENPOSTING_FR is exposed via network endpoints
    Review SAP Gateway service definitions using transaction code SMGW. Look for external service definitions that include RFOPENPOSTING_FR functions. Also check ICF (Internet Communication Framework) paths via SICF for exposed RFC/BAPI endpoints.
    Affected if RFOPENPOSTING_FR functions are registered as externally accessible services in SAP Gateway or ICF.
  3. Verify user role assignments for RFOPENPOSTING_FR functions
    Use transaction code SUIM (User Information System) to search for roles containing authorization objects S_RFC or similar that grant access to RFOPENPOSTING_FR function modules. Check which users are assigned these roles.
    Affected if Standard non-privileged users have roles granting RFC access to RFOPENPOSTING_FR function modules.
  4. Inspect authorization object configuration
    Use transaction code SU24 or direct authorization trace (ST01) to examine the authorization objects required for RFOPENPOSTING_FR function access. Compare against the actual user authorization profiles in place.
    Affected if Users without elevated privileges can successfully execute the vulnerable RFOPENPOSTING_FR function modules.

A system is affected if it runs SAP ERP Financial Accounting with RFOPENPOSTING_FR component version 100-105 or 602-616 and has this component exposed over the network with insufficient role-based access controls.

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 SAP security note/patch for CVE-2021-38164. Additionally, review and enforce proper role-based access controls (RBAC) for the RFOPENPOSTING_FR functions and restrict network exposure of sensitive SAP functions.

Fix this in Erp Financial Accounting Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
24.0 hours of engineering $4,240
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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-2021-38164 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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