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Businessobjects Business IntelligenceApplication · Sap

CVE-2023-36917

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-07-11
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges 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 BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform - version 420, 430, allows an unauthorized attacker who had hijacked a user session, to be able to bypass the victim’s old password via brute force, due to unrestricted rate limit for password change functionality. Although the attack has no impact on integrity loss or system availability, this could lead to an attacker to completely takeover a victim’s account.

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

In SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform versions 420 and 430, the password change functionality lacks rate limiting, allowing an attacker who has hijacked a user session to brute-force guess the victim's old password and take complete control of the account.

MitigationImplement rate limiting on the password change endpoint and enforce account lockout policies after failed attempts. Consider requiring multi-factor authentication for sensitive account operations.

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
Businessobjects Business IntelligenceApplication
Affected:= 420= 430

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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. Confirm SAP BusinessObjects version
    Access the SAP BusinessObjects CMC (Central Management Console) or check the installation directory for version information. In the CMC, go to 'About' or check the version info in the system information page. The version will be displayed as 420.x or 430.x
    Affected if Installed version equals exactly 420 or 430 (without any SP or patch level modifier)
  2. Locate the password change endpoint
    Identify the web service endpoint used for password changes in SAP BusinessObjects. This is typically accessible via the SAP BusinessObjects BI platform web interfaces (CMC, BI Launch Pad) at paths like '/BOE/BI/logonService' or similar authentication-related endpoints
    Affected if The password change functionality is exposed and accessible through the web interface without additional authentication layers beyond the current session
  3. Verify if rate limiting exists on authentication endpoints
    Check the SAP BusinessObjects web server configuration (Tomcat or IIS depending on deployment) for any rate limiting or throttling rules applied to the password change or logon endpoints. Review any web.xml or server configuration files for request throttling configurations
    Affected if No rate limiting or request throttling mechanism is configured on password-related endpoints
  4. Check account lockout policy configuration
    In the CMC, navigate to 'Users and Groups' > 'User Settings' or the security configuration area to verify if account lockout policies are configured after failed authentication attempts. Also check the SAP BusinessObjects security configuration files
    Affected if No account lockout policy is enforced after multiple failed password attempts, or the threshold is set too high to prevent brute force attacks
  5. Assess session management controls
    Review the SAP BusinessObjects session management configuration to determine if sessions can be reused or if there are controls preventing session hijacking exploitation. Check the authentication configuration in the CMC or in the BOE configuration files
    Affected if Sessions remain active and usable for an extended period without re-authentication, allowing an attacker with session access sufficient time to brute-force

User is affected if their SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform is version 420 or 430 AND the password change endpoint lacks rate limiting AND no account lockout policy exists to block brute-force attempts.

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 rate limiting on the password change endpoint and enforce account lockout policies after failed attempts. Consider requiring multi-factor authentication for sensitive account operations.

Fix this in Businessobjects Business Intelligence Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
13.0 hours of engineering $2,280
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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-2023-36917 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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