Businessobjects Business IntelligenceApplication · Sap

CVE-2023-37490

CRITICAL · 9.0 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-08-08
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
92/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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 Business Objects Installer - versions 420, 430, allows an authenticated attacker within the network to overwrite an executable file created in a temporary directory during the installation process. On replacing this executable with a malicious file, an attacker can completely compromise the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the system

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

This is a time-of-check-time-of-use (TOCTOU) vulnerability in the SAP Business Objects Installer where an executable file created in a temporary directory during installation can be overwritten by an authenticated attacker. The attacker can replace the legitimate executable with a malicious one, achieving arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the installer process.

MitigationApply the relevant SAP Security Note to address this vulnerability. Until patched, ensure installation is performed in isolated environments with restricted access to prevent authenticated attackers from accessing the temp directory during the installation process.

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
Adjacent
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

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 installed SAP BusinessObjects version
    Use SAP BI platform administration tools or check the installed product version through the SAP BusinessObjects installer logs or program information. Common locations: SAP BusinessObjects\setup\res\setup.xml or the installation directory's version file.
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 420 or exactly 430.
  2. Locate SAP BusinessObjects installation logs
    Check the installation log directory for recent installer activity. Look for log files containing 'setup' or 'install' with timestamps from recent installation sessions.
    Affected if Installation logs exist and show a recent installation of version 420 or 430.
  3. Inspect temporary directory contents
    Examine the system temporary directory (typically %TEMP% or %TMP%) used during the installation timeframe. Look for executable files related to SAP BusinessObjects setup (such as setup.exe, InstallBootstrap.exe, or similar).
    Affected if Executable files from the SAP installer are present in the temp directory with timestamps matching recent installations.
  4. Verify file permissions on temp directory
    Review file system permissions on the temporary directories used during installation. Check if authenticated users have write access to directories where installer executables were created.
    Affected if The temp directory allows write access to authenticated users during or shortly after installation.

A system is affected if SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence version 420 or 430 is installed and the temp directory was accessible to authenticated users during installation.

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 to address this vulnerability. Until patched, ensure installation is performed in isolated environments with restricted access to prevent authenticated attackers from accessing the temp directory during the installation process.

Fix this in Businessobjects Business Intelligence Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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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-2023-37490 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