# Onapsis Security Advisory 2021-0016: XXE in SAP JAVA NetWeaver System
Connections


## Impact on Business

A high-privileged SAP JAVA NetWeaver user is able to abuse an XXE
vulnerability
with the goal of reading files from the OS (compromising confidentiality)
and/or
making system processes crash (compromising availability).


## Advisory Information

- Public Release Date: 11/22/2021
- Security Advisory ID: ONAPSIS-2021-0016
- Researcher(s): Pablo Artuso


## Vulnerability Information

- Vendor: SAP
- Affected Components:
  - ESP framework (SAP JAVA)

  (Check SAP Note 3053066 for detailed information on affected releases)

- Vulnerability Class: CWE-611: Improper Restriction of XML External Entity
Reference
- CVSS v3 score: 8.7 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:H)
- Risk Level: High
- Assigned CVE: CVE-2021-27635
- Vendor patch Information: SAP Security NOTE 3053066


## Affected Components Description

The ESP framework is a framework used inside SAP JAVA NetWeaver. Due to
being
part of this foundational layer, every SAP product based on JAVA NetWeaver
will
be vulnerable to this attack. This includes: SAP SolMan, SAP LaMa, SAP CRM,
just to mention a few.


## Vulnerability Details

The Communication Profiles functionality provided within SAP JAVA
NetWeaver, is
vulnerable to XXE attacks. Due to the lack of validation of external
entities,
an authenticated attacker is able to submit specially crafted XML and
compromise
the integrity (by reading files of the OS) and the availability (by causing
process
to crash).


## Solution

SAP has released SAP Note 3053066 which provide patched versions of the
affected components.

The patches can be downloaded from
https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/3053066.

Onapsis strongly recommends SAP customers to download the related
security fixes and apply them to the affected components in order to
reduce business risks.


## Report Timeline

 - 04/22/2021 - Onapsis sends details to SAP
 - 04/23/2021 - SAP provides internal tracking ID 2170134834
 - 04/26/2021 - SAP provides the following email:
 - 05/10/2021 - SAP provides update: Vulnerability being fixed
 - 06/08/2021 - SAP releases patch #3053066
 - 11/22/2021 - Advisory published


## References

- Onapsis blogpost: https://onapsis.com/de/node/3651
- CVE Mitre: https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2021-27635
- Vendor Patch: https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/3053066


## About Onapsis Research Labs

Onapsis Research Labs provides the industry analysis of key security
issues that impact business-critical systems and applications.
Delivering frequent and timely security and compliance advisories with
associated risk levels, Onapsis Research Labs combine in-depth knowledge
and experience to deliver technical and business-context with sound
security judgment to the broader information security community.

Find all reported vulnerabilities at
https://github.com/Onapsis/vulnerability_advisories


## About Onapsis, Inc.

Onapsis protects the mission-critical applications that run the global
economy,
from the core to the cloud. The Onapsis Platform uniquely delivers
actionable
insight, secure change, automated governance and continuous monitoring for
critical
systems—ERP, CRM, PLM, HCM, SCM and BI applications—from leading vendors
such as SAP,
Oracle, Salesforce and others, while keeping them protected and compliant.

For more information, connect with us on Twitter or LinkedIn, or visit us at
https://www.onapsis.com.

## License
This advisory is licensed under a [Creative Commons 4.0 BY-ND International
License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/legalcode)
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