SAP Discloses Critical Vulnerabilities in ASE Databases

SAP customers are urged to apply a series of recent patches released by SAP for the Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE).  SAP ASE, previously known as Sybase SQL Server and Sybase ASE, is a widely deployed database platform used for both SAP and non-SAP applications. According to SAP, ASE is used by over 30,000 customers worldwide, including 90 percent of the top 50 banks.

Four of the patches released by SAP are for critical or high-risk vulnerabilities in multiple components of ASE. The vulnerabilities impact ASE versions 15.7 and 16.0 and carry CVSS scores ranging between 7.2 and 9.1.

Note 2917275 patches the most severe of the vulnerabilities by applying input validation for DUMP and LOAD commands that could be exploited to overwrite critical configuration files during database backup operations. Attackers can run DUMP commands to overwrite database configuration files with corrupted versions that will replace the default configuration. This can be exploited to install backdoors to ASE using credentials stored in the corrupted configuration files. It can also be exploited to execute arbitrary commands and executables using local system privileges by modifying the sybmultbuf_binary Backup Server setting.

Note 2917090 impacts Windows installations of the SAP ASE 16. Credentials for SQL Anywhere packaged in ASE can be read by any Windows user. SQL Anywhere supports database creation and version management. The credentials can be used to perform code execution with local privileges.

Notes 2916927 and 2917273 deal with high-risk SQL injection vulnerabilities in global temporary tables and ASE Web Services. Both vulnerabilities can be exploited to escalate privileges in ASE.

Database security notes including patches for ASE should be regularly monitored and applied using System Recommendations in SAP Solution Manager. Solution Manager connects directly to SAP Support for patch updates and monitor the patch status of SAP applications and databases. SAP Solution Manager also supports comprehensive vulnerability management for SAP ASE. Automated, daily security scans for ASE should be configured using Solution Manager to check for vulnerabilities related to the database configuration, administrative privileges, stored procedures, and other areas. The ASE audit log can be monitored by the Monitoring and Alerting Infrastructure (MAI) in Solution Manager to detect and alert for suspected malicious commands. To learn more, contact Layer Seven Security.

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