CVE-2024-21736 Explained : Impact and Mitigation

This CVE-2024-21736 impacts SAP S/4HANA Finance for Advanced Payment Management and involves a missing authorization check that could allow attackers to create in-house bank accounts, leading to a low impact on the application's confidentiality.

Understanding CVE-2024-21736

This vulnerability affects versions SAPSCORE 128 and S4CORE 107 of SAP S/4HANA Finance for Advanced Payment Management. It arises from the lack of necessary authorization checks, enabling the unauthorized creation of in-house bank accounts by attackers.

What is CVE-2024-21736?

The CVE-2024-21736 vulnerability in SAP S/4HANA Finance for Advanced Payment Management results in unauthorized access to create in-house bank accounts due to missing authorization checks. The impact primarily affects the confidentiality of the application.

The Impact of CVE-2024-21736

With a CVSS base score of 6.4 (Medium severity), this vulnerability poses a risk to the confidentiality of the application. Attackers could exploit it to manipulate in-house bank accounts, potentially leading to unauthorized financial activities and data breaches.

Technical Details of CVE-2024-21736

This section delves into the specifics of the CVE-2024-21736 vulnerability, including its description, affected systems, versions, and exploitation mechanism.

Vulnerability Description

The vulnerability stems from the failure of SAP S/4HANA Finance for Advanced Payment Management to conduct essential authorization checks, allowing unauthorized users to trigger a function import and create in-house bank accounts.

Affected Systems and Versions

Versions SAPSCORE 128 and S4CORE 107 of SAP S/4HANA Finance for Advanced Payment Management are affected by this vulnerability, exposing them to the risk of unauthorized in-house bank account creation.

Exploitation Mechanism

Attackers can exploit this vulnerability by triggering a function import in the affected versions of SAP S/4HANA Finance for Advanced Payment Management, circumventing necessary authorization checks and gaining unauthorized access to create in-house bank accounts.

Mitigation and Prevention

To safeguard your systems against CVE-2024-21736, implementing immediate steps, adopting long-term security practices, and ensuring timely patching and updates are crucial.

Immediate Steps to Take

Apply security patches provided by SAP to address the missing authorization check issue in SAP S/4HANA Finance for Advanced Payment Management.
Monitor system logs for any suspicious activity related to in-house bank account creation.

Long-Term Security Practices

Regularly review and strengthen authorization controls within your SAP systems to prevent unauthorized access and activities.
Conduct security assessments and audits to identify and mitigate potential vulnerabilities proactively.

Patching and Updates

Stay informed about security updates and patches released by SAP for SAP S/4HANA Finance for Advanced Payment Management. Timely deployment of patches is essential to address known vulnerabilities and enhance system security.