CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2019-8978 — Ellucian Banner Enterprise Identity Services security vulnerability

High CVSS 8.1

An improper authentication vulnerability can be exploited through a race condition that occurs in Ellucian Banner Web Tailor 8.8.3, 8.8.4, and 8.9 and Banner Enterprise Identity Services 8.3, 8.3.1, 8.3.2, and 8.4, in conjunction with SSO Manager. This vulnerability allows remote attackers to steal a victim's session (and cause a denial of service) by repeatedly requesting the initial Banner Web Tailor main page with the IDMSESSID cookie set to the victim's UDCID, which in the case tested is the institutional ID. During a login attempt by a victim, the attacker can leverage the race condition and will be issued the SESSID that was meant for this victim.

Severity
High
CVSS
8.1 (3.0)
Published
2019-05-14
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-287, CWE-362

Affected products

  • ellucian / banner_enterprise_identity_services / 8.3
  • ellucian / banner_enterprise_identity_services / 8.3.1
  • ellucian / banner_enterprise_identity_services / 8.3.2
  • ellucian / banner_enterprise_identity_services / 8.4
  • ellucian / banner_web_tailor / 8.8.3
  • ellucian / banner_web_tailor / 8.8.4

Showing 6 representative product identities from 7 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Authentication bypass and missing authentication

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Check exposure

  • Map every affected endpoint and protocol path, including alternate ports, legacy routes, recovery flows, service accounts, and machine-to-machine access.
  • Confirm which deployments enable the affected authentication mode and whether the interface is reachable from untrusted networks.
  • Review session, token, credential, and proxy trust configuration without attempting account takeover.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the supported fix and centralize fail-closed authentication before protected request handling.
  • Remove default or embedded credentials, rotate affected secrets and sessions, and bind authentication decisions to the intended audience and channel.
  • Add negative tests for alternate routes, malformed or absent credentials, recovery flows, and proxy-derived identity.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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