# CVE-2018-2481: Privilege escalation in SAP ABA

> A malicious user can execute unauthorized transactions by exploiting reserved customer transaction codes in SAP standard roles, leading to privilege escalation.

- **Severity:** High 7.2 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 13 Nov 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-26pg-vhv9-6fgm

## What is CVE-2018-2481?

CVE-2018-2481 is a high-severity vulnerability in SAP_ABA, published on 13 Nov 2018. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In some SAP standard roles, in SAP_ABA versions, 7.00 to 7.02, 7.10 to 7.11, 7.30, 7.31, 7.40, 7.50, 75C to 75D, a transaction code reserved for customer is used. By implementing such transaction code a malicious user may execute unauthorized transaction functionality.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-2481?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Sap Advanced Business Application Programming.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-2481?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-2481 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-2481 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-2481 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-2481 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-2481 is a high-severity vulnerability in SAP_ABA, published on 13 Nov 2018. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-2481 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: SAP_ABA. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-2481/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-2481/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-2481
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-2481
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-2481

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-2481/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.