CVE-2025-53048 is a vulnerability identified in the Rich Text Editor component of Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise PeopleTools versions 8.60, 8.61, and 8.62. The flaw allows an attacker with low privileges and network access over HTTP to compromise the PeopleTools environment by exploiting a weakness classified under CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read). The attack requires user interaction from a third party, indicating a social engineering or phishing vector to trigger the exploit. Upon successful exploitation, the attacker can gain unauthorized capabilities to read, insert, update, or delete certain accessible data within PeopleSoft Enterprise PeopleTools. The vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.4, with the vector indicating network attack vector (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), low privileges required (PR:L), and user interaction required (UI:R). The scope is changed (S:C), meaning the impact extends beyond the initially vulnerable component to other parts of the PeopleSoft ecosystem. Confidentiality and integrity impacts are limited but present, while availability is unaffected. No public exploits are known, but the ease of exploitation combined with network accessibility and low privilege requirements make it a notable risk. The vulnerability’s impact is significant because PeopleSoft is widely used in enterprise resource planning (ERP) and human capital management (HCM), meaning data integrity and confidentiality are critical. The lack of available patches at the time of publication necessitates immediate mitigation steps.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a risk of unauthorized data manipulation and disclosure within PeopleSoft Enterprise PeopleTools environments. Given PeopleSoft’s role in managing critical business functions such as HR, finance, and supply chain, exploitation could lead to data integrity issues, unauthorized changes to records, and leakage of sensitive information. This can disrupt business operations, cause compliance violations under GDPR due to unauthorized data access, and damage organizational reputation. The requirement for user interaction suggests phishing or social engineering could be used to trigger the exploit, increasing the risk in environments with less mature security awareness. The scope change indicates that other integrated Oracle products may also be impacted, potentially broadening the attack surface. Organizations relying heavily on PeopleSoft for critical processes may face operational disruptions and increased risk of insider threat exploitation or external attackers leveraging compromised accounts.

1. Apply patches or updates from Oracle as soon as they become available for PeopleSoft Enterprise PeopleTools versions 8.60, 8.61, and 8.62. 2. Restrict network access to PeopleSoft HTTP interfaces to trusted internal networks or VPNs to reduce exposure. 3. Implement strict access controls and least privilege principles for PeopleSoft user accounts to limit potential damage from compromised accounts. 4. Conduct targeted user awareness training focusing on phishing and social engineering risks to reduce likelihood of successful user interaction exploitation. 5. Monitor PeopleSoft logs and network traffic for unusual activities such as unexpected data modifications or access patterns. 6. Employ web application firewalls (WAF) with custom rules to detect and block suspicious HTTP requests targeting PeopleSoft endpoints. 7. Segment PeopleSoft environments from other critical systems to contain potential scope changes. 8. Regularly review and audit PeopleSoft configurations and permissions to ensure no excessive privileges are granted. 9. Prepare incident response plans specific to PeopleSoft compromise scenarios to enable rapid containment and remediation.