CVE-2026-21980 is a vulnerability identified in Oracle Life Sciences Central Coding version 7.0.1.0, a component of Oracle Health Sciences Applications. The flaw allows an unauthenticated attacker with network access via HTTP to perform unauthorized operations including update, insert, delete, and read on certain accessible data within the application. The vulnerability stems from insufficient access controls on the platform component, enabling attackers to bypass authentication and directly manipulate or exfiltrate data. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 6.5, indicating a medium severity with impacts on confidentiality and integrity but no impact on availability. The attack vector is network-based with low attack complexity, requiring no privileges or user interaction. Although no known exploits have been reported in the wild, the vulnerability’s ease of exploitation and potential to compromise sensitive clinical coding data pose significant risks. Oracle Life Sciences Central Coding is used in clinical trial data management and coding, meaning compromised data integrity or confidentiality could affect clinical research outcomes and regulatory compliance. The vulnerability highlights the need for immediate patching and enhanced network defenses to prevent unauthorized data manipulation or disclosure.

For European organizations, particularly those involved in pharmaceutical research, clinical trials, and healthcare data management, this vulnerability could lead to unauthorized disclosure of sensitive clinical coding data and unauthorized modification of trial data. Such compromises could undermine data integrity, affect patient safety, distort clinical trial results, and lead to regulatory non-compliance under GDPR and other healthcare regulations. The unauthorized update or deletion of data could disrupt ongoing clinical studies or lead to erroneous conclusions, impacting drug development timelines and reputations. Confidentiality breaches could expose proprietary or personal health information, increasing legal and financial risks. The fact that exploitation requires no authentication and no user interaction increases the threat level, especially in environments where Oracle Life Sciences Central Coding is exposed to internal or external networks without adequate segmentation or access controls.

1. Apply official Oracle patches or updates for version 7.0.1.0 as soon as they become available to remediate the vulnerability. 2. Restrict network access to Oracle Life Sciences Central Coding servers by implementing strict firewall rules and network segmentation, limiting HTTP access to trusted internal systems only. 3. Employ web application firewalls (WAF) to detect and block suspicious HTTP requests targeting the vulnerable endpoints. 4. Monitor logs and audit trails for unusual data access patterns, unauthorized data modifications, or unexpected HTTP requests to the affected application. 5. Conduct regular security assessments and penetration testing focused on Oracle Health Sciences applications to identify and remediate similar weaknesses. 6. Enforce strong access control policies and multi-factor authentication on administrative interfaces to reduce the risk of lateral movement if the vulnerability is exploited. 7. Educate IT and security teams about the vulnerability and ensure incident response plans include scenarios involving Oracle Life Sciences Central Coding compromise.