CVE-2003-1076 in Solaris
Summary
by MITRE
Unknown vulnerability in sendmail for Solaris 7, 8, and 9 allows local users to cause a denial of service (unknown impact) and possibly gain privileges via certain constructs in a .forward file.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/20/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2003-1076 represents a critical security flaw within the sendmail implementation on Solaris operating systems version 7, 8, and 9. This issue manifests through improper handling of specific constructs within .forward files, which are configuration files used by sendmail to determine message routing and delivery. The vulnerability classifies under CWE-121, which deals with stack-based buffer overflow conditions, and falls within the broader category of privilege escalation and denial of service attacks. The .forward file mechanism in sendmail serves as a critical component for email redirection and forwarding, making it a potential attack vector for malicious local users seeking to compromise system integrity.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs when a local attacker creates or modifies a .forward file containing specially crafted constructs that trigger unexpected behavior in the sendmail process. These constructs likely exploit memory management flaws or improper input validation within the sendmail daemon when processing forward file entries. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond simple denial of service as it potentially enables privilege escalation, allowing attackers to gain elevated system privileges. This occurs because sendmail typically runs with elevated privileges to properly handle email routing, and any flaw in its processing of user-controlled input could be leveraged to execute arbitrary code with higher privileges than those of the attacking user.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risk to Solaris systems deployed in enterprise environments where sendmail serves as the primary email delivery mechanism. Local users with minimal system access can potentially disrupt email services entirely, causing denial of service conditions that impact business operations. The privilege escalation aspect means that attackers could gain root access or administrative privileges, potentially leading to complete system compromise and unauthorized access to sensitive data. This vulnerability particularly affects systems where local users have the ability to create or modify .forward files, which is common in shared hosting environments or systems with multiple user accounts.
Security mitigations for CVE-2003-1076 should prioritize immediate patching of affected Solaris systems through official Oracle security updates. System administrators should implement strict file permissions on .forward files to prevent unauthorized modification, ensuring that only authorized users or system processes can modify these critical configuration files. Additionally, the implementation of monitoring solutions to detect suspicious .forward file modifications and network-based intrusion detection systems can provide early warning of exploitation attempts. According to ATT&CK framework, this vulnerability maps to T1068 for local privilege escalation and T1499 for denial of service, making it a critical target for both preventive and detective security controls. Organizations should also consider implementing principle of least privilege access controls and regular security auditing of email configuration files to prevent exploitation of similar vulnerabilities in the future.