CVE-2007-0165 in Solaris
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in libnsl in Sun Solaris 8 and 9 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via malformed RPC requests that trigger a crash in rpcbind.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/14/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2007-0165 resides within the libnsl library component of Sun Solaris operating systems version 8 and 9, representing a critical security flaw that enables remote attackers to execute denial of service attacks through carefully crafted malformed remote procedure call requests. This vulnerability specifically targets the rpcbind service which is responsible for managing port mapping for rpc services, creating a pathway for attackers to destabilize systems through carefully constructed network traffic that exploits implementation weaknesses in the library's handling of rpc requests.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs when rpcbind processes malformed rpc requests that contain malformed data structures or unexpected parameter values, causing the service to crash and terminate unexpectedly. This flaw falls under the category of improper input validation where the rpcbind service fails to properly sanitize or validate incoming rpc requests before processing them, leading to memory corruption or stack overflow conditions that result in system crashes. The vulnerability is classified as a buffer over-read or improper handling of malformed data structures, which represents a common weakness in network services that process external input without adequate validation mechanisms.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability presents a significant threat to enterprise environments running affected Solaris versions, as it allows remote attackers to disrupt critical network services without requiring authentication or elevated privileges. The denial of service condition affects the rpcbind service itself, which serves as a critical component for port mapping in rpc-based network services, potentially causing cascading failures throughout the network infrastructure that relies on rpc protocols for communication between systems. This vulnerability directly impacts the availability aspect of the CIA triad by compromising system uptime and service accessibility, potentially affecting business operations and network reliability.
The attack surface for this vulnerability is particularly concerning given that rpcbind services are commonly exposed to network traffic and often run with elevated privileges, making successful exploitation particularly damaging. Network-based attackers can leverage this vulnerability by simply sending malformed rpc requests to systems running affected Solaris versions, requiring no special credentials or access privileges. This makes the vulnerability highly attractive to threat actors seeking to disrupt services without detection, and represents a classic example of a remote code execution vulnerability that can be exploited through network traffic without requiring physical access or user interaction.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the appropriate security patches provided by Sun Microsystems, which would address the input validation issues in the libnsl library and rpcbind service. Network segmentation and firewall rules should be implemented to restrict access to rpcbind services from untrusted networks, while monitoring should be enabled to detect unusual rpc traffic patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of maintaining up-to-date system patches and following security best practices for network service configuration, as it represents a fundamental flaw in how the operating system handles remote procedure calls. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-129 and CWE-787 categories related to improper input validation and buffer overflows, and represents a technique that could be mapped to ATT&CK tactics including privilege escalation and denial of service through service disruption.