CVE-2010-3517 in OpenSolaris
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in Oracle Solaris 10 and OpenSolaris allows local users to affect availability, related to Kernel/X86.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/20/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2010-3517 represents a critical security flaw within the Oracle Solaris operating system family, specifically affecting versions 10 and OpenSolaris. This issue resides within the kernel component of the x86 architecture implementation, making it particularly concerning for systems that rely heavily on kernel-level operations. The unspecified nature of the vulnerability description suggests that the exact technical mechanism remains undisclosed, though the classification as a kernel-level issue implies it operates at the most fundamental level of system security and stability.
The technical flaw manifests as a weakness in the kernel's handling of x86 architecture components, potentially involving memory management, interrupt processing, or system call handling within the kernel space. Such vulnerabilities typically arise from improper input validation, buffer overflows, or race conditions that occur when kernel code processes specific instructions or data structures. The x86 architecture-specific nature indicates that the flaw may be related to how the kernel manages processor-specific features, instruction set handling, or hardware abstraction layers that translate between user-space applications and underlying hardware resources.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability presents a significant threat to system availability and stability. Local users who can exploit this weakness gain the ability to compromise the system's availability, potentially leading to system crashes, unexpected reboots, or complete system unresponsiveness. The local privilege requirement means that exploitation can occur from within the system itself, making it particularly dangerous as it bypasses external network-based security controls. Attackers could leverage this vulnerability to perform denial-of-service attacks against their own systems or potentially disrupt services that depend on kernel stability, affecting critical business operations and data availability.
The vulnerability aligns with several cybersecurity frameworks and classifications, including CWE-119 which deals with "Improper Access to Memory" and CWE-121 which addresses "Stack-based Buffer Overflow" as potential underlying causes. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability could map to techniques involving privilege escalation and defense evasion, as local users might exploit it to maintain persistent access or hide their activities within the kernel space. The impact on system availability also relates to the availability component of the CIA triad, potentially affecting the system's ability to provide services to authorized users.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2010-3517 should focus on immediate patching and system hardening measures. Oracle would have released security updates specifically addressing this kernel vulnerability, which organizations should implement immediately across all affected Solaris systems. System administrators should also consider implementing additional monitoring to detect unusual system behavior that might indicate exploitation attempts. Network segmentation and privilege separation measures can help limit the potential impact if exploitation occurs, while regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify similar weaknesses in other system components. Additionally, maintaining up-to-date system backups and having incident response procedures in place ensures rapid recovery if exploitation leads to system compromise or service disruption.