CVE-2011-2291 in Solaris
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in Oracle Solaris 10 allows local users to affect confidentiality via unknown vectors related to Trusted Extensions.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/12/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2011-2291 resides within Oracle Solaris 10 operating system and represents a security flaw in the Trusted Extensions component that governs mandatory access control policies. This unspecified weakness falls under the category of local privilege escalation issues where an attacker with existing system access can potentially compromise data confidentiality through mechanisms not explicitly detailed in the initial advisory. The Trusted Extensions framework in Solaris 10 provides enhanced security through label-based access controls that separate different security levels, making this vulnerability particularly concerning for environments requiring strict information classification and access management.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from the complex interaction between the kernel-level Trusted Extensions modules and user-space applications that handle security labels and access controls. While the exact vector remains unspecified, such weaknesses typically involve improper validation of security contexts, inadequate enforcement of access control policies, or flaws in the label management system that could allow a local user to bypass security restrictions. The vulnerability likely exploits gaps in the Trusted Extensions implementation where security labels are not properly enforced during system operations, potentially enabling information leakage or unauthorized data access through manipulation of security contexts.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability represents a significant risk to organizations relying on Solaris 10 with Trusted Extensions enabled, particularly those in government, financial, or defense sectors where information classification is critical. A successful exploitation could lead to unauthorized access to classified information, data exfiltration, or compromise of sensitive system operations. The local nature of the attack means that an attacker would need to first establish a foothold on the system, but once achieved, could potentially access data classified at higher security levels than their current access permissions should allow. This type of vulnerability undermines the fundamental security model of Trusted Extensions and could result in cascading effects throughout the system's security architecture.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2011-2291 should focus on immediate patching of Oracle Solaris 10 systems through official security updates provided by Oracle. Organizations should also implement comprehensive monitoring of system access logs and security label changes to detect potential exploitation attempts. The principle of least privilege should be strictly enforced, limiting local user accounts to the minimum required permissions. Additionally, system administrators should conduct regular security assessments of Trusted Extensions configurations and consider implementing additional monitoring controls through security information and event management systems. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 access control weaknesses and could potentially map to ATT&CK technique T1068 for local privilege escalation, making it a critical concern for organizations maintaining security-sensitive environments where Trusted Extensions are deployed.