CVE-2012-0523 in Grid Engine
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in the Oracle Grid Engine component in Oracle Sun Products Suite 6.1 and 6.2 allows local users to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability via unknown vectors related to sgepasswd.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/23/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2012-0523 resides within Oracle Grid Engine, a critical component of the Oracle Sun Products Suite version 6.1 and 6.2. This distributed computing resource management system serves as the backbone for cluster computing environments, managing job scheduling and resource allocation across multiple nodes. The vulnerability specifically impacts the sgepasswd utility, which handles password management for Grid Engine users and administrators. The unspecified nature of the vulnerability vectors suggests a complex underlying flaw that could potentially manifest through multiple attack pathways, making it particularly dangerous for system administrators who rely on predictable security boundaries. The affected Oracle Grid Engine component represents a foundational element in enterprise computing infrastructures where job scheduling and resource management are paramount.
The technical flaw within the sgepasswd utility appears to stem from inadequate input validation or privilege management mechanisms that allow local users to exploit weaknesses in the password handling process. This vulnerability category aligns with CWE-20, which addresses "Improper Input Validation" and CWE-264, "Permissions, Privileges, and Access Controls." The sgepasswd utility likely operates with elevated privileges during password modification processes, creating an attack surface where local adversaries could manipulate the utility's behavior to gain unauthorized access to sensitive system resources. The vulnerability's impact extends across all three fundamental security principles as defined by the CIA triad, enabling attackers to compromise confidentiality through unauthorized data access, integrity through potential modification of password databases, and availability by potentially disrupting legitimate user access to the Grid Engine system.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is substantial for organizations relying on Oracle Grid Engine for their distributed computing needs. Local users who exploit this vulnerability could potentially escalate privileges to gain administrative access to the Grid Engine system, allowing them to modify job scheduling parameters, access confidential job data, or even disrupt service availability for legitimate users. The attack vector's local nature means that any user with access to the system could potentially exploit this weakness, making it particularly concerning for multi-user environments where privilege separation is crucial. Organizations using Grid Engine for critical computational workloads face significant risk of data breaches, service disruption, and potential unauthorized access to sensitive computational resources that may contain proprietary information or confidential research data. The vulnerability's presence in widely deployed versions 6.1 and 6.2 means that numerous enterprise systems could be affected, creating widespread potential for exploitation across various industry sectors.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2012-0523 should focus on immediate patching of affected Oracle Grid Engine installations to the latest available security releases from Oracle. System administrators should implement strict access controls and privilege separation to minimize the attack surface for local users, ensuring that only authorized personnel have access to the sgepasswd utility and related administrative functions. Network segmentation and monitoring should be enhanced to detect anomalous behavior in Grid Engine processes, particularly around password modification activities. The implementation of principle of least privilege should be enforced across all Grid Engine components, ensuring that users operate with minimal necessary privileges. Organizations should also conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments to identify any additional weaknesses in their distributed computing environments that could be exploited in conjunction with this vulnerability. Security monitoring should include detection of unauthorized access attempts to Grid Engine administrative interfaces and password management utilities, aligning with ATT&CK technique T1078 for Valid Accounts and T1566 for Phishing to identify potential exploitation attempts. Regular security audits of Grid Engine configurations and access controls should be performed to maintain defense in depth against similar vulnerabilities.