CVE-2013-0412 in Solaris
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in Oracle Sun Solaris 8, 9, 10, and 11 allows local users to affect integrity and availability via unknown vectors related to Utility/pax.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/28/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2013-0412 represents a critical security weakness within Oracle Sun Solaris operating systems spanning versions 8 through 11. This issue specifically resides within the Utility/pax component of the system, which serves as a fundamental packaging and archival utility for managing software distributions and system files. The unspecified nature of the vulnerability vectors indicates that the exact technical mechanism enabling exploitation remains partially obscured, though the impact on system integrity and availability suggests a significant compromise potential. The pax utility operates with elevated privileges during system operations, making it a prime target for local privilege escalation attacks. This vulnerability type aligns with CWE-119, which addresses weaknesses in memory handling and privilege management, particularly when system utilities execute with elevated permissions.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data integrity concerns to encompass complete system availability risks. Local attackers who successfully exploit this weakness can potentially corrupt system files, manipulate critical system utilities, and disrupt normal operational procedures through the compromised pax functionality. The attack surface becomes particularly dangerous when considering that pax utilities are frequently used during system maintenance, software installation, and patch management operations. This creates multiple opportunities for exploitation during routine administrative tasks, where the system is already in a state of elevated privilege execution. The vulnerability's presence in multiple Solaris versions indicates a long-standing issue that was not adequately addressed in the affected release cycles, suggesting a systemic weakness in the platform's security architecture.
Security professionals must recognize this vulnerability as a potential entry point for sophisticated local attacks that could lead to complete system compromise. The impact on availability is particularly concerning given that pax utilities are integral to system recovery operations and software management procedures. Organizations running affected Solaris versions should prioritize immediate remediation through official Oracle patches, as the unspecified nature of the attack vectors suggests that exploitation methods may be actively developed or discovered. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of maintaining up-to-date system configurations and implementing robust security monitoring procedures. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques involving privilege escalation and persistence mechanisms, where local users can leverage compromised utilities to maintain access and further compromise system integrity. The attack vector typically requires local system access, making user account compromise or physical access a prerequisite for exploitation, though the potential for automated exploitation methods cannot be ruled out. System administrators should implement comprehensive monitoring for unusual pax utility behavior and establish strict access controls for system management utilities to mitigate the risk of unauthorized exploitation.