CVE-2014-4224 in Solaris
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in Oracle Sun Solaris 8, 9, 10, and 11.1 allows local users to affect availability via unknown vectors related to sockfs.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/09/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-4224 resides within Oracle Sun Solaris operating systems across multiple versions including 8, 9, 10, and 11.1, representing a significant security concern that affects the core socket filesystem implementation. This issue falls under the category of availability impact, meaning that adversaries can potentially disrupt system operations rather than gain unauthorized access or execute arbitrary code directly. The sockfs component serves as the kernel interface for socket operations within the Solaris environment, making it a critical subsystem for network communications and system functionality. The unspecified nature of the vulnerability vectors indicates that the exact technical mechanisms through which local users can manipulate the sockfs subsystem remain partially obscured, though the implications suggest a fundamental weakness in how the system handles socket-related operations.
The technical flaw manifests within the socket filesystem implementation where local attackers can exploit unspecified conditions to compromise system availability. This type of vulnerability typically involves race conditions, improper input validation, or memory management issues within the kernel space that govern socket operations. The sockfs subsystem handles socket creation, management, and destruction processes, making it a prime target for availability attacks. When local users can manipulate these operations, they may be able to cause system crashes, resource exhaustion, or denial of service conditions that severely impact system stability and network connectivity. The vulnerability's presence in multiple Solaris versions indicates a widespread issue within the kernel networking stack that requires immediate attention across affected deployments.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents a substantial risk to enterprise environments running Solaris systems, particularly those with high availability requirements or mission-critical network services. Local users who can exploit this weakness can potentially cause system-wide disruptions that affect network services, application availability, and overall system reliability. The impact extends beyond individual system compromise to potentially affect entire network infrastructures that depend on stable socket operations. Organizations may experience service outages, increased system maintenance requirements, and potential data loss if network connectivity becomes compromised due to socket filesystem corruption or system crashes. The local nature of the attack means that attackers do not require network access or elevated privileges beyond standard user accounts, making the vulnerability particularly concerning for multi-user environments.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2014-4224 should prioritize immediate patch application from Oracle, as this represents a critical vulnerability requiring vendor-provided fixes. System administrators should implement comprehensive monitoring of socket-related system calls and network operations to detect potential exploitation attempts. Access controls and privilege separation should be enforced to limit local user capabilities where possible, though the vulnerability's nature suggests that even standard users may be able to cause significant disruption. Network segmentation and firewall rules can help limit the potential impact of successful exploitation attempts, while regular system audits should monitor for unusual socket operations or system performance degradation. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-119, which addresses improper access to memory, and may also relate to ATT&CK technique T1499, which covers network disruption attacks. Organizations should also consider implementing intrusion detection systems that can identify anomalous socket behavior patterns consistent with this type of availability attack.