CVE-2014-6470 in Solaris
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in Oracle Sun Solaris 11 allows local users to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability via unknown vectors related to Archive Utility.
Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/23/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-6470 resides within Oracle Sun Solaris 11 operating system and represents a significant security weakness in the Archive Utility component that affects local users. This unspecified vulnerability operates at the system level and demonstrates the critical nature of archive handling mechanisms within operating systems, particularly when these components are accessible to local users who may exploit them for malicious purposes. The vulnerability's classification as affecting confidentiality, integrity, and availability indicates a comprehensive impact across all three fundamental security principles that form the core of information security.
The technical flaw within the Archive Utility component stems from insufficient validation and handling of archive files, allowing local attackers to potentially manipulate or corrupt system resources through crafted archive inputs. This type of vulnerability typically involves improper input sanitization where archive utility functions fail to properly validate file paths, permissions, or archive contents before processing them. The unspecified nature of the vulnerability vectors suggests that multiple attack surfaces within the archive utility may be susceptible to exploitation, potentially including archive extraction, file listing, or metadata handling operations. Such vulnerabilities often arise from buffer overflows, improper privilege handling, or inadequate access control mechanisms within archive processing code paths.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability presents a substantial risk to Solaris 11 systems as local users can potentially leverage it to compromise system integrity and availability. The ability to affect confidentiality means that sensitive data within archives or system files may be accessed or exfiltrated by malicious local users. Integrity impacts could manifest through file corruption or modification of system components during archive processing, while availability concerns arise from potential denial of service conditions that could occur during archive operations. The local nature of this vulnerability means that attackers do not require network access or remote exploitation capabilities, making it particularly dangerous as it can be exploited by any user with local system access, including compromised accounts or malicious insiders.
Organizations running Solaris 11 systems must implement immediate mitigations to address this vulnerability, including applying Oracle's official security patches and updates as released. System administrators should also consider implementing additional controls such as restricting local user privileges where possible, monitoring archive utility usage, and conducting regular security assessments of archive processing components. The vulnerability's impact aligns with CWE categories related to improper input validation and insufficient privilege management, while potentially mapping to ATT&CK techniques involving privilege escalation and local persistence. Security monitoring should focus on unusual archive processing activities, unauthorized file modifications, and potential attempts to exploit archive utility functions. Regular system audits and vulnerability assessments are essential to ensure that the patching process is complete and that no other similar vulnerabilities exist within the system's archive handling mechanisms.