CVE-2014-6510 in Solaris
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in Oracle Solaris 11 allows local users to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability via unknown vectors related to Power Management Utility.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/05/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-6510 resides within Oracle Solaris 11 operating system and represents a significant security weakness in the Power Management Utility component. This unspecified flaw falls under the category of local privilege escalation vulnerabilities, where an attacker with existing system access can exploit the weakness to compromise system integrity and availability. The vulnerability's classification as affecting confidentiality, integrity, and availability indicates a comprehensive impact across all three core principles of the CIA triad, suggesting that the flaw could enable attackers to access sensitive information, modify system resources, and potentially disrupt system operations.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from the Power Management Utility's implementation within the Solaris 11 operating system, which is designed to manage power consumption and system states for energy efficiency. When an attacker gains local access to a Solaris 11 system, they can leverage this flaw to manipulate the power management subsystem in ways that compromise the overall system security posture. This type of vulnerability typically arises from insufficient input validation, improper privilege handling, or flawed access controls within system utilities that manage critical hardware resources. The unspecified nature of the exact vector suggests that the vulnerability may involve multiple attack paths or could be a complex interaction between different system components.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents a substantial risk to organizations running Oracle Solaris 11 systems, particularly in environments where local access is not strictly controlled. The impact extends beyond simple privilege escalation to encompass broader system compromise potential, as power management utilities often operate with elevated privileges and have direct access to system hardware components. Attackers could potentially use this vulnerability to disable power management features, manipulate system power states, or gain unauthorized access to system resources that are normally protected. The availability impact is particularly concerning as power management features are crucial for system stability and performance optimization, making this vulnerability potentially disruptive to system operations.
Security professionals should consider this vulnerability in the context of the CWE (Common Weakness Enumeration) framework, where such issues typically map to weaknesses related to improper privilege management and insufficient access control mechanisms. The ATT&CK framework would categorize this under privilege escalation techniques, specifically local privilege escalation, where adversaries leverage system utilities or components to gain elevated system privileges. Organizations should implement comprehensive monitoring solutions to detect unusual power management activities that could indicate exploitation attempts. The recommended mitigations include applying Oracle's official security patches and updates, implementing strict access controls to limit local user privileges, and conducting regular security assessments of system utilities. Additionally, network segmentation and privilege separation strategies should be employed to minimize the potential impact of such local vulnerabilities, ensuring that even if an attacker compromises one system component, they cannot easily propagate to other system areas.