CVE-2015-4891 in Solaris
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in Oracle Sun Solaris 11.2 allows local users to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability via vectors related to NSCD.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/23/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2015-4891 resides within Oracle Sun Solaris 11.2 operating system and represents a significant security weakness in the Name Service Caching Daemon component. This issue affects local users who can exploit the NSCD service to compromise system confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The unspecified nature of the vulnerability indicates that the exact technical flaw within the NSCD implementation has not been fully disclosed in the public domain, though the impact is clearly demonstrated through the triad of confidentiality, integrity, and availability violations. The NSCD service operates as a caching daemon that provides name service information to applications, making it a critical component in system security infrastructure. The vulnerability enables local attackers to potentially manipulate cached name resolution data, modify system configuration elements, or disrupt service availability.
This vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 Access Control Issues and CWE-310 Cryptographic Issues, as the NSCD service handles sensitive name resolution data and may be susceptible to unauthorized access or manipulation of cached information. The attack vector specifically relates to local privilege escalation or information disclosure through the NSCD service, which operates with elevated privileges and maintains cached data from various name service providers. The security implications extend beyond simple data access, as manipulation of the NSCD cache can lead to complete system compromise through service disruption or data corruption. The vulnerability's impact on availability is particularly concerning as it could allow attackers to prevent legitimate users from accessing system resources through name resolution failures.
The operational impact of CVE-2015-4891 in enterprise environments can be severe, particularly in mission-critical systems where name resolution reliability is paramount. Local attackers with minimal privileges can exploit this vulnerability to gain unauthorized access to sensitive system information, potentially leading to privilege escalation or data exfiltration. The NSCD service typically runs with system privileges and maintains cached data from LDAP, NIS, and other name service providers, making it an attractive target for attackers seeking to manipulate system behavior. This vulnerability can be leveraged as part of a broader attack chain in the MITRE ATT&CK framework, specifically under the T1068 Local Privilege Escalation and T1566 Phishing with Malicious Attachments techniques, where attackers might use the compromised NSCD service to maintain persistence or escalate privileges.
Organizations running Oracle Sun Solaris 11.2 systems should prioritize immediate patching and implementation of additional security controls to mitigate this vulnerability. System administrators should conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments to identify systems running affected NSCD configurations and apply the appropriate Oracle security patches. Network segmentation and monitoring should be enhanced to detect unauthorized access attempts to the NSCD service, while audit logging should be configured to track modifications to name service cache data. The vulnerability also underscores the importance of principle of least privilege implementation, ensuring that the NSCD service operates with minimal required privileges and that access controls are properly configured. Regular security assessments and penetration testing should include evaluation of name service caching components to identify potential exploitation vectors and ensure proper system hardening against similar vulnerabilities.