CVE-2017-10004 in Solaris
Summary
by MITRE
Vulnerability in the Solaris component of Oracle Sun Systems Products Suite (subcomponent: Kernel). Supported versions that are affected are 10 and 11. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows high privileged attacker with logon to the infrastructure where Solaris executes to compromise Solaris. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in takeover of Solaris. CVSS 3.0 Base Score 6.7 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/03/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-10004 resides within the kernel subsystem of Oracle Solaris operating systems, specifically affecting versions 10 and 11. This represents a critical security weakness that operates at the core level of the operating system, where kernel vulnerabilities typically pose the most severe risks due to their ability to compromise fundamental system integrity. The vulnerability's classification as easily exploitable indicates that attackers with high privileged access can leverage this flaw to gain complete control over affected Solaris systems. The CVSS 3.0 scoring of 6.7 reflects the significant impact across confidentiality, integrity, and availability domains, with a vector indicating local access requirements but high privileges needed for exploitation, suggesting that the attack surface is limited to systems where an attacker already possesses elevated credentials.
The technical nature of this kernel vulnerability stems from weaknesses in the underlying system architecture that allow privilege escalation or memory corruption issues. Such flaws often manifest through improper input validation, buffer overflows, or race conditions within kernel space code that can be manipulated by an attacker with sufficient privileges. The Solaris kernel serves as the foundation for system security controls, making any compromise of its integrity potentially catastrophic for the entire system. This vulnerability operates within the context of a trusted computing base, where the kernel maintains privileged access to system resources and can directly manipulate memory, process management, and security policies. The attack scenario requires an attacker who has already established a foothold on the system with high privileges, which aligns with the CVSS vector indicating local access with high privilege requirements.
From an operational impact perspective, successful exploitation of CVE-2017-10004 can result in complete system compromise, allowing attackers to execute arbitrary code with the highest system privileges. This level of access enables attackers to bypass all security controls, access sensitive data, modify system configurations, and establish persistent backdoors. The availability impact is particularly severe as attackers can potentially cause system crashes or denial of service conditions, while confidentiality and integrity impacts allow for data theft, modification, and unauthorized access to system resources. Organizations running Solaris 10 and 11 systems face significant risk of unauthorized access to critical infrastructure, especially in environments where the kernel is subject to manipulation by privileged users. The vulnerability's potential for system takeover makes it a prime target for advanced persistent threats and nation-state actors who seek long-term access to networked systems.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2017-10004 should prioritize immediate patching of affected systems through Oracle's security updates, which typically address the underlying kernel flaws through code modifications and security patches. System administrators should implement comprehensive monitoring solutions to detect anomalous behavior that might indicate exploitation attempts, including unusual privilege escalation patterns and kernel-level modifications. Network segmentation and least privilege access controls can help limit the potential impact of successful exploitation by preventing lateral movement within compromised networks. The vulnerability's classification aligns with CWE-119, which covers weaknesses in memory management, and relates to ATT&CK techniques involving privilege escalation and defense evasion. Organizations should also conduct thorough security assessments of their Solaris environments to identify any potential unauthorized access or modifications that might have occurred before patching, as the vulnerability could have been exploited prior to discovery. Regular security updates and vulnerability management processes should be implemented to prevent similar issues from occurring in other system components.