CVE-2018-2903 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 11.3. 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 unauthorized access to critical data or complete access to all Solaris accessible data. CVSS 3.0 Base Score 4.4 (Confidentiality impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/18/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-2903 resides within the Solaris kernel component of Oracle Sun Systems Products Suite, representing a significant security weakness that affects specific versions of the operating system. This flaw manifests in the kernel subsystem where Solaris manages core system operations, making it particularly dangerous as it operates at the most privileged level of the system architecture. The vulnerability impacts Solaris 10 and 11.3 versions, which were widely deployed in enterprise environments, creating a substantial attack surface for malicious actors. The security implications extend beyond simple data access as this vulnerability enables attackers to gain unauthorized access to critical system resources and sensitive information stored within the Solaris environment.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient privilege checks within the kernel implementation, allowing an attacker with local logon access to escalate their privileges and compromise system integrity. This flaw operates under the Common Weakness Enumeration framework as a privilege escalation vulnerability, specifically categorized under CWE-269 which addresses improper privilege management. The vulnerability's exploitability requires only a local logon session, making it particularly dangerous in environments where physical or network access might be obtained by malicious actors. The CVSS 3.0 scoring system rates this vulnerability with a base score of 4.4, indicating moderate severity, but the high privilege requirement and potential for complete data compromise make it significantly more dangerous than its numerical score suggests. The attack vector AV:L indicates local access is required, while the low attack complexity AC:L shows that exploitation does not require specialized circumstances. The high privilege requirement PR:H reflects that the attacker must already possess legitimate login credentials to the system.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends far beyond simple unauthorized data access, as successful exploitation can result in complete compromise of the Solaris system and all accessible data within its environment. This represents a critical confidentiality breach where attackers can potentially access sensitive corporate information, system configurations, and user data stored on the compromised Solaris systems. The vulnerability's potential for unauthorized access to critical data aligns with the ATT&CK framework's privilege escalation tactics, specifically targeting the T1068 technique for local privilege escalation. Organizations running affected Solaris versions face significant risk of data breaches, system takeover, and potential lateral movement within their network infrastructure. The impact is particularly severe in enterprise environments where Solaris systems often serve as critical infrastructure components hosting sensitive applications and data repositories.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2018-2903 should focus on immediate patch deployment from Oracle, which addresses the kernel privilege escalation flaw through proper privilege validation mechanisms. System administrators must implement comprehensive access controls and monitoring to detect unauthorized local access attempts, as the vulnerability requires legitimate login credentials to exploit. The recommended approach includes applying the official Oracle security patches as soon as they become available, while also implementing network segmentation and access control policies to limit local system access. Additionally, organizations should conduct thorough vulnerability assessments to identify all affected Solaris systems and prioritize remediation efforts based on system criticality and exposure levels. Monitoring for suspicious system behavior and unauthorized privilege escalation attempts remains crucial, as the vulnerability's exploitation may not be immediately apparent through standard security controls. Regular security audits and system hardening practices should be implemented to reduce the overall attack surface and minimize the risk of successful exploitation attempts.