CVE-2018-3274 in Solaris
Summary
by MITRE
Vulnerability in the Solaris component of Oracle Sun Systems Products Suite (subcomponent: Kernel). The supported version that is affected is 11.3. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows low privileged attacker with network access via SMB to compromise Solaris. Successful attacks require human interaction from a person other than the attacker. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized ability to cause a hang or frequently repeatable crash (complete DOS) of Solaris. CVSS 3.0 Base Score 5.7 (Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/29/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-3274 resides within the Solaris kernel component of Oracle Sun Systems Products Suite, specifically targeting version 11.3 which remains supported. This security flaw represents a significant concern for enterprise environments utilizing Oracle Solaris operating systems as it exploits a weakness that can be leveraged by attackers with relatively low privileges. The vulnerability's exploitability requires network access via the Server Message Block protocol, making it accessible to attackers who can establish network connections to affected systems. The attack vector demonstrates the importance of network segmentation and proper firewall configurations to prevent unauthorized access to critical system components.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from a flaw within the kernel's handling of certain SMB protocol operations, creating an avenue for privilege escalation that ultimately allows for system compromise. The vulnerability's classification as easily exploitable indicates that the attack mechanisms require minimal sophistication, yet it necessitates human interaction from users other than the attacker, suggesting that social engineering or user-based exploitation methods may be required to complete the attack chain. This requirement for human interaction reduces the automated attack potential but does not eliminate the threat entirely. The vulnerability's impact is primarily focused on availability rather than confidentiality or integrity, with successful exploitation resulting in complete denial of service conditions that can cause system hangs or frequent crashes. This aligns with the CVSS 3.0 base score of 5.7, reflecting the moderate severity level that represents a significant availability risk to affected systems.
The operational impact of CVE-2018-3274 extends beyond simple system downtime, as the complete denial of service conditions can disrupt critical business operations and potentially compromise data availability for legitimate users. Organizations running Solaris 11.3 systems face potential disruption to their network services, file sharing capabilities, and overall system stability. The vulnerability's characteristics align with CWE-121, which addresses buffer overflow conditions, and the attack pattern corresponds to techniques described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the T1068 category for exploit using privileges. The requirement for human interaction suggests that the attack may involve user-specific actions that could be mitigated through proper security awareness training and access control policies.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should prioritize immediate patch deployment from Oracle, as this represents the most effective defense against exploitation. Organizations should implement network access controls to restrict SMB protocol access to only authorized systems and users, particularly focusing on reducing attack surface through proper firewall configurations. Additionally, monitoring network traffic for anomalous SMB protocol behavior can help detect potential exploitation attempts. The vulnerability's impact on system availability necessitates robust backup and recovery procedures to minimize business disruption during remediation efforts. Security teams should also consider implementing intrusion detection systems to monitor for exploitation attempts and establish incident response protocols that address potential denial of service conditions. The CVSS vector analysis indicates that while the attack requires low privileges and user interaction, the potential for complete system compromise makes this vulnerability worthy of immediate attention in security risk assessment frameworks.