CVE-2024-21059 in Solaris
Summary
by MITRE • 04/17/2024
Vulnerability in the Oracle Solaris product of Oracle Systems (component: Utility). The supported version that is affected is 11. Difficult to exploit vulnerability allows low privileged attacker with logon to the infrastructure where Oracle Solaris executes to compromise Oracle Solaris. While the vulnerability is in Oracle Solaris, attacks may significantly impact additional products (scope change). Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in takeover of Oracle Solaris. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 7.8 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/06/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-21059 affects Oracle Solaris version 11 and resides within the Utility component of the Oracle Systems product line. This represents a significant security weakness that demonstrates the complex nature of enterprise operating system vulnerabilities where seemingly isolated components can pose substantial risks to overall system integrity. The vulnerability's classification as difficult to exploit indicates that while it requires specific conditions to be successfully leveraged, the potential impact makes it a critical concern for organizations relying on Oracle Solaris infrastructure. The attack vector requiring local access with logon privileges suggests that this vulnerability primarily targets environments where attackers have already established some level of foothold within the system, making it particularly dangerous in scenarios involving insider threats or compromised user accounts.
The technical flaw within the Utility component of Oracle Solaris creates a pathway for privilege escalation that allows low-privileged attackers to potentially gain full control over the operating system. This vulnerability operates under the principle of scope change as outlined in industry security frameworks, meaning that while initially targeted at Oracle Solaris, the impact can extend to affect other systems or components within the broader infrastructure ecosystem. The CVSS 3.1 score of 7.8 reflects the severity of potential impacts across confidentiality, integrity, and availability domains, with the vector indicating local access requirements, high attack complexity, low privilege requirements, and a scope change that amplifies the security implications. The vulnerability's characteristics align with CWE-269: "Improper Privilege Management" and potentially CWE-284: "Improper Access Control" categories, which are fundamental weaknesses in system security architecture that allow unauthorized access to resources or functionality.
From an operational perspective, successful exploitation of this vulnerability could result in complete system compromise, enabling attackers to execute arbitrary code, access sensitive data, modify system configurations, or disrupt critical services that depend on Oracle Solaris infrastructure. The scope change aspect of this vulnerability means that organizations may experience cascading effects where a compromise of a single Solaris system could impact interconnected systems, databases, applications, or network services that rely on the compromised platform. This scenario particularly concerns enterprises with extensive Oracle Solaris deployments where multiple systems share common administrative credentials or network configurations, as a successful attack on one system could potentially propagate to others within the same network segment or administrative domain.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigation strategies including comprehensive access control reviews, privilege management audits, and network segmentation to limit the potential impact of such vulnerabilities. The implementation of the principle of least privilege should be strictly enforced across all Oracle Solaris systems, ensuring that user accounts and processes operate with minimal necessary permissions. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify potential attack vectors that could lead to exploitation of similar weaknesses in the utility components. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing monitoring solutions that can detect anomalous behavior patterns consistent with privilege escalation attempts, as the vulnerability's characteristics suggest that attackers may attempt to leverage local access to gradually increase their system control. The remediation process should include applying Oracle's official security patches and updates, while also conducting thorough security reviews of all utility components to identify potential similar vulnerabilities that may not yet be publicly disclosed but could present comparable risks to system integrity and availability.