dbcve.org
SolarisOperating system · Oracle

CVE-2022-21493

MEDIUM · 5.9 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-04-19
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Vulnerability in the Oracle Solaris product of Oracle Systems (component: Kernel). The supported version that is affected is 11. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows low privileged attacker with logon to the infrastructure where Oracle Solaris executes to compromise Oracle Solaris. Successful attacks require human interaction from a person other than the attacker and while the vulnerability is in Oracle Solaris, attacks may significantly impact additional products (scope change). Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized ability to cause a hang or frequently repeatable crash (complete DOS) of Oracle Solaris. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 5.9 (Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H).

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Kernel vulnerability in Oracle Solaris 11 that allows a low-privileged attacker with local logon access to cause a denial of service (complete system hang or repeatable crash). Exploitation requires human interaction from a person other than the attacker, and due to scope change, attacks may impact additional products beyond Oracle Solaris itself.

MitigationApply the Oracle Critical Patch Update for CVE-2022-21493 when released, as this is a Kernel-level vulnerability requiring a vendor patch. No practical workarounds exist for kernel DoS vulnerabilities; immediate patching is the recommended remediation.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
SolarisOperating system
Affected:= 11

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify the system is Oracle Solaris
    Run 'uname -a' or 'cat /etc/release' to confirm the operating system is Oracle Solaris
    Affected if The system is not Oracle Solaris (not affected)
  2. Confirm Oracle Solaris 11 version
    Run 'cat /etc/release' or 'pkg list entire' to identify the exact Oracle Solaris 11 release version and build number
    Affected if The system is running Oracle Solaris 11 (potentially affected, proceed to next check)
  3. Check for available kernel patches
    Run 'showrev -p' to list all installed patches on the system, then cross-reference with Oracle's CVE-2022-21493 patch notes
    Affected if No Oracle patch for CVE-2022-21493 is installed (system is likely vulnerable)
  4. Assess local access exposure
    Review system access controls to determine if low-privileged local users can log on to the system
    Affected if Low-privileged local user accounts exist and can log in (exploitation condition is met)
  5. Verify human interaction requirement
    Understand that exploitation requires a separate person with valid credentials to be actively logged on during the attack
    Affected if Multi-user environment where additional legitimate users log in (exploitation condition is met)

If the system is Oracle Solaris 11 without the CVE-2022-21493 kernel patch installed, and low-privileged local users can access the system where other users are logged in, the environment is vulnerable to this kernel DoS flaw.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the Oracle Critical Patch Update for CVE-2022-21493 when released, as this is a Kernel-level vulnerability requiring a vendor patch. No practical workarounds exist for kernel DoS vulnerabilities; immediate patching is the recommended remediation.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Oracle Solaris 11.4 (latest supported release of the Solaris 11 line)

  1. Contact Oracle Support to obtain the specific patch for CVE-2022-21493
  2. Apply the Oracle Solaris patch following standard Oracle patch installation procedures
  3. Reboot the system as required by the patch installation
  4. Verify the patch is installed by running 'showrev -p' and checking for the patch ID
Caveat Patches may require system downtime for application and should be tested in a non-production environment first

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Solaris Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,380
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,808.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-21493 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-21493 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data