dbcve.org
SolarisOperating system · Oracle

CVE-2023-21948

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-04-18
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

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: Core). The supported version that is affected is 10. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows low privileged attacker with logon to the infrastructure where Oracle Solaris executes to compromise Oracle Solaris. 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:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 · moderate confidence

Local privilege escalation vulnerability in Oracle Solaris 10's Core component allowing a low-privileged authenticated attacker to gain complete system compromise (full confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact). The attack requires local access but has low complexity and no user interaction required.

MitigationApply Oracle Critical Patch Update or upgrade from Solaris 10 (EOL January 2024) to a supported version; if patching unavailable, implement strict access controls and monitoring for local privilege escalation indicators.

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:= 10

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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 Oracle Solaris version
    Run 'uname -a' or 'cat /etc/release' to confirm the installed OS version is Oracle Solaris 10
    Affected if The installed version is Oracle Solaris 10 (exact version 10)
  2. Confirm local user access
    Check for existing non-root authenticated users on the system using 'getent passwd' or 'logins' command to see user accounts
    Affected if There are low-privileged authenticated users present on the system who could attempt exploitation
  3. Identify the Core component
    Examine the specific Oracle Solaris 10 Core component installation by checking installed packages related to core OS libraries: 'pkginfo -l' or 'showrev -p' to list installed patches and packages
    Affected if The Core component (core OS libraries and utilities) is present in the default installation of Solaris 10
  4. Check for privilege escalation indicators
    Review system audit logs in /var/audit and system logs in /var/adm/messages for unexpected privilege escalation events, especially from low-privileged user contexts using 'grep -i priv' or similar audit query tools
    Affected if Audit logs show any unexpected privilege escalation attempts or successful elevation from non-root users

The environment is affected if running Oracle Solaris 10 with low-privileged authenticated users present and the Core component installed, making local privilege escalation possible.

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 Oracle Critical Patch Update or upgrade from Solaris 10 (EOL January 2024) to a supported version; if patching unavailable, implement strict access controls and monitoring for local privilege escalation indicators.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence
  1. Contact Oracle Support or visit oracle.com to obtain the specific patch for CVE-2023-21948 applicable to Solaris 10
  2. Apply the Oracle Critical Patch Update (CPU) that includes the security fix for this vulnerability
  3. Verify the patch was applied successfully using Oracle's patch verification tools
  4. Reboot the system if required by the patch installation process
Caveat Oracle Solaris 10 reached End of Service Life (EOSL) in January 2020; extended support may be required to obtain patches

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

Fix this in Solaris Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
28.0 hours of engineering $4,760
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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-2023-21948 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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