CVE-2024-20946 is a vulnerability identified in Oracle Solaris Operating System version 11, specifically within the kernel component. This vulnerability allows a low privileged attacker who already has logon access to the infrastructure running Solaris to exploit the flaw and compromise the system. The exploitation does not require user interaction and can be performed with low attack complexity, but it does require the attacker to have some level of privileges (PR:L) on the system. The primary impact of this vulnerability is on availability, as successful exploitation can cause the Solaris system to hang or crash repeatedly, resulting in a complete denial of service (DoS). The CVSS 3.1 base score is 5.5, indicating a medium severity level, with the vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H. This means the attack vector is local (AV:L), attack complexity is low (AC:L), privileges required are low (PR:L), no user interaction is needed (UI:N), and the scope is unchanged (S:U). Confidentiality and integrity are not impacted, but availability is severely affected (A:H). No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, and no patches or mitigation links were provided in the source information. The vulnerability is easily exploitable by an attacker with low privileges who can log on to the Solaris infrastructure, making it a significant risk for environments relying on Solaris 11 for critical operations. The kernel-level nature of the vulnerability suggests that the impact can be system-wide, affecting all processes and services running on the compromised Solaris instance.

For European organizations using Oracle Solaris 11, this vulnerability poses a risk primarily to system availability. Organizations running critical infrastructure, such as telecommunications, financial services, energy, and government systems on Solaris 11, could face service disruptions due to system hangs or crashes caused by exploitation. The denial of service could lead to operational downtime, loss of productivity, and potential financial losses. Although the vulnerability does not compromise confidentiality or integrity, the availability impact alone can be severe, especially for high-availability environments or those with strict uptime requirements. Additionally, since the attacker needs only low privileges and no user interaction, insider threats or compromised low-privilege accounts could be leveraged to trigger the DoS condition. This could also affect managed service providers or cloud environments hosting Solaris 11 instances, potentially impacting multiple customers. The lack of known exploits in the wild currently reduces immediate risk, but the ease of exploitation means that once exploit code becomes available, attacks could increase rapidly.

1. Immediate mitigation should focus on restricting access to Solaris 11 systems to trusted and authenticated users only, minimizing the number of accounts with logon privileges. 2. Implement strict access controls and monitoring to detect unusual login activity or attempts to exploit kernel-level vulnerabilities. 3. Apply the latest Oracle Solaris patches and updates as soon as they become available, even though no patch link was provided, monitoring Oracle’s official security advisories is critical. 4. Use kernel-level security features such as Solaris Trusted Extensions or Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) to limit the capabilities of low privileged users. 5. Employ system and network-level intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS) to identify and block suspicious behavior indicative of exploitation attempts. 6. Regularly audit Solaris systems for unauthorized accounts or privilege escalations. 7. Consider implementing redundancy and failover mechanisms to mitigate the impact of potential DoS conditions caused by this vulnerability. 8. For environments where Solaris 11 is critical, conduct penetration testing and vulnerability assessments to identify exposure and validate mitigation effectiveness.