External risk intelligence

Oracle Solaris Remote Administration Daemon Vulnerability Allows Unauthorized Data Access

CVE advisorySeverity: CRITICAL (CVSS 10.0)

CVE-2026-46978

A critical vulnerability in Oracle Solaris allows unauthenticated attackers with network access via HTTPS to modify or access critical data. While the vulnerability is in Oracle Solaris, attacks may impact additional products, potentially leading to unauthorized data access, modification, or deletion. Further analysis

Halo Surface Signal

Likely · external exposure

4Halo Surface Signal

The vulnerability affects the Remote Administration Daemon in Oracle Solaris. Such management services are frequently deployed as network-accessible interfaces for remote administration. Given that it accepts unauthenticated HTTPS connections, it is a common target for external network exposure in server environments.

Horizon Alert

Summary of the vulnerability and why it matters

A critical vulnerability has been identified in Oracle Solaris, specifically within its Remote Administration Daemon. This issue could allow attackers to gain unauthorized access to and modify critical data across the system, potentially impacting other connected products.

  • Unauthenticated network access compromises Oracle Solaris.
  • Protects critical data from unauthorized access or modification.
  • Confirm relevance and assess potential exposure to business operations.

Attack Path

How an attacker could exploit the issue

An attacker could target the Remote Administration Daemon within Oracle Solaris. This vulnerability is accessible over the network via HTTPS, requiring no prior authentication. Successful exploitation allows the attacker to modify or access critical data on the system, potentially impacting other connected products.

  • Unauthenticated network access required.
  • Remote Administration Daemon is the trigger.
  • Unauthorized data access and modification.

Live Threat

Current exploitation, exposure, and threat context

An unauthenticated attacker with network access via HTTPS could potentially exploit this vulnerability in Oracle Solaris. This could lead to unauthorized actions on critical data or all accessible data within Oracle Solaris, and may also affect other products.

  • Oracle Solaris system data.
  • Via unauthenticated network access over HTTPS.
  • Unauthorized data modification or access.

Operational Fix

Recommended remediation, mitigation, and detection steps

The Remote Administration Daemon in Oracle Solaris is susceptible to a critical vulnerability, potentially impacting unauthenticated external attackers via HTTPS. This requires immediate attention from infrastructure and platform teams responsible for Solaris deployments. The first practical step involves identifying all instances of the affected technology, verifying their network reachability and business criticality, locating the accountable owner, and then planning remediation based on the assessed risk.

  • Infrastructure and Platform teams own this.
  • Verify network exposure and criticality first.
  • Plan remediation based on business risk.

Supplementary metadata

PCI scan relevance

Yes

CVE-2026-46978 — Halo PCI Relevance: Yes. Under typical PCI ASV external scan criteria, this issue may be flagged for scan prioritization.

This critical vulnerability in Oracle Solaris allows unauthenticated network attackers to compromise the system, potentially leading to unauthorized access or modification of critical data. Such a high-impact vulnerability would likely cause an ASV scan to fail.

Scan-prioritization guidance only—not a PCI DSS certification or ASV attestation.

CVSS vector

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

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Frequently asked questions

What is the Remote Administration Daemon in Oracle Solaris?

The Remote Administration Daemon (rad) is a system service in Oracle Solaris 11.4 designed to facilitate remote management tasks. It provides an interface that allows administrators to perform system operations and configuration changes over the network. Because it acts as a centralized management hub, it often requires high-level privileges to interact with the underlying operating system and the data stored within it.

What does CVE-2026-46978 mean for my system security?

This CVE represents a flaw categorized under CWE-284, which deals with improper access control. In plain English, the daemon fails to properly verify who is trying to connect or what permissions they should have. Because of this weakness, an attacker can bypass standard security checks, allowing them to read, change, or delete sensitive data on your Solaris system without needing a username or password.

How is this Oracle Solaris vulnerability triggered?

The vulnerability is triggered by an attacker sending specifically crafted HTTPS requests directly to the Remote Administration Daemon over the network. It does not require any prior authentication or special user status to initiate. Importantly, simply having the Solaris operating system running is not enough to trigger the bug; the daemon must be active and reachable via the network to receive these unauthorized HTTPS requests.

Do I need to worry if my Solaris instance is not internet-facing?

Halo Surface Signal indicates that management services like the Remote Administration Daemon are frequently targeted because they are designed for network access. If your instance is on an internal network, the immediate risk from the open internet is lower, but the vulnerability remains a significant concern for lateral movement. Any internal user or compromised machine that can reach this HTTPS port can potentially exploit the flaw.

What should I do first to address this CVE?

Your first step is to conduct an inventory to locate all instances of Oracle Solaris 11.4 within your environment. Once identified, evaluate the network accessibility of each instance to determine if the Remote Administration Daemon is reachable from untrusted zones. After assessing the business criticality of these systems, coordinate with your infrastructure team to prioritize and plan your remediation strategy.

References

Sources and related resources

Primary sources: NVD, CVE.org.

NVDPublished