# CVE-1999-0513: Sun Solaris ICMP broadcast response denial of service

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-1999-0513-sun-solaris-icmp-broadcast-response-denial-of-service  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 1998-01-05. Updated: 2026-05-10  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

CVE-1999-0513 · Severity: medium · CVSS 5 · Published 1998-01-05

A vulnerability in how certain operating systems handle network messages allows for a "Smurf" denial-of-service attack. By sending specially crafted network traffic to a broadcast address, an attacker can cause a network to become congested with traffic, potentially crashing systems or making services unavailable to legitimate users. This impacts the availability of corporate network resources and can disrupt business operations.

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-1999-0513 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-1999-0513 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-1999-0513?** Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 5, published 5 January 1998.

**Which products and versions are affected?** Sun Solaris 2.4, 2.5, 2.5.1, 2.6; Sun SunOS 5.4, 5.5, 5.5.1.

**Is there a fix for CVE-1999-0513?** No fixed version is recorded yet. Check the vendor's advisory in the references below. If you run it, Junglewise drafts a mitigation that fits your setup and applies it once you approve, with senior security engineers behind it.

**How is CVE-1999-0513 attacked?** It is attacked over the network, in an operating system.

**Am I affected by CVE-1999-0513?** Check whether anything you run is named in the advisory. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

## Technical details

The operating system's IP stack incorrectly responds to ICMP Echo Request (ping) messages sent to a broadcast address. An attacker can spoof the source IP address of these requests to be that of a target victim. When the network's hosts receive the broadcast request, they all respond simultaneously to the victim's IP address, leading to a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) condition known as a Smurf attack. This is a network-based attack requiring no authentication. Mitigation typically involves configuring the OS or network routers to ignore directed broadcasts and ICMP requests to broadcast addresses.

## Affected products

- Sun Solaris 2.4, 2.5, 2.5.1, 2.6
- Sun SunOS 5.4, 5.5, 5.5.1

## Timeline

- 1998-01-05: disclosed

## References

- [https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/CVE-1999-0513](https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/CVE-1999-0513)