Quick answers
- Is CVE-1999-1139 exploited in the wild?
- No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-1999-1139 being exploited in the wild.
- How severe is CVE-1999-1139?
- High severity, with a CVSS score of 7.2, published 1 September 1997.
- Which products and versions are affected?
- HP HP-UX 11.0 and earlier.
- Is there a fix for CVE-1999-1139?
- 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-1999-1139 attacked?
- It is attacked with local access, in an operating system.
- Am I affected by CVE-1999-1139?
- Check whether you run Hp-Ux. 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 Character-Terminal User Environment (CUE) utility in HP-UX (specifically version 11.0 and earlier, including 10.20) contains a symlink vulnerability. The application, which runs with setuid root privileges, fails to properly validate the 'IOERROR.mytty' file before writing to it. A local attacker can manipulate the environment by setting a specific LOGNAME and umask, then creating a symbolic link from 'IOERROR.mytty' to a sensitive system file (such as /etc/passwd). When CUE is executed, it follows the symlink and overwrites the target file with root permissions, allowing the attacker to escalate privileges to root. HP released patches (e.g., HPSBUX9801-074) to address this issue.
Affected products
- HP HP-UX 11.0 and earlier
Timeline
- 1997-09-01: disclosed: Initial discovery and Bugtraq post by Leonid S. Knyshov
- 1997-09-01: advisory: NVD publication date