Is CVE-1999-1193 exploited in the wild?

No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-1999-1193 being exploited in the wild.

How severe is CVE-1999-1193?

Critical severity, with a CVSS score of 10, published 14 May 1991.

Is there a fix for CVE-1999-1193?

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-1999-1193 attacked?

It is attacked with local access, in an operating system.

Am I affected by CVE-1999-1193?

Check whether you run Next or Nextstep at an affected version. 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.

CVE-1999-1193: NeXT NeXTstep privilege escalation via me user in wheel group

CVE-1999-1193 · Severity: critical · CVSS 10 · Published 1991-05-14

A security flaw in early versions of the NeXTstep operating system allows a default user account to gain full administrative control. By design, the 'me' user was granted special group privileges that allow it to bypass standard security restrictions. An individual with access to this account could take over the entire system, potentially accessing, modifying, or deleting any data on the machine.

Technologies: Next, Nextstep. Vendors: Next.

Quick answers

Is CVE-1999-1193 exploited in the wild?: No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-1999-1193 being exploited in the wild.
How severe is CVE-1999-1193?: Critical severity, with a CVSS score of 10, published 14 May 1991.
Which products and versions are affected?: Nextstep 2.1 and earlier.
Is there a fix for CVE-1999-1193?: 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-1999-1193 attacked?: It is attacked with local access, in an operating system.
Am I affected by CVE-1999-1193?: Check whether you run Next or Nextstep at an affected version. 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

In NeXT NeXTstep versions 2.1 and earlier, the default 'me' user account is a member of the 'wheel' group. In Unix-like systems, membership in the 'wheel' group typically grants the permission to use the 'su' (substitute user) command to escalate privileges to the superuser (root) account. An attacker or unauthorized user logged into the 'me' account can exploit this configuration to gain full root access to the operating system. This is a privilege escalation vulnerability resulting from insecure default group assignments. Users are advised to remove the 'me' user from the 'wheel' group or upgrade to a version where this default configuration has been remediated.

Affected products

NeXT NeXTstep 2.1 and earlier

Timeline

1991-05-14: disclosed: Initial publication date
1991-05-14: advisory: NVD published date

References

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