Quick answers
- Is CVE-1999-1194 exploited in the wild?
- No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-1999-1194 being exploited in the wild.
- How severe is CVE-1999-1194?
- High severity, with a CVSS score of 7.2, published 1 May 1991.
- Which products and versions are affected?
- Digital Ultrix 4.0, 4.1.
- Is there a fix for CVE-1999-1194?
- 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-1999-1194 attacked?
- It is attacked with local access, in an operating system.
- Am I affected by CVE-1999-1194?
- 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 chroot utility in Digital Ultrix versions 4.0 and 4.1 is improperly installed, leading to a privilege escalation vulnerability. While the specific mechanism (such as setuid bits or directory permissions) is not detailed in the legacy advisory, the flaw allows a local attacker to break out of restricted environments or manipulate the system to gain root access. This is a local attack requiring no special authentication beyond initial system access. The vulnerability was originally identified in 1991 and is addressed in subsequent vendor patches or version upgrades.
Affected products
- Digital Ultrix 4.0, 4.1
Timeline
- 1991-05-01: disclosed: Initial disclosure of the vulnerability
- 1991-05-01: advisory: CERT advisory CA-1991-05 released