CVE-1999-0006
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedBuffer overflow in POP servers based on BSD/Qualcomm's qpopper allows remote attackers to gain root access using a long PASS command.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceBuffer overflow vulnerability in BSD/Qualcomm's qpopper POP3 mail server allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code with root privileges by sending an overly long PASS command during authentication, enabling complete system compromise.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data= 2.4CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check if qpopper is installedRun 'which qpopper' or query your package manager: 'rpm -q qpopper' on RHEL/CentOS, 'dpkg -l | grep qpopper' on Debian/UbuntuAffected if qpopper binary or package is present on the system
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Determine qpopper versionRun 'qpopper -v' or 'qpopper --version' to display the installed version numberAffected if the displayed version is 2.4
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Verify POP3 service is exposedCheck if POP3 port 110 is listening: run 'netstat -tlnp | grep :110' or 'ss -tlnp | grep :110'. Verify the service is bound to a network interface, not localhost onlyAffected if POP3 daemon is listening on a network-accessible address
Your system is affected if qpopper version 2.4 is installed and the POP3 service is running and accessible over the network.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scopedUpdate qpopper to a patched version from vendor or distribution repositories; if unsupported legacy systems exist, consider migrating to a maintained POP/IMAP server or implement network-level access controls to restrict POP service exposure.
Qpopper 2.4.1 or later (modern recommendation: latest stable qpopper release)
- Obtain a newer version of Qpopper (version 2.4.1 or later, or preferably a modern stable release from the current qpopper project)
- Replace the vulnerable qpopper binary with the updated version
- Restart the POP daemon/service to load the new binary
- Verify the service is running correctly and accept a test POP connection
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,168.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-1999-0006 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-1999-0006 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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