dbcve.org
IrixOperating system · Sgi

CVE-1999-0030

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v2.0 Published 1997-07-16
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
77/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
root privileges via buffer overflow in xlock command on SGI IRIX systems.

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 confidence

A buffer overflow vulnerability in the xlock command on SGI IRIX systems allows local attackers to execute code with root privileges by overflowing a buffer in the xlock binary.

MitigationSince SGI IRIX is now deprecated, the primary remediation is to either upgrade to a supported OS version, apply any available IRIX security patches if still supported, or disable/remove the xlock binary if not required.

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
IrixOperating system
Affected:all versions

CVSS 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
Local
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the operating system
    Determine if the system is running SGI IRIX (e.g., use 'uname -a' or check /etc/issue)
    Affected if The system is running SGI IRIX (any version)
  2. Locate the xlock binary
    Search for the xlock binary on the system using 'which xlock' or 'find /usr -name xlock 2>/dev/null'
    Affected if The xlock binary is present on the system
  3. Check xlock file permissions
    Run 'ls -la' on the xlock binary path to examine its permissions, specifically looking for setuid root permissions
    Affected if The xlock binary has setuid root or elevated privileges
  4. Determine xlock version
    If xlock is found, run 'xlock -version' or 'xlock -help' to attempt to retrieve version information
    Affected if The xlock version cannot be determined or is present on IRIX (all versions affected)
  5. Check if xlock is currently running
    Use 'ps -ef | grep xlock' to see if xlock is currently executing
    Affected if xlock is running with elevated privileges

A system is affected if it runs SGI IRIX and has the xlock binary installed, particularly with setuid root permissions, as the buffer overflow allows local privilege escalation to root.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Since SGI IRIX is now deprecated, the primary remediation is to either upgrade to a supported OS version, apply any available IRIX security patches if still supported, or disable/remove the xlock binary if not required.

Fix this in Irix Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $2,000
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-1999-0030 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data