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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-1999-0038

HIGH · 8.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 1997-04-26
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
89/100
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
Buffer overflow in xlock program allows local users to execute commands as root.

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 program allows local users to execute arbitrary commands with root privileges. The flaw enables an unprivileged local attacker to gain complete system control through crafted input to the vulnerable xlock binary.

MitigationApply available patches for xlock, or remove the program if not required. If xlock must be used, ensure it is not setuid root and restrict local access to trusted users only.

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
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 0.93= 1.1= 1.2= 1.3
Dg UxApplication
Affected:= 1.0= 2.0= 3.0= 4.0= 5.0= 6.0= 7.0
IrixOperating system
Affected:= 5.0= 5.0.1= 5.1= 5.1.1= 5.2= 5.3= 6.0= 6.0.1= 6.1= 6.3= 6.4
Bsd OsOperating system
Affected:= 2.1
Hp UxOperating system
Affected:= 10.00= 10.01= 10.08= 10.10= 10.16= 10.20= 10.24= 10.30= 10.34
AixOperating system
Affected:= 3.2= 4.1= 4.2
SolarisOperating system
Affected:= 2.4= 2.5= 2.5.1
SunosOperating system
Affected:= 5.3= 5.4= 5.5= 5.5.1

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
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/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 checks

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

  1. Check if xlock is installed
    Locate the xlock binary using 'which xlock' or 'find /usr -name xlock -type f 2>/dev/null'
    Affected if The xlock binary exists on the system
  2. Check if xlock has setuid root permissions
    Run 'ls -l /path/to/xlock' (replace with actual path) and check for 's' in the owner permissions and 'root' as the owner
    Affected if xlock is owned by root and has the setuid bit set (permissions like '-rwsr-xr-x')
  3. Identify the installed xlock version
    Run 'xlock -version' or 'xlock -help 2>&1' to find the version string
    Affected if The version matches or falls within the affected version ranges for your OS (e.g., for Debian: 0.93, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3; for SGI Irix: 5.0 through 6.4; for HP-UX: 10.00 through 10.34; for Sun Solaris: 2.4 through 2.5.1; for IBM AIX: 3.2, 4.1, 4.2)
  4. Confirm your operating system version
    Run 'uname -a' or 'cat /etc/os-release' (or 'oslevel' for AIX) to identify the OS and version
    Affected if The OS and version matches one of the affected products listed in the CVE (Debian Linux, DG/UX, IRIX, BSD/OS, HP-UX, AIX, Solaris, or SunOS)

A user is affected if xlock is installed with setuid root permissions AND the xlock version matches one of the affected versions for the running operating system.

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

Apply available patches for xlock, or remove the program if not required. If xlock must be used, ensure it is not setuid root and restrict local access to trusted users only.

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,060
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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-1999-0038 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