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Hp UxOperating system · Hp

CVE-1999-0050

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v2.0 Published 1996-12-01
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
Buffer overflow in HP-UX newgrp program.

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

Buffer overflow vulnerability in the HP-UX newgrp utility allows local attackers to gain elevated privileges via crafted input exceeding buffer boundaries.

MitigationHP-UX systems from this era require upgrade or retirement; apply HP security patches if available; 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
Hp UxOperating system
Affected:= 9.00= 9.01= 9.03= 9.04= 9.05= 9.06= 9.07= 9.08= 9.09= 9.10= 10.00= 10.01

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
    Run 'uname -s' to confirm the system is HP-UX
    Affected if The output is not HP-UX (this CVE only affects HP-UX)
  2. Determine the HP-UX version
    Run 'uname -r' or 'swlist -l product | grep HP-UX' to get the version number
    Affected if The version matches any of: 9.00, 9.01, 9.03, 9.04, 9.05, 9.06, 9.07, 9.08, 9.09, 9.10, 10.00, or 10.01
  3. Verify the newgrp utility exists
    Run 'which newgrp' or 'ls -la /usr/bin/newgrp' to locate the newgrp binary
    Affected if The newgrp command is not found (vulnerability requires this utility to exist)
  4. Check newgrp permissions
    Run 'ls -la /usr/bin/newgrp' to see if the binary has setuid permissions
    Affected if The file is setuid root (this configuration enables the privilege escalation aspect of the flaw)

You are affected if your system runs HP-UX version 9.00-9.10 or 10.00-10.01 with the newgrp utility present and executable, as the buffer overflow in this specific newgrp binary can be exploited for privilege escalation.

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

HP-UX systems from this era require upgrade or retirement; apply HP security patches if available; restrict local access to trusted users only.

Fix this in Hp Ux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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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-1999-0050 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