FreeBSDOperating system
CVE-1999-0061
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 · uneditedFile creation and deletion, and remote execution, in the BSD line printer daemon (lpd).
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 confidenceThe BSD line printer daemon (lpd) contains a vulnerability allowing unauthenticated remote attackers to create and delete files on the system, and potentially execute arbitrary commands remotely. This is a classic network-service vulnerability in the printing subsystem.
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
FreeBSDOperating system
= 6.2
Linux KernelOperating system
= 2.6.20.1all versions= 2.1CVSS 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
- High
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
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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Verify if lpd service is runningRun 'ps aux | grep lpd' or 'systemctl status lpd' (or 'service lpd status' on older systems) to check if the line printer daemon process is activeAffected if lpd process is found running on the system
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Check lpd network listening statusRun 'netstat -anp | grep 515' or 'ss -anp | grep 515' to see if lpd is listening on port 515 (the standard lpd port)Affected if lpd is listening on 0.0.0.0:515 or :::515, indicating network exposure
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Determine lpd or print subsystem versionRun 'lpd --version' or check the package version with 'dpkg -v lpr' (Debian), 'rpm -q lpr' (RHEL), or 'pkg info lpr' (FreeBSD) to identify the installed versionAffected if The installed version matches or predates the affected versions for your platform (FreeBSD <=6.2, Linux <=2.6.20.1, BSDi all versions, OpenBSD <=2.1)
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Inspect lpd configuration filesExamine /etc/printcap and /etc/lpd.conf (or /etc/lpd.perms) for any access control settings that might permit unauthenticated operationsAffected if No authentication requirements are configured, or the configuration permits unauthenticated remote submissions
You are affected if the lpd daemon is running, exposed to the network, and your system version falls within or predates the affected version ranges for your platform.
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.
From vendor dataRestrict network access to lpd services, disable lpd if printing is not required, or apply vendor patches for this historical vulnerability. Network segmentation can also limit exposure.
Fix this in FreeBSD
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,696.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-1999-0061 — 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-1999-0061 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
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