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AixOperating system · Ibm

CVE-1999-0088

HIGH · 10.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 1998-10-26
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable 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
IRIX and AIX automountd services (autofsd) allow remote users to execute root commands.

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 · high confidence

The automountd (autofsd) service on legacy IRIX and AIX operating systems contains a remote code execution vulnerability that allows unauthenticated remote attackers to execute commands with root privileges. This is a critical flaw in the automount daemon that handles automatic mounting of file systems.

MitigationModern systems are not affected by this vulnerability as it was patched decades ago. Organizations should verify no legacy IRIX or AIX systems remain in their environment; if found, these systems should be decommissioned or completely isolated from all network access as they are no longer supported.

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
AixOperating system
Affected:= 4.3

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:N/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 and version
    Run 'uname -a' or 'oslevel' (AIX) to determine the exact OS version. For AIX specifically, use 'oslevel -r' to get the release level.
    Affected if The system is running IBM AIX 4.3 or any version of IRIX.
  2. Verify if the automountd or autofsd service is installed
    Check for the presence of the automountd binary: 'which automountd' or 'which autofsd' on AIX/IRIX. Also check /etc/inetd.conf or /etc/rc.config for automountd entries.
    Affected if The automountd or autofsd binary exists and is configured on the system.
  3. Determine if the automount daemon is currently running
    Run 'ps -ef | grep automountd' or 'ps -ef | grep autofsd' to check for running processes.
    Affected if The automountd or autofsd process is active.
  4. Check if the service is listening on network ports
    Run 'netstat -an | grep 699' or check /etc/services for the automount port. Also verify inetd configuration: 'grep -i automount /etc/inetd.conf'.
    Affected if The automount service is bound to a network interface and listening for remote connections.
  5. Assess network exposure
    Review firewall rules and network segmentation. Determine if legacy AIX or IRIX systems have any network connectivity, especially to untrusted networks.
    Affected if The vulnerable system is network-accessible from any location beyond a completely isolated air-gapped network.

A system is affected only if it is running AIX 4.3 or IRIX with the automountd service enabled, running, and network-accessible, allowing remote attackers to execute commands with root privileges without authentication.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Modern systems are not affected by this vulnerability as it was patched decades ago. Organizations should verify no legacy IRIX or AIX systems remain in their environment; if found, these systems should be decommissioned or completely isolated from all network access as they are no longer supported.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

AIX 5.3 or later (AIX 4.3 is end-of-life and no longer supported)

  1. 1. Determine if the automountd (autofsd) service is required for system operation. If not needed, disable it entirely.
  2. 2. If the service is required, check if IBM released a patch for AIX 4.3 for this vulnerability by contacting IBM support or searching IBM's historical patch database (https://www-01.ibm.com/support/).
  3. 3. As an immediate mitigation, add firewall rules to block RPC port 100299 (automountd) from untrusted network sources.
  4. 4. Use the 'rmssvc' or 'mkssys' commands to disable the automountd service: rmssvc automountd or stopsrc -s automountd
  5. 5. Restrict network access to the system using TCP wrappers or AIX IP security to limit who can connect.
  6. 6. If the system must remain vulnerable, isolate it in a secured network segment with no external access.
Caveat Upgrading from AIX 4.3 to 5.3+ requires significant planning - application compatibility, custom scripts, and hardware requirements must be verified. Consider that AIX 4.3 systems are very old hardware that may not support modern AIX versions.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Aix Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $910
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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-1999-0088 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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