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AixOperating system · Ibm

CVE-1999-0118

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v2.0 Published 1998-11-01
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
AIX infod allows local users to gain root access through an X display.

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

The AIX infod daemon contains a vulnerability that allows local users to escalate privileges to root by exploiting the X display connection. The infod service improperly handles authentication or authorization when accessed through X11, enabling a local attacker to gain unauthorized root access.

MitigationApply the appropriate AIX security patch from IBM for this vulnerability. If patches are unavailable for the legacy system, disable the infod service and restrict X display access controls to prevent local privilege escalation.

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:= 3.2= 4.1= 4.2= 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
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 AIX version
    Run 'oslevel' command or check /etc/security/audit/config to determine the installed AIX version
    Affected if Version matches 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, or 4.3
  2. Determine if infod daemon is running
    Check the infod service status using 'lssrc -s infod' or 'ps -ef | grep infod' command
    Affected if infod daemon is active and AIX version is among the affected versions
  3. Verify X11 display access configuration
    Check X display access controls using 'xhost' command or inspect .Xauthority file permissions in the user's home directory
    Affected if X display access is permitted locally and infod daemon is running on an affected AIX version
  4. Confirm infod X11 authentication handling
    Review infod configuration files in /usr/lib/inst or /etc for X authentication settings, or check if infod accepts X display connections without proper authorization
    Affected if infod permits X display connections without adequate authentication on an affected AIX version

A user is affected if they are running AIX versions 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, or 4.3 with the infod daemon active and X display access configured in a way that allows local users to trigger the 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

Apply the appropriate AIX security patch from IBM for this vulnerability. If patches are unavailable for the legacy system, disable the infod service and restrict X display access controls to prevent local privilege escalation.

Fix this in Aix 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-1999-0118 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