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Hp UxOperating system · Hp

CVE-1999-0127

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v2.0 Published 1996-12-19
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
swinstall and swmodify commands in SD-UX package in HP-UX systems allow local users to create or overwrite arbitrary files to gain root access.

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 swinstall and swmodify commands in HP-UX's SD-UX (Software Distributor) package contain a privilege escalation vulnerability allowing local authenticated users to create or overwrite arbitrary files on the system, potentially leading to root access.

MitigationApply HP patches for SD-UX from 1999 or later; restrict execution permissions on swinstall/swmodify to authorized administrators only; consider removing SD-UX if not required on systems where it's not needed.

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:all versions

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. Confirm system is HP-UX
    Run 'uname -a' or 'uname -sr' to verify the operating system is HP-UX
    Affected if System is not HP-UX (not affected)
  2. Verify SD-UX package is installed
    Run 'swlist -l product' or 'swlist -s | grep -i sd-ux' to list installed software products and check for SD-UX (Software Distributor)
    Affected if SD-UX is not installed on the system
  3. Check if swinstall command exists
    Run 'which swinstall' or 'ls -la /usr/sbin/swinstall' to locate the swinstall binary
    Affected if swinstall command does not exist (not vulnerable)
  4. Check if swmodify command exists
    Run 'which swmodify' or 'ls -la /usr/sbin/swmodify' to locate the swmodify binary
    Affected if swmodify command does not exist (not vulnerable)
  5. Inspect permissions on swinstall and swmodify
    Run 'ls -la /usr/sbin/swinstall /usr/sbin/swmodify' and check if non-privileged users have execute permission or write access to these binaries
    Affected if Non-privileged users can execute these commands (vulnerable condition present)

The environment is affected if running HP-UX with SD-UX installed and the swinstall or swmodify commands are accessible to local authenticated non-root users.

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 HP patches for SD-UX from 1999 or later; restrict execution permissions on swinstall/swmodify to authorized administrators only; consider removing SD-UX if not required on systems where it's not needed.

Fix this in Hp Ux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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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-1999-0127 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