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SolarisOperating system · Sun

CVE-1999-0186

HIGH · 10.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 1998-10-01
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
In Solaris, an SNMP subagent has a default community string that allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands as root, or modify system parameters.

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 Solaris SNMP subagent ships with a default community string (password) that is publicly known. Attackers can use this default credential to send specially crafted SNMP requests, enabling remote execution of arbitrary commands with root privileges or modification of system configuration parameters.

MitigationChange or remove default SNMP community strings, disable the SNMP subagent if unused, and upgrade to a patched SNMP implementation or migrate to SNMPv3 with authentication and encryption.

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
SolarisOperating system
Affected:= 2.6

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 Solaris version
    Run 'uname -a' or 'cat /etc/release' to confirm the installed Solaris version
    Affected if Version is Solaris 2.6 (also displayed as SunOS 5.6)
  2. Check if SNMP daemon is running
    Run 'ps -ef | grep snmp' or 'svcs -a | grep snmp' to list running SNMP processes
    Affected if Any SNMP subagent or master agent process is active
  3. Locate SNMP configuration files
    Check for /etc/snmp/conf/snmpd.conf, /etc/snmpd.conf, or similar SNMP configuration files in /etc/ or /etc/snmp/
    Affected if SNMP configuration files exist and contain community string definitions
  4. Inspect SNMP community strings
    Read the SNMP configuration files and look for 'community' directives or public/private community name definitions
    Affected if A community string is set to 'public', 'private', or any default/well-known value

You are affected if running Solaris 2.6 with SNMP subagent enabled and a default or publicly known community string configured.

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

Change or remove default SNMP community strings, disable the SNMP subagent if unused, and upgrade to a patched SNMP implementation or migrate to SNMPv3 with authentication and encryption.

Fix this in Solaris 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-1999-0186 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