Linux KernelOperating system · Linux
CVE-1999-0195
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 · uneditedDenial of service in RPC portmapper allows attackers to register or unregister RPC services or spoof RPC services using a spoofed source IP address such as 127.0.0.1.
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 confidenceThe RPC portmapper (port 111) contains a vulnerability allowing remote attackers to register, unregister, or spoof RPC services by using spoofed source IP addresses such as 127.0.0.1. This enables denial of service by disrupting legitimate RPC service registration and potentially redirecting traffic to malicious services.
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
Linux KernelOperating system
= 2.6.20.1all versionsCVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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 the portmapper service is runningRun 'rpcinfo -p' or check if port 111 is listening (e.g., 'netstat -an | grep 111' or 'ss -tlnp | grep 111')Affected if The portmapper daemon (rpcbind) is active and listening on port 111/tcp or 111/udp
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Identify the Linux kernel versionRun 'uname -r' or check /proc/version to obtain the exact kernel release numberAffected if The kernel version is exactly 2.6.20.1 (note: only this specific version is affected per the provided data)
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Confirm the operating system is SGI IRIXRun 'uname -a' or check /etc/os-release (if available) to identify the OS vendor and nameAffected if The system is running any version of SGI IRIX (all versions are affected)
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Assess network exposure of port 111From an external or different network segment, attempt to connect to port 111 (e.g., 'nc -zv target 111' or port scan). Check firewall rules with 'iptables -L' or equivalent.Affected if Port 111 is reachable from untrusted networks, increasing exploitability
A system is affected if it runs SGI IRIX of any version, or runs Linux kernel exactly 2.6.20.1, AND has the portmapper service enabled and network-accessible on port 111.
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 portmapper (port 111) via firewall rules or ACLs, disable the portmapper service if RPC services are not required, or apply vendor-specific patches for legacy systems.
Fix this in Linux Kernel
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 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 $1,424.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-1999-0195 — 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-1999-0195 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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