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FtpApplication

CVE-1999-0201

MEDIUM · 6.4 CVSS v2.0 Published 1997-01-01
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
73/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
A quote cwd command on FTP servers can reveal the full path of the home directory of the "ftp" user.

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 'quote cwd' FTP command can be used to cause the server to return an error message containing the full filesystem path of the FTP user's home directory, allowing attackers to enumerate server directory structures.

MitigationConfigure the FTP server to run in a chrooted environment or use relative paths to prevent path disclosure; consider migrating to SFTP or other secure protocols that don't have this vulnerability.

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
FtpApplication
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
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
None

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:N

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 if an FTP server is running
    Scan your network or check local services to determine if an FTP server is running and accessible on the target system
    Affected if An FTP server is found to be running and accepting connections
  2. Connect to the FTP server
    Establish an FTP connection to the server using a valid user account or anonymous access if permitted
    Affected if You can successfully authenticate to the FTP server
  3. Send the quote cwd command
    Use the 'quote cwd' command followed by a non-existent directory path (for example: quote cwd /invalidpath123)
    Affected if The command is accepted and an error response is returned
  4. Check for path disclosure in response
    Examine the FTP server's error message response for the presence of an absolute filesystem path (such as /home/username or C:\Users\username)
    Affected if The error message reveals the full absolute path of the user's home directory or filesystem location

The system is affected if the FTP server returns full absolute filesystem paths in error messages when the 'quote cwd' command is used, allowing attackers to enumerate the server's directory structure.

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

Configure the FTP server to run in a chrooted environment or use relative paths to prevent path disclosure; consider migrating to SFTP or other secure protocols that don't have this vulnerability.

Fix this in Ftp Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
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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-1999-0201 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