CVE-1999-0202
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 · uneditedThe GNU tar command, when used in FTP sessions, may allow an attacker to execute arbitrary commands.
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 confidenceGNU tar, when invoked within FTP sessions to extract archives, does not properly sanitize filenames contained within the tar archive. Attackers can embed shell metacharacters or escape sequences in filenames that execute arbitrary commands on the target system during extraction.
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= 2.4.1CVSS 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
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/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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Identify if Wu Ftpd is runningCheck for the wu.ftpd or wuftpd process running on the system using process listing commands (e.g., ps aux | grep wu)Affected if Wu Ftpd daemon is active and accepting FTP connections
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Determine Wu Ftpd versionRun 'wu.ftpd -v' or check the installed package version using the system package manager (e.g., rpm -q wu-ftpd, dpkg -l wu-ftpd)Affected if The installed version is exactly 2.4.1
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Check if tar extraction is enabled in FTP serverInspect the FTP server configuration files (typically in /etc/ftpaccess or similar) for 'tar' or 'extract' directives that allow on-the-fly archive extractionAffected if Archive extraction features are explicitly enabled in the FTP configuration
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Verify GNU tar is accessible to FTP daemonLocate the tar binary on the system (e.g., which tar, find /usr -name tar) and confirm it has execute permissions accessible to the FTP service userAffected if GNU tar binary exists and is executable by the FTP server process user
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Check FTP server logs for tar extraction attemptsReview FTP server logs (typically in /var/log/xferlog or /var/log/ftp.log) for commands involving tar extraction or archive processingAffected if Recent FTP sessions show tar extraction commands were executed
The environment is affected if Wu Ftpd version 2.4.1 is running with tar extraction features enabled, allowing untrusted tar archives to be extracted via FTP and potentially executing malicious filenames.
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 dataUpgrade GNU tar to a patched version. If immediate patching is not possible, disable or avoid using tar extraction features within FTP sessions and use alternative file transfer methods.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing3.0 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 $1,904.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-1999-0202 — 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-1999-0202 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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