CVE-1999-0208
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 · uneditedrpc.ypupdated (NIS) allows remote users 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 · high confidenceThe rpc.ypupdated RPC service in old NIS (Network Information Service, formerly Yellow Pages) implementations contains a vulnerability allowing remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands due to insufficient input validation. This service was designed to allow updates to NIS maps but lacked proper authentication and command sanitization, enabling complete remote command execution on affected systems.
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= 3= 4= 5.0= 5.1= 5.2= 3.2= 4.1all versionsall versionsall 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
- 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify operating system and versionRun 'uname -a' or check /etc/os-release to determine the OS name and version numberAffected if The system is SGI IRIX (versions 3, 4, 5.0, 5.1, 5.2), IBM AIX (versions 3.2, 4.1), or any version of NEC ASL UX 4800, NEC EWS UX V, or NEC UP UX V
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Check if NIS is installedQuery the package manager or check for presence of NIS-related binaries such as ypbind, ypserv, and ypupdated typically found in /usr/sbin/ or /etc/Affected if NIS (Network Information Service or Yellow Pages) is installed on the system
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Verify rpc.ypupdated service statusCheck if the rpc.ypupdated daemon is running using 'rpcinfo -p' or 'ps aux | grep ypupdated'Affected if The rpc.ypupdated RPC service is actively running and registered with portmapper
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Confirm RPC service listening on networkUse 'netstat -an | grep 555' or 'rpcinfo -p' to determine if the ypupdated service is bound to network interfaces and listening for remote connectionsAffected if rpc.ypupdated is bound to external network interfaces and accepts remote RPC calls
A system is affected if it runs one of the specified OS versions (IRIX 3-5.2, AIX 3.2-4.1, or NEC systems) with the rpc.ypupdated NIS service enabled and accessible over the network.
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 dataDisable the rpc.ypupdated service and NIS entirely if not required; otherwise, block RPC services at network perimeters, apply vendor patches for legacy systems, and consider migrating to more secure alternatives like LDAP.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-1999-0208 — 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-1999-0208 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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