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FreeBSDOperating system

CVE-1999-0299

HIGH · 9.3 CVSS v2.0 Published 1997-03-05
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
Buffer overflow in FreeBSD lpd through long DNS hostnames.

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 confidence

Buffer overflow vulnerability in FreeBSD's lpd (line printer daemon) where processing of DNS hostnames exceeding expected length allows overwriting adjacent memory, potentially enabling arbitrary code execution with elevated privileges.

MitigationUpgrade FreeBSD to a patched version or implement network segmentation/access controls to restrict lpd access to trusted hosts only.

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
FreeBSDOperating system
Affected:= 6.2

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
M
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:N/AC:M/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 FreeBSD version
    Run 'uname -a' or check /etc/os-release to determine the installed FreeBSD version
    Affected if Version is FreeBSD 6.2 exactly
  2. Verify lpd is installed
    Check for the existence of /usr/sbin/lpd or run 'which lpd'
    Affected if The lpd binary exists on the system
  3. Confirm lpd is running
    Run 'ps aux | grep lpd' or check for listening port 515 with 'netstat -an | grep 515'
    Affected if The lpd daemon is actively running and listening on port 515
  4. Examine lpd configuration
    Review /etc/printcap and /etc/lpd.conf for hostname references or print queue configurations that could receive long DNS hostnames
    Affected if Print queues are configured with hostnames that could exceed the expected buffer length

The system is affected if it runs FreeBSD 6.2 with lpd daemon active and processing print jobs from network hosts with DNS hostnames exceeding expected length.

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

Upgrade FreeBSD to a patched version or implement network segmentation/access controls to restrict lpd access to trusted hosts only.

Fix this in FreeBSD Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
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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-1999-0299 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