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Hp UxOperating system · Hp

CVE-1999-0309

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v2.0 Published 1997-02-01
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
77/100
Remediation priority · High
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
HP-UX vgdisplay program gives root access to local users.

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

The vgdisplay utility in HP-UX contains a vulnerability allowing local users to escalate privileges to root. This is a local privilege escalation flaw in the volume group display program.

MitigationApply the appropriate HP patch from HP's historical security bulletins for this vulnerability. If patches are unavailable due to system age, restrict access to the vgdisplay binary or migrate to a supported platform.

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
Hp UxOperating system
Affected:= 10.00= 10.01= 10.10= 10.20= 10.24

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:L/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the HP-UX version
    Run 'uname -a' or 'swlist -l bundle' to determine the exact HP-UX version and patch level
    Affected if The version listed is 10.00, 10.01, 10.10, 10.20, or 10.24
  2. Locate the vgdisplay binary
    Run 'which vgdisplay' or 'find /usr -name vgdisplay -type f 2>/dev/null' to find the vgdisplay utility
    Affected if The vgdisplay binary exists on the system in /usr/bin or similar location
  3. Verify vgdisplay file ownership and permissions
    Run 'ls -la /usr/bin/vgdisplay' (or the path found above) to check ownership and permissions
    Affected if The file is owned by root and has setuid permissions (-rwsr-xr-x) or is writable by non-root users
  4. Confirm presence of local user accounts
    Check /etc/passwd for local users with 'cat /etc/passwd' or list users with 'logins' command
    Affected if Non-privileged local user accounts exist on the system who could potentially exploit the vulnerability

A system is affected if it runs HP-UX version 10.00, 10.01, 10.10, 10.20, or 10.24 AND has the vgdisplay binary installed with exploitable permissions, allowing local users to escalate to root.

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

Apply the appropriate HP patch from HP's historical security bulletins for this vulnerability. If patches are unavailable due to system age, restrict access to the vgdisplay binary or migrate to a supported platform.

Fix this in Hp Ux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
17.0 hours of engineering $3,050
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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-1999-0309 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
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