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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-1999-0341

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v2.0 Published 1998-01-01
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
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
Buffer overflow in the Linux mail program "deliver" allows local users to gain root access.

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 the Linux mail delivery program 'deliver' enables local unprivileged users to escalate privileges to root by exploiting a poorly bounds-checked buffer in the program.

MitigationApply vendor patches for the 'deliver' mail program; if no patch exists, recompile with modern compiler protections or replace with a current mail delivery agent. For legacy systems, restrict local access to trusted users 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
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 1.3.1
Slackware LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 2.1= 2.2= 2.3

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. Check if the deliver program exists
    Run `which deliver` or `find /usr -name deliver -type f 2>/dev/null`
    Affected if The deliver binary is found on the system and matches the affected versions
  2. Identify the deliver binary version
    Run `deliver -v` or `deliver -version` if available, or check the binary with `file $(which deliver)`
    Affected if The version matches Debian 1.3.1 or Slackware 2.1/2.2/2.3
  3. Determine the Linux distribution and version
    Run `cat /etc/debian_version` for Debian or check `/etc/slackware-version` for Slackware
    Affected if The system is Debian 1.3.1 or Slackware 2.1, 2.2, or 2.3 with deliver installed
  4. Verify deliver has setuid root permissions
    Run `ls -la $(which deliver)` and check for 's' in the owner executable field
    Affected if The deliver binary is setuid root, allowing the buffer overflow to escalate privileges to root

A system is affected if it runs Debian 1.3.1 or Slackware 2.1/2.2/2.3 with the deliver mail program installed and setuid 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 vendor patches for the 'deliver' mail program; if no patch exists, recompile with modern compiler protections or replace with a current mail delivery agent. For legacy systems, restrict local access to trusted users only.

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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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-1999-0341 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