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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-1999-0373

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v2.0 Published 1999-02-01
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
Buffer overflow in the "Super" utility in Debian GNU/Linux, and other operating systems, allows local users to execute commands as root.

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 in the 'Super' utility (a setuid root program for privileged operations) allows local users to execute arbitrary commands with root privileges. The vulnerability stems from improper bounds checking when handling user input, enabling privilege escalation.

MitigationUpdate or remove the Super utility; if required, apply vendor patches or recompile with address sanitization and secure string handling. Consider replacing with modern alternatives like sudo.

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:= 2.0

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 Super utility is installed
    Run 'which super' or 'dpkg -l | grep -i super' to locate the Super binary on Debian systems
    Affected if The Super utility is found on the system
  2. Verify if Super is setuid root
    Run 'ls -la /path/to/super' (using the path from step 1) and check for 's' permission in the owner field (e.g., '-rwsr-xr-x')
    Affected if The file has setuid permissions (the first 's' in -rwsr-xr-x) indicating it runs with owner privileges
  3. Identify the Super utility version
    Run 'super --version' or 'super -v' to display version information
    Affected if The version matches Debian Linux 2.0 or falls within the affected product range
  4. Check for active Super daemon or configuration
    Inspect /etc/super.tab or check for running superd processes using 'ps aux | grep super'
    Affected if The Super utility is configured and accessible to untrusted local users

A user is affected if the Super utility is installed as a setuid root program on Debian 2.0, allowing untrusted local users to trigger the buffer overflow and gain root privileges.

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

Update or remove the Super utility; if required, apply vendor patches or recompile with address sanitization and secure string handling. Consider replacing with modern alternatives like sudo.

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
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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-1999-0373 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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