CVE-1999-0402
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 · uneditedwget 1.5.3 follows symlinks to change permissions of the target file instead of the symlink itself.
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 confidencewget 1.5.3 contains a symlink vulnerability where the program follows symbolic links when attempting to change file permissions, rather than modifying the symlink itself. This allows an attacker with write access to a directory to create symlinks that, when wget processes them, cause permission changes to be applied to arbitrary target files outside the intended scope.
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= 1.5.3CVSS 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
- Partial
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N
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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Check installed wget versionRun 'wget --version' or 'wget -V' to determine the exact version number installed on the systemAffected if The displayed version is exactly 1.5.3
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Verify wget binary locationRun 'which wget' to confirm the wget binary path being usedAffected if Multiple wget installations exist and version 1.5.3 is in use
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Confirm symlink handling behaviorCreate a test directory with a symlink pointing to a target file, then run wget operations that would modify permissions (such as downloading to that directory), observing whether the symlink is followed or modifiedAffected if Wget follows the symlink and modifies permissions on the target file rather than failing or modifying the symlink itself
The system is affected only if wget version 1.5.3 is installed and wget is used in directories where untrusted symlinks may exist.
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 dataUpgrade wget to a version newer than 1.5.3 that addresses this symlink handling vulnerability, or avoid using wget in directories with untrusted symlinks.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,200.
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-1999-0402 — 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-1999-0402 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
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