CVE-1999-0411
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 · uneditedSeveral startup scripts in SCO OpenServer Enterprise System v 5.0.4p, including S84rpcinit, S95nis, S85tcp, and S89nfs, are vulnerable to a symlink attack, allowing a local user 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 · high confidenceSymlink attack vulnerability in SCO OpenServer 5.0.4p startup scripts (S84rpcinit, S95nis, S85tcp, S89nfs) allows local users to gain root privileges. The scripts perform file operations without properly validating or avoiding symlinks, enabling attackers to manipulate file creation/overwrite to escalate privileges.
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= 3.0= 5CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the operating system versionRun 'uname -a' or check /etc/os-release to confirm the installed OS is SCO OpenServerAffected if The OS version is SCO OpenServer 3.0 or 5.x (including 5.0.4p)
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Locate the vulnerable startup scriptsCheck for the presence of scripts named S84rpcinit, S95nis, S85tcp, and S89nfs in /etc/rc.d/ or /etc/rc2.d/ directoriesAffected if These startup scripts exist in the system
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Examine S84rpcinit for unsafe file operationsView the contents of the S84rpcinit script and look for file creation or write operations (such as > or >> redirections, or touch/mkdir commands) that do not use O_NOFOLLOW flag, symlink checks, or ownership validation before operating on file pathsAffected if The script performs file operations on paths without validating they are not symlinks
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Examine S95nis, S85tcp, and S89nfs for symlink vulnerabilitiesReview each script for file creation or modification operations that lack proper symlink protection - look for commands that write to files without first checking if the target is a symlink or verifying file ownershipAffected if Any of these scripts perform file operations without symlink safeguards
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Verify script permissions and ownershipCheck the permissions and ownership of the affected scripts using 'ls -la' - scripts running as root with world-writable permissions or owned by untrusted users increase exploitation riskAffected if The scripts are writable by non-privileged users or owned by untrusted accounts
A system is affected if it runs SCO OpenServer 3.0 or 5 with any of the startup scripts S84rpcinit, S95nis, S85tcp, or S89nfs containing unprotected file operations vulnerable to symlink manipulation.
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 dataPatch or replace the vulnerable startup scripts to use safe file operations (e.g., O_NOFOLLOW flag, check file type/ownership before operations), or remove/disable unnecessary startup services to reduce the attack surface.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation5.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,696.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-1999-0411 — 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-1999-0411 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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