CVE-1999-0425
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 · uneditedtalkback in Netscape 4.5 allows a local user to kill an arbitrary process of another user whose Netscape crashes.
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 confidenceThe talkback crash reporting feature in Netscape 4.5 contains a vulnerability that allows a local user to kill arbitrary processes belonging to other users when those users experience a Netscape crash. This is a local privilege escalation issue where the talkback daemon improperly handles process interactions.
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= 4.5CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:P
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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Verify Netscape Communicator 4.5 is installedSearch for Netscape installation directories or check installed programs list for 'Netscape Communicator' version 4.5Affected if Netscape Communicator version 4.5 is present on the system
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Locate talkback daemon executableSearch for talkback.exe or talkback daemon files in Netscape program directories, commonly under Program Files/Netscape/Communicator/Program or similar pathsAffected if The talkback executable exists in the Netscape installation directory
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Check if talkback service is configured to runExamine Windows services or startup configuration for a talkback service, or check for talkback entries in the Windows registry under HKLM\Software\NetscapeAffected if A talkback service or auto-start entry is found in the system configuration
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Verify crash reporting is enabledCheck Netscape preferences or configuration files for talkback crash reporting settings, typically in netscape.pref or similar configuration filesAffected if Talkback crash reporting feature is enabled in Netscape settings
A system is affected if Netscape Communicator 4.5 is installed with the talkback crash reporting feature enabled and the talkback daemon is present and executable.
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 dataSince Netscape 4.5 and the talkback feature are obsolete and no longer supported, the primary remediation is to ensure no systems run this deprecated software. If legacy systems exist, they should be isolated or decommissioned.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-1999-0425 — 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-1999-0425 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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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.
- 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