CVE-1999-0429
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 · uneditedThe Lotus Notes 4.5 client may send a copy of encrypted mail in the clear across the network if the user does not set the "Encrypt Saved Mail" preference.
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 confidenceIn Lotus Notes 4.5, when the 'Encrypt Saved Mail' preference is not enabled by the user, the client may transmit copies of encrypted email messages in plaintext across the network. This means sensitive encrypted mail stored locally gets sent unencrypted during network transit, allowing eavesdropping on communications that users believed were protected.
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
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/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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Confirm Lotus Notes versionCheck the installed Notes client version by opening the Notes client and going to Help > About IBM Lotus Notes, or by checking the notes.ini file for the Version= setting.Affected if The installed version is 4.5 exactly.
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Locate the user preferences configurationAccess the Notes data directory and locate the notes.ini file or the user's preferences database (.nsf) that stores client settings for Lotus Notes 4.5.Affected if Unable to locate the preferences file for version inspection.
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Inspect Encrypt Saved Mail preferenceOpen the Notes client User Preferences (File > Preferences > User Preferences in later versions, or equivalent for 4.5) and examine the 'Encrypt Saved Mail' checkbox or setting. In notes.ini, look for a parameter such as KeyFileName= or Encrypt_Saved_Mail= and verify whether it is set to 1 (enabled) or 0 (disabled).Affected if The 'Encrypt Saved Mail' preference is disabled or set to 0, meaning saved mail is not encrypted.
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Verify network traffic behavior (optional confirmation)If you have access to network capture tools, observe outbound SMTP or NRPC traffic from the Notes client when sending encrypted mail. Look for plaintext content in transit that should have been encrypted.Affected if Encrypted messages are transmitted in plaintext across the network.
You are affected if running Lotus Notes 4.5 and the 'Encrypt Saved Mail' preference is not enabled, causing locally encrypted mail to be sent unencrypted over the network.
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 dataEnsure the 'Encrypt Saved Mail' preference is enabled in Lotus Notes 4.5 client settings, or deploy a configuration policy to enforce this setting across all clients.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 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 $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-1999-0429 — 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-1999-0429 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data