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OpenBSDOperating system

CVE-1999-0482

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 1999-03-21
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable 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
OpenBSD kernel crash through TSS handling, as caused by the crashme program.

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

OpenBSD kernel panic caused by improper handling of the Task State Segment (TSS) when processing certain privileged instructions. The crashme program exploits this by triggering malformed TSS operations, causing the kernel to crash.

MitigationApply OpenBSD security patches for this vulnerability; upgrade to a supported OpenBSD release that includes the fix for TSS handling. If running legacy systems, consider migration to supported versions.

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
OpenBSDOperating system
Affected:all versions

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the operating system
    Run 'uname -s' or check /etc/os-release to confirm the system is OpenBSD
    Affected if The operating system is OpenBSD (all versions are affected per this CVE)
  2. Determine OpenBSD version
    Run 'uname -r' or 'sysctl kern.version' to identify the specific OpenBSD release
    Affected if Any OpenBSD version is affected; this vulnerability spans all versions
  3. Check for crashme tool presence
    Search for the crashme binary using 'which crashme' or 'find / -name crashme -type f 2>/dev/null'
    Affected if The crashme program is present on the system and can be executed
  4. Review kernel crash logs for TSS-related panics
    Check system logs in /var/log/messages, /var/log/dmesg, or use 'dmesg' command for kernel messages containing 'TSS', 'task state segment', or 'kernel panic'
    Affected if Kernel panics related to TSS (Task State Segment) handling are logged

If the system runs OpenBSD of any version, it is affected by this vulnerability; the presence of crashme or TSS-related kernel panics confirms active exploitation or susceptibility

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

Apply OpenBSD security patches for this vulnerability; upgrade to a supported OpenBSD release that includes the fix for TSS handling. If running legacy systems, consider migration to supported versions.

Fix this in OpenBSD Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-1999-0482 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data