FreeBSDOperating system
CVE-1999-0513
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 · uneditedICMP messages to broadcast addresses are allowed, allowing for a Smurf attack that can cause a denial of service.
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 confidenceThe system accepts and responds to ICMP echo requests directed at broadcast addresses. Attackers exploit this by spoofing the source IP address and sending ICMP echo requests to broadcast addresses, causing all hosts on the network to respond to the victim. This amplifies traffic exponentially, resulting in a denial of service against the target.
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
FreeBSDOperating system
= 1.1.5.1= 2.0.5= 2.1.0= 2.1.5= 2.1.6= 2.1.7.1= 2.2.2= 2.2.3= 2.2.4
Linux KernelOperating system
= 2.0= 2.1= 3.2g= 4.0= 4.0a= 4.0b= 4.0c= 4.0d= 10.20= 11.00= 3.1= 3.2= 3.2.4= 3.2.5= 1.2= 2.4= 2.5= 2.5.1= 2.6all versions= 5.4= 5.5= 5.5.1CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check Linux ICMP broadcast sysctl settingRun 'sysctl net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts' to see if the kernel ignores broadcast echo requestsAffected if Value is 0 or the setting is missing, indicating the system responds to broadcast ICMP echo requests
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Check FreeBSD ICMP broadcast settingRun 'sysctl net.inet.icmp.broadcast' or examine /etc/rc.conf for icmp_broadcast* settingsAffected if Broadcast ICMP responses are enabled or no restrictions are configured
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Test actual broadcast ICMP responseSend an ICMP echo request to the local broadcast address (e.g., ping -b 255.255.255.255 or your network's broadcast address) from another host and observe if the target respondsAffected if The system sends echo replies to the broadcast address request, confirming it is vulnerable
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Check Solaris/SunOS ICMP configurationExamine /etc/inet/ndd or run 'ndd -get /dev/ip ip_forwarding' and check for broadcast echo settings in /etc/inet/ipf* rulesAffected if No filters exist blocking broadcast ICMP echo responses or ip_forwarding permits this behavior
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Verify network perimeter does not block broadcast ICMPInspect router/firewall rules for ICMP type 8 (echo request) to broadcast destination filteringAffected if The network perimeter permits ICMP echo requests to broadcast addresses to reach internal hosts
The system is affected if it accepts and responds to ICMP echo requests directed at broadcast addresses, typically indicated by broadcast ICMP echo handling being enabled in the OS configuration.
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 dataDisable ICMP echo responses to broadcast addresses at the network perimeter (router/firewall) and on individual hosts using sysctl settings such as icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts=1 on Linux or equivalent OS configurations.
Fix this in FreeBSD
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 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 $1,424.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-1999-0513 — 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-1999-0513 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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