CVE-1999-0517
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 · uneditedAn SNMP community name is the default (e.g. public), null, or missing.
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 confidenceSNMP community strings in versions 1 and 2c serve as a form of clear-text authentication. When these are set to default values (commonly 'public' or 'private'), null, or left unconfigured, remote attackers can enumerate network devices and potentially access sensitive system information via SNMP queries.
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= 10= 11.00= 5.0CVSS 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
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
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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Determine if SNMP service is runningUse system commands such as 'ps -ef | grep snmp' or 'netstat -an | grep 161' to check if the SNMP daemon is active on the systemAffected if SNMP service is running and listening on UDP port 161
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Locate SNMP configuration fileCommon locations include /etc/snmpd.conf, /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf, or /usr/local/etc/snmpd.conf; check documentation for your specific platformAffected if SNMP configuration file exists and contains community string definitions
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Extract community string valuesOpen the SNMP configuration file and identify lines containing 'community' or 'rocommunity'/'rwcommunity' directivesAffected if Community strings are defined in the configuration file
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Compare community strings to known default valuesExamine the community string values and compare them to default weak values such as 'public', 'private', or blank/nullAffected if Community string is set to 'public', 'private', blank, or any well-known default value
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Check SNMP version in useReview SNMP configuration for 'snmpv1', 'snmpv2c', or 'v3' settings; v1 and v2c use clear-text community stringsAffected if SNMP version 1 or v2c is enabled (these versions use community strings for authentication)
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Verify access control settingsCheck if the community string is configured with broad access (such as allowing access from any host 0.0.0.0 or using default access permissions)Affected if SNMP accepts queries from unauthorized network addresses using default community strings
Your environment is affected if SNMP v1/v2c is enabled with default or weak community strings ('public', 'private', or null) that allow unauthorized network access to system information.
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 dataReplace default SNMP community strings with strong, unique values; disable SNMPv1/v2c if possible and migrate to SNMPv3 with authentication and encryption; or disable SNMP entirely if not required.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $7,680.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-1999-0517 — 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-1999-0517 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