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FreeBSDOperating system

CVE-1999-0704

HIGH · 9.3 CVSS v2.0 Published 1999-09-16
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
Buffer overflow in Berkeley automounter daemon (amd) logging facility provided in the Linux am-utils package and others.

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

Buffer overflow vulnerability in the Berkeley automounter daemon (amd) logging facility within the Linux am-utils package. The overflow occurs in the logging function, potentially allowing attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service by supplying overly long input to the logging mechanism.

MitigationUpdate am-utils to a patched version that addresses this buffer overflow in the logging facility. If amd is no longer needed, consider removing it to eliminate the attack surface.

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
Affected:= 3.0= 3.1= 3.2
LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 4.2= 5.0= 5.1= 5.2= 6.0
Bsd OsOperating system
Affected:= 3.1= 4.0.1

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
M
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

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. Check if amd is installed
    Look for the amd binary: run 'which amd' or 'find /usr -name amd -type f 2>/dev/null'
    Affected if The amd binary exists on the system
  2. Identify the installed version
    Run 'amd --version' or check the package version with the system's package manager (rpm for Red Hat, pkg_info for FreeBSD,_bsdipkg for BSDi)
    Affected if The installed version matches Red Hat 4.2, 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, 6.0, FreeBSD 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, or BSDi 3.1, 4.0.1
  3. Determine if amd daemon is running
    Run 'ps aux | grep amd' or check for running amd processes
    Affected if The amd daemon is actively running on the system
  4. Check for amd configuration files
    Look for amd configuration files in /etc such as /etc/amd.conf, /etc/amd.map, or similar files that control amd behavior
    Affected if An amd configuration exists that may be used by the daemon

A system is affected if amd from am-utils is installed and running with a version matching the affected Red Hat, FreeBSD, or BSDi releases, since the buffer overflow exists in the logging function of the daemon.

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

Update am-utils to a patched version that addresses this buffer overflow in the logging facility. If amd is no longer needed, consider removing it to eliminate the attack surface.

Fix this in FreeBSD Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,390
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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-1999-0704 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