CVE-1999-0853
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 · uneditedBuffer overflow in Netscape Enterprise Server and Netscape FastTrack Server allows remote attackers to gain privileges via the HTTP Basic Authentication procedure.
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 confidenceBuffer overflow vulnerability in Netscape Enterprise Server and Netscape FastTrack Server's HTTP Basic Authentication procedure allows remote attackers to overflow a buffer during the authentication process and execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges.
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= 3.5.1= 3.6= 3.01CVSS 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
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/AC:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify if Netscape web server software is installedCheck running processes or installed software listings for 'netscape' or 'enterprise' server executablesAffected if Netscape Enterprise Server or Netscape FastTrack Server processes are found running on the system
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Determine the installed Netscape server versionUse the server's version command, check about page, or examine server binary metadata to identify the exact version numberAffected if The version is 3.5.1 or 3.6 for Enterprise Server, or 3.01 for FastTrack Server
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Verify HTTP Basic Authentication is in useCheck server configuration files for Basic authentication method enabled in the security/authentication settingsAffected if HTTP Basic Authentication is configured and enabled on the server
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Check if the server is exposed to network accessReview firewall rules and network exposure to determine if the HTTP port (typically 80 or 443) is accessible from remote locationsAffected if The server's HTTP service is reachable from untrusted networks
A system is affected if it runs Netscape Enterprise Server 3.5.1/3.6 or Netscape FastTrack Server 3.01 with HTTP Basic Authentication enabled and network exposure.
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 dataNetscape Enterprise Server and FastTrack Server are legacy products from the late 1990s that are long deprecated. Migrate to modern, supported web servers (e.g., Apache, Nginx, IIS) and ensure current versions are deployed with up-to-date security patches.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation24.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-1999-0853 — 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-1999-0853 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