CVE-1999-0908
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 · uneditedDenial of service in Solaris TCP streams driver via a malicious connection that causes the server to panic as a result of recursive calls to mutex_enter.
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 confidenceA denial of service vulnerability exists in the Solaris TCP streams driver where a malicious TCP connection triggers recursive calls to mutex_enter, causing the kernel to panic. This is a race condition or improper mutex handling at the kernel level that allows an attacker to cause system failure via specially crafted network connections.
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= 2.5.1= 2.6= 7.0all versions= 5.5.1= 5.7CVSS 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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Identify the operating system versionRun 'uname -a' or 'cat /etc/release' to determine the exact Solaris or SunOS versionAffected if The version matches Solaris 2.5.1, 2.6, or 7.0, or SunOS 5.5.1, 5.7, or any SunOS version
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Verify the TCP streams driver is loadedRun 'modinfo | grep tcp' or 'ls -la /kernel/drv/tcp' to confirm the TCP driver module exists and is loadedAffected if The TCP streams driver is present and active on the system
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Check for installed security patchesRun 'showrev -p' to list all installed patches and search for Sun patches addressing this vulnerability (check SunSolve or Oracle support directories for patch IDs)Affected if No relevant patch for CVE-1999-0908 is installed
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Confirm network exposureRun 'netstat -an' or check '/etc/inetd.conf' and firewall rules to see which TCP ports are listening and accessibleAffected if The system accepts TCP connections from untrusted networks
The system is affected if it runs an unpatched Solaris 2.5.1/2.6/7.0 or SunOS version with the TCP streams driver loaded and accessible over the network.
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 dataApply the appropriate Solaris security patch for this vulnerability. If a vendor patch is unavailable, restrict network access to affected systems using firewalls or access control lists to limit exposure to untrusted connections.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 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 $1,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-1999-0908 — 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-1999-0908 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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- 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
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