CVE-1999-0956
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 · uneditedThe NeXT NetInfo _writers property allows local users to gain root privileges or conduct 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 · moderate confidenceThe NeXT NetInfo directory service contains a vulnerability in its _writers property that allows local authenticated users to escalate privileges to root or cause a denial of service. The _writers property, intended for access control, can be manipulated by local users to gain unauthorized administrative access.
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= 1.0= 1.0a= 2.0= 2.1= 3.0CVSS 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
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/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 the operating system versionRun 'uname -a' or check /etc/version or /usr/lib/NextStep/.config to determine if the system is NeXTSTEP version 1.0, 1.0a, 2.0, 2.1, or 3.0Affected if The system is running one of the affected NeXTSTEP versions (1.0, 1.0a, 2.0, 2.1, or 3.0)
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Determine if NetInfo service is runningCheck for the netinfod process using 'ps -ax | grep netinfod' or check for the presence of /usr/bin/netinfodAffected if The NetInfo daemon (netinfod) is running on the system
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Locate the NetInfo databaseInspect the NetInfo database directory, typically found at /etc/netinfo or /var/db/netinfo, and list its contentsAffected if The NetInfo database directory exists and contains .nig files
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Inspect the _writers property in NetInfoUse the 'nidump' or 'nireport' command-line tool to query the NetInfo hierarchy for the _writers property, typically found under /users or /groupsAffected if The _writers property exists and can be read or modified by non-root local users
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Check for unauthorized administrative accessReview NetInfo entries for any user or group with root-level privileges (UID 0) that were not created by the system administratorAffected if Users or groups with root privileges exist in NetInfo that were not intentionally created by the administrator
A system is affected if it runs NeXTSTEP 1.0 through 3.0, has the NetInfo service active, and the _writers property is accessible to local authenticated users.
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 dataSince NeXT NetInfo is obsolete and no longer supported, the recommended remediation is to migrate to modern directory services (such as OpenLDAP or Active Directory). Systems running NeXTSTEP or early Mac OS X Server should be retired or upgraded.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-1999-0956 — 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-1999-0956 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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