CVE-1999-1049
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 · uneditedARCserve NT agents use weak encryption (XOR) for passwords, which allows remote attackers to sniff the authentication request to port 6050 and decrypt the password.
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 confidenceARCserve NT agents use weak XOR-based encryption for passwords during authentication. Remote attackers can sniff authentication requests on port 6050 and easily decrypt the plaintext passwords due to the trivially reversible XOR algorithm.
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<= 6.5CVSS 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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Verify Arcserve Backup is installedCheck for Arcserve Backup installation by reviewing installed programs in Control Panel > Programs and Features, or check for installation directories such as C:\Program Files\CA\ARCserve Backup or C:\Program Files\CA\BrightStor ARCserve BackupAffected if Arcserve Backup is present on the system
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Determine the installed versionLocate the version information: check the About dialog within the Arcserve Backup Manager, or look for version files in the installation directory, or check the Windows registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\ComputerAssociates\ARCserve\Backup\Base\InstallAffected if The version is 6.5 or lower (any version <= 6.5)
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Confirm port 6050 is listeningOpen Command Prompt and run netstat -an | findstr 6050 to check if the Arcserve agent port is listening, or use a port scanner targeting port 6050 on localhostAffected if Port 6050 is open and listening for agent connections
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Assess network exposure of port 6050Use external network scanning or review firewall rules to determine if port 6050 is accessible from untrusted networks or the internet, rather than only from localhost or trusted internal subnetsAffected if Port 6050 is reachable from untrusted networks without VPN or TLS protection
The environment is affected if Broadcom Arcserve Backup version 6.5 or lower is installed with port 6050 exposed to untrusted networks, allowing remote attackers to sniff and decrypt authentication credentials.
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 dataUpgrade to a patched version of ARCserve that uses strong encryption, or if the product is end-of-life, migrate to a supported backup solution. Implement network segmentation to protect traffic on port 6050 and consider VPN or TLS-based authentication as compensating controls.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-1999-1049 — 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-1999-1049 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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