CVE-1999-1080
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 · uneditedrmmount in SunOS 5.7 may mount file systems without the nosuid flag set, contrary to the documentation and its use in previous versions of SunOS, which could allow local users with physical access to gain root privileges by mounting a floppy or CD-ROM that contains a setuid program and running volcheck, when the file systems do not have the nosuid option specified in rmmount.conf.
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 confidenceIn SunOS 5.7 (Solaris 7), the rmmount utility fails to apply the nosuid mount option to removable media (floppy disks, CD-ROMs) by default, contradicting its documented behavior and previous SunOS versions. A local attacker with physical access can insert removable media containing a malicious setuid program, which gets mounted without the nosuid protection when volcheck triggers the mount, enabling privilege escalation to root.
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= 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
- 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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Verify the SunOS/Solaris versionRun 'uname -a' or 'cat /etc/release' to confirm the operating system version is SunOS 5.7 (Solaris 7)Affected if The system is running SunOS 5.7 specifically. Other versions are not affected by this specific CVE.
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Examine the rmmount.conf configuration fileCheck the contents of /etc/rmmount.conf for mount options applied to removable media (floppy, cdrom). Look for entries containing 'nosuid' option.Affected if The rmmount.conf file does NOT contain explicit 'nosuid' entries for removable media mounts, meaning the default (vulnerable) behavior is in effect.
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Check for volcheck daemon or automountd activityVerify if the volcheck daemon or automountd is running ('ps -ef | grep -E "volcheck|automountd"') and configured to automatically mount removable mediaAffected if Automatic mounting via volcheck or automountd is enabled, which triggers rmmount to mount media without nosuid by default.
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Inspect currently mounted removable mediaRun 'mount -v' to list all mounted filesystems and identify any removable media (floppy, CD-ROM) mounts. Check the mount options column for 'nosuid'Affected if Removable media is currently mounted WITHOUT the 'nosuid' option visible in the mount output.
A system is affected if it runs SunOS 5.7, has removable media auto-mounting enabled via volcheck/automountd, and the rmmount.conf lacks explicit nosuid configuration - allowing setuid programs on floppy/CD-ROM to execute with privilege.
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 dataConfigure rmmount.conf to explicitly include the nosuid option for all removable media mounts, ensuring setuid programs on floppy disks and CD-ROMs cannot be executed regardless of media contents.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-1999-1080 — 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-1999-1080 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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