CVE-1999-1227
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 · uneditedEthereal allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on the packet capture file.
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 confidenceEthereal (predecessor to Wireshark) has a symlink attack vulnerability where a local user can create a symbolic link at the expected packet capture file location before Ethereal runs, causing it to overwrite an arbitrary target file when writing capture data.
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 dataall versionsCVSS 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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Check if Ethereal is installedRun 'which ethereal' or check package manager listings for ethereal package. Also check 'dpkg -l | grep ethereal' or 'rpm -qa | grep ethereal'Affected if Ethereal is installed (not Wireshark, which is the fixed successor)
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Identify packet capture file locationsSearch configuration files (typically in /etc/ethereal/ or ~/.ethereal/) for capture file paths, or check for common default locations like /tmp, /var/tmp, or current working directories where capture files may be writtenAffected if Capture output directories or files are stored in world-writable locations
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Verify directory permissions on capture locationsRun 'ls -la' on directories where capture files are written. Check if directories are mode 777 or owned by root with weak group permissionsAffected if Capture directories are writable by untrusted local users (mode 777 or similar)
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Look for pre-existing symlinks in capture directoriesRun 'ls -la' in capture directories and check for symbolic links (indicated by 'l' prefix and '->' in output) pointing to sensitive target filesAffected if Symlinks exist in capture directories pointing to system files or sensitive targets
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Check user ownership of capture filesExamine ownership of any existing capture files (*.cap, *.pcap) in the system. Check if untrusted users can create files in these locationsAffected if Untrusted users can create or modify capture files in the designated directories
User is affected if Ethereal (not Wireshark) is installed AND packet capture directories are writable by untrusted local users who could place malicious symlinks.
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 current Wireshark version and ensure packet capture directories have restrictive permissions preventing untrusted users from creating files/symlinks.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,888.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-1999-1227 — 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-1999-1227 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
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