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Tivoli Opc Tracker AgentApplication · Ibm

CVE-1999-1403

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v2.0 Published 1998-10-02
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
77/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
IBM/Tivoli OPC Tracker Agent version 2 release 1 creates files, directories, and IPC message queues with insecure permissions (world-readable and world-writable), which could allow local users to disrupt operations and possibly gain privileges by modifying or deleting files.

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 confidence

The IBM/Tivoli OPC Tracker Agent v2r1 creates files, directories, and IPC message queues with insecure permissions (world-readable and world-writable, equivalent to 0x777). This allows any local user on the system to read, modify, or delete these resources, potentially disrupting agent operations or enabling local privilege escalation.

MitigationRemediate by modifying the application code to set restrictive permissions (e.g., 0600 for files, 0755 for directories) when creating system resources, and configure IPC message queues with appropriate ownership and mode settings restricting access to the application user only.

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
Tivoli Opc Tracker AgentApplication
Affected:= 1.0x= 2.0x= 3.0x

CVSS 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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check if IBM/Tivoli OPC Tracker Agent is installed
    Search for the product in your system package manager or look for executables named 'opctracker', 'opcTracker', or directories containing 'Tivoli' and 'OPC' in the installation path.
    Affected if The product is not found on the system, then not affected.
  2. Verify the installed version
    Run the agent binary with a version flag (such as -version, -V, or check the binary properties) or examine the package metadata to determine the exact version number.
    Affected if The version falls within 1.0x, 2.0x, or 3.0x ranges, indicating the affected versions.
  3. Locate agent-created files and directories
    Look for directories or files created by the OPC Tracker Agent process, typically under the agent's working directory, /var directory, or the application's installation tree.
    Affected if No files or directories created by the agent exist (the agent has not yet run or created resources).
  4. Inspect permissions on agent resources
    Use 'ls -la' or 'stat' on the identified files, directories, and check their permission bits (the 9-character permission string or octal mode).
    Affected if Files show permissions like 'rwxrwxrwx' (0777) or directories show 'drwxrwxrwx', meaning world-readable and world-writable.
  5. Check for insecure IPC message queues
    Use 'ipcs -a' or 'ipcs -q' to list message queues and examine the mode column for any queues owned by the OPC Tracker Agent user.
    Affected if Message queues show permissions allowing world read and write access (mode shows '777' or similar).

The environment is affected if IBM/Tivoli OPC Tracker Agent versions 1.0x, 2.0x, or 3.0x are installed and any files, directories, or IPC queues created by the agent have world-readable/writable (0777) permissions.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Remediate by modifying the application code to set restrictive permissions (e.g., 0600 for files, 0755 for directories) when creating system resources, and configure IPC message queues with appropriate ownership and mode settings restricting access to the application user only.

Fix this in Tivoli Opc Tracker Agent Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-1999-1403 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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