CVE-1999-1444
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 · uneditedgenkey utility in Alibaba 2.0 generates RSA key pairs with an exponent of 1, which results in transactions that are sent in cleartext.
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 confidenceThe genkey utility in Alibaba 2.0 generates RSA key pairs with an exponent of 1 instead of the proper value (typically 65537). With exponent 1, RSA encryption becomes a no-op where ciphertext equals plaintext, causing transactions to be transmitted in cleartext without actual encryption.
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= 2.0CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N
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 Alibaba 2.0 installationLocate the Alibaba software installation directory and verify the version is exactly 2.0 by checking version metadata, about dialog, or installation logsAffected if Alibaba version 2.0 is installed on the system
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Locate RSA key pairs generated by genkeySearch the Alibaba data or configuration directories for RSA private/public key files, typically named with .key, .pub, or similar extensions used by AlibabaAffected if RSA key files exist in the Alibaba installation or data directories
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Examine RSA key exponent valueUse an RSA key parsing tool or openssl (openssl rsa -in <keyfile> -text -noout) to display the public exponent value in the key file. Look for the exponent field in the key detailsAffected if The exponent value in the RSA key is 1 (instead of the proper value 65537)
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Verify transaction encryption statusInspect outbound transaction data or network traffic from the Alibaba system to determine if data is being transmitted in plaintext (ciphertext equals plaintext)Affected if Transaction data is being sent as plaintext without proper RSA encryption transformation
The system is affected if Alibaba 2.0 is installed, RSA keys generated by its genkey utility are present, and those keys contain an exponent value of 1 rather than 65537.
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 dataRegenerate RSA key pairs using a proper exponent (e.g., 65537) and ensure all affected systems and transaction partners are updated with the new keys.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 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-1999-1444 — 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-1999-1444 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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