dbcve.org
Sql ServerApplication · Microsoft

CVE-1999-1556

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v2.0 Published 1998-06-29
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
Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 uses weak encryption for the password for the SQLExecutiveCmdExec account and stores it in an accessible portion of the registry, which could allow local users to gain privileges by reading and decrypting the CmdExecAccount value.

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

Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 stores the CmdExecAccount password in the registry using weak encryption, allowing local authenticated users to read the encrypted value and decrypt it to gain elevated privileges.

MitigationUpgrade from SQL Server 6.5 to a supported version, or immediately restrict registry key permissions to prevent unauthorized local access to the CmdExecAccount value.

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
Sql ServerApplication
Affected:= 6.5

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. Confirm SQL Server 6.5 is installed
    Check the installed SQL Server version by querying the registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\Setup, or run 'SELECT @@VERSION' via any SQL client connection
    Affected if The version reported is Microsoft SQL Server 6.5
  2. Verify CmdExecAccount is configured
    Check if a CmdExec proxy account is configured by querying the registry key that stores the CmdExecAccount value under the SQL Server 6.5 service registry path
    Affected if A CmdExecAccount value exists in the registry (indicating a proxy account is set up)
  3. Inspect registry key permissions
    Use regedit or the 'reg query' command to examine the permissions on the registry key containing the CmdExecAccount value. Check which users have read access to this key
    Affected if Non-administrator or low-privilege local users have read access to the CmdExecAccount registry value

A user is affected if SQL Server 6.5 is installed with a CmdExecAccount configured, and the registry key storing the encrypted password is readable by untrusted local users.

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

Upgrade from SQL Server 6.5 to a supported version, or immediately restrict registry key permissions to prevent unauthorized local access to the CmdExecAccount value.

Fix this in Sql Server Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-1999-1556 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-1999-1556 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data