OmniswitchHardware / appliance · Alcatel

CVE-1999-1559

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 1999-03-31
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 3.2.4 or later.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable 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
Xylan OmniSwitch before 3.2.6 allows remote attackers to bypass the login prompt via a CTRL-D (control d) character, which locks other users out of the switch because it only supports one session at a time.

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

Xylan OmniSwitch before version 3.2.6 contains an authentication bypass vulnerability where sending a CTRL-D character during the login prompt allows remote attackers to bypass the login prompt entirely, gaining unauthorized access to the switch management interface.

MitigationUpgrade to Xylan OmniSwitch version 3.2.6 or later to obtain the patch. If upgrade is not feasible, restrict network access to the management interface via ACLs or place behind a jump host.

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
OmniswitchHardware / appliance
Affected:<= 3.2.4

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

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. Identify the switch model
    Run 'show system' or 'show version' command to confirm the device is a Xylan OmniSwitch or Alcatel Omniswitch
    Affected if The device is not an OmniSwitch product, then this CVE does not apply
  2. Check the software version
    Run 'show version' or 'show system' to obtain the firmware/software version number
    Affected if The version number is 3.2.4 or lower (e.g., 3.2.3, 3.2.2, 3.2.1, 3.2.0)
  3. Verify management interface accessibility
    Confirm the switch has an IP address configured on the management interface (typically VLAN 1 or a dedicated management VLAN) and is reachable over the network via telnet or console
    Affected if The management interface is network-accessible (this is required for the remote attack vector)
  4. Check for CTRL-D handling in login
    Attempt to connect to the device login prompt (via telnet or console) and observe if sending a CTRL-D character (0x04) bypasses authentication
    Affected if CTRL-D bypasses the login prompt and grants access without credentials

You are affected if the device is an OmniSwitch running version 3.2.4 or lower and the management interface is network-accessible, allowing remote attackers to bypass login by sending CTRL-D.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 3.2.4
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to Xylan OmniSwitch version 3.2.6 or later to obtain the patch. If upgrade is not feasible, restrict network access to the management interface via ACLs or place behind a jump host.

Fix this in Omniswitch Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,060
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-1999-1559 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-1999-1559 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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