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TigerApplication · Tamu

CVE-1999-1560

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v2.0 Published 1999-07-20
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
Vulnerability in a script in Texas A&M University (TAMU) Tiger allows local users to execute arbitrary commands as the Tiger user, usually root.

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 · moderate confidence

Local privilege escalation vulnerability in a script within TAMU Tiger system administration tool allows unprivileged local users to execute arbitrary commands with root privileges via the Tiger user account.

MitigationUpgrade or migrate away from TAMU Tiger to modern system administration and security auditing tools, as this legacy software from the late 1990s is likely obsolete and no longer maintained.

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
TigerApplication
Affected:all versions

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 TAMU Tiger is installed
    Search for Tiger-related files and directories on the system. Common locations include /usr/local/tiger, /opt/tiger, or check for tiger binaries in PATH. Run: find / -name '*tiger*' -type f 2>/dev/null | head -20
    Affected if Any TAMU Tiger installation or related files found on the system
  2. Check for Tiger system account
    Look for a system user named 'tiger' that may have been created during Tiger installation. Run: grep '^tiger:' /etc/passwd or getent passwd tiger
    Affected if A 'tiger' user account exists on the system
  3. Identify scripts running with elevated privileges
    Examine Tiger scripts in the installation directory for those that execute with root privileges. Look for scripts with shebang #!/bin/sh or #!/bin/bash owned by root. Run: find / -path '*tiger*' -name '*.sh' -exec ls -la {} \; 2>/dev/null
    Affected if Tiger scripts that run as root are found in the installation

If TAMU Tiger software is installed on the system with the Tiger user account present, the local privilege escalation vulnerability is applicable and can allow unprivileged users to execute arbitrary commands as root.

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 or migrate away from TAMU Tiger to modern system administration and security auditing tools, as this legacy software from the late 1990s is likely obsolete and no longer maintained.

Fix this in Tiger Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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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-1999-1560 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
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