LinuxOperating system · Redhat
CVE-2000-0031
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 · uneditedThe initscripts package in Red Hat Linux allows local users to gain privileges via a symlink attack.
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 confidenceLocal privilege escalation vulnerability in Red Hat Linux initscripts package where attackers exploit a symlink race condition to gain elevated privileges. The initscripts, which run with root permissions during system startup, fail to properly validate file paths before following symlinks.
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
LinuxOperating system
= 6.0= 6.1CVSS 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
- High
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the Red Hat Linux versionRun 'cat /etc/redhat-release' or 'cat /etc/issue' to determine the installed Red Hat versionAffected if The version shown is 6.0 or 6.1
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Check the initscripts package versionRun 'rpm -q initscripts' to retrieve the installed initscripts package versionAffected if The package version is unpatched and matches Red Hat 6.0 or 6.1 releases from year 2000
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Inspect /etc/rc.d/ directory permissionsRun 'ls -la /etc/rc.d/' and verify the permissions on rc directories (rc0.d through rc6.d)Affected if Directories or scripts within /etc/rc.d/ have weak permissions (world-writable or owned by unprivileged users)
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Audit for suspicious symlinks in rc.d directoriesRun 'find /etc/rc.d/ -type l -ls' to list all symlinks, then inspect their targets for unexpected paths or writable parent directoriesAffected if Symlinks in rc.d directories point to locations outside /etc/rc.d/ or are controlled by non-root users
A system is affected if it runs Red Hat Linux 6.0 or 6.1 with unpatched initscripts and has weak permissions or unauthorized symlinks in /etc/rc.d/ that could be exploited during startup.
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 dataApply vendor patches for this historical vulnerability (Red Hat errata from 2000), or upgrade to a supported Red Hat version. On legacy systems, audit initscript directories for unauthorized symlinks and ensure proper file permissions on /etc/rc.d/ scripts.
Fix this in Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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 locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2000-0031 — 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-2000-0031 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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