CVE-2000-0078
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 June 1999 version of the HP-UX aserver program allows local users to gain privileges by specifying an alternate PATH which aserver uses to find the awk command.
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 HP-UX aserver program from June 1999 is vulnerable to PATH manipulation privilege escalation. The program invokes the `awk` command without specifying an absolute path, allowing local users to manipulate the PATH environment variable to point to a malicious executable. When aserver runs with elevated privileges, it executes the attacker's arbitrary code.
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= 10= 11CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify HP-UX versionRun `uname -a` or `swlist -l product` to confirm the installed HP-UX versionAffected if Version is 10 or 11 (the affected versions)
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Locate the aserver programRun `which aserver` or `find / -name aserver -type f 2>/dev/null` to find the aserver binaryAffected if The aserver program exists on the system
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Check if aserver runs with elevated privilegesRun `ls -la /path/to/aserver` (replace with actual path) to examine file permissions and ownership; check if it has setuid bit or runs as rootAffected if aserver has setuid/setgid permissions or runs with root privileges
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Examine PATH environment variableCheck the PATH variable with `echo $PATH` - look for relative directory entries (directories not starting with /) that could be controlled by a local userAffected if PATH contains relative or world-writable directories that an attacker could modify
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Trace aserver execution for awk invocationUse `truss -f -t execve /path/to/aserver 2>&1` or monitor with `par -a /path/to/aserver` to observe system calls; look for execution of 'awk' without an absolute path (/usr/bin/awk)Affected if aserver invokes 'awk' using a relative path rather than an absolute path like /usr/bin/awk
You are affected if running HP-UX 10 or 11, the aserver program exists, it executes with elevated privileges, and it calls awk without an absolute path (verified via tracing).
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 dataReplace relative command invocations (e.g., `awk`) with absolute paths (e.g., `/usr/bin/awk`) in the aserver program, or sanitize the PATH environment variable before executing system commands.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 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 $2,800.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2000-0078 — 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-2000-0078 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
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