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FreeBSDOperating system

CVE-2000-0186

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v2.0 Published 2000-02-28
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
Buffer overflow in the dump utility in the Linux ext2fs backup package allows local users to gain privileges via a long command line argument.

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

Buffer overflow vulnerability in the dump utility from the Linux ext2fs backup package allows local unprivileged users to execute arbitrary code and gain elevated (likely root) privileges by supplying an overly long command line argument.

MitigationPatch or upgrade the dump utility to a fixed version that addresses the buffer overflow; if no patched version is available, replace with an alternative backup solution or implement input validation/limits on command line arguments.

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
FreeBSDOperating system
Affected:= 3.4
LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 5.1= 5.2= 6.0= 6.1= 6.2
Mandrake LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 6.1= 7.0
TurbolinuxOperating system
Affected:= 4.2= 4.4= 6.0.2

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 the dump utility is installed
    Run 'which dump' or 'rpm -q dump' on RedHat-based systems, or check your package manager for the dump package
    Affected if dump is installed and available on the system
  2. Identify the installed dump version
    Run 'dump --version' or use 'rpm -qi dump' (RedHat) to retrieve the version number
    Affected if the version matches any of the affected versions: FreeBSD 3.4, RedHat 5.1, 5.2, 6.0, 6.1, 6.2, Mandrake 6.1, 7.0, or Turbolinux 4.2, 4.4, 6.0.2
  3. Check if dump has setuid or setgid permissions
    Run 'ls -la $(which dump)' or 'ls -la /sbin/dump' to examine file permissions. Look for 's' in the owner or group execute fields
    Affected if the dump binary has setuid (owner permissions show -rwsr-xr-x) or setgid (group permissions show -rwxr-sr-x) bits set, which enables privilege escalation
  4. Verify unprivileged user access to dump
    As a non-root user, attempt to execute 'dump -h' or check file permissions to confirm if regular users can run the binary
    Affected if non-root users can execute the dump utility, particularly if it has elevated permissions set

A user is affected if the dump utility is installed with a version matching the affected list and is executable by unprivileged users, especially with setuid/setgid permissions present.

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

Patch or upgrade the dump utility to a fixed version that addresses the buffer overflow; if no patched version is available, replace with an alternative backup solution or implement input validation/limits on command line arguments.

Fix this in FreeBSD Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2000-0186 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