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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2000-0606

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v2.0 Published 2000-06-21
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 kon program in Kanji on Console (KON) package on Linux may allow local users to gain root privileges via a long -StartupMessage parameter.

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

Buffer overflow in the kon program of the Kanji on Console (KON) package allows local users to execute arbitrary code with root privileges by providing an excessively long string to the -StartupMessage command-line parameter, enabling local privilege escalation.

MitigationUpdate or remove the vulnerable KON package; if required, ensure only trusted local users have access to the kon binary and consider using kernel security modules to restrict privilege escalation paths.

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
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 2.0= 2.1= 2.2= 2.3
LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 5.0= 5.1= 5.2= 6.1= 6.2
Mandrake LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 6.1= 7.0= 7.1

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 kon package is installed
    Run 'dpkg -l kon' on Debian-based systems or 'rpm -qa | grep -i kon' on Red Hat/Mandrake systems to list the installed kon package
    Affected if The kon package is installed and matches the affected versions (Debian 2.0-2.3, Red Hat 5.0-6.2, Mandrake 6.1-7.1)
  2. Determine the installed kon version
    Run 'kon -v' or 'kon -help' to display version information, or use the package manager to query the version (dpkg -s kon or rpm -qi kon)
    Affected if The installed version matches any of the affected versions listed in the CVE (exact versions as specified in the advisory)
  3. Check if kon binary has setuid root permissions
    Run 'ls -la /usr/bin/kon' or 'ls -la $(which kon)' to inspect file permissions
    Affected if The kon binary has the setuid bit set (permissions show 's' instead of 'x' for owner) and is owned by root, allowing any local user to trigger the buffer overflow with elevated privileges
  4. Verify which users can execute kon
    Run 'ls -la /usr/bin/kon' and check group/other execute permissions, or check if the binary is in a world-executable path
    Affected if Non-privileged users have execute permission on a setuid-root kon binary, enabling them to trigger the -StartupMessage buffer overflow for privilege escalation

You are affected if the kon package is installed, the version matches the affected Debian/Red Hat/Mandrake versions listed, and the kon binary has setuid root permissions allowing local users to exploit the -StartupMessage parameter buffer overflow for privilege escalation.

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

Update or remove the vulnerable KON package; if required, ensure only trusted local users have access to the kon binary and consider using kernel security modules to restrict privilege escalation paths.

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
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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-2000-0606 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
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