dbcve.org
IrixOperating system · Sgi

CVE-2000-0796

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v2.0 Published 2000-10-20
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
Buffer overflow in dmplay in IRIX 6.2 and 6.3 allows local users to gain root privileges via a long command line option.

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

A buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the dmplay media player binary on IRIX 6.2 and 6.3 systems. By supplying an overly long command line argument, a local attacker can overwrite stack memory and execute arbitrary code with root privileges, achieving full system compromise.

MitigationApply available Silicon Graphics patches for IRIX; if patches are unavailable, remove or rename the dmplay binary, or restrict execution to trusted users only.

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
IrixOperating system
Affected:= 6.2= 6.3

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. Verify IRIX version
    Run 'uname -r' or 'cat /etc/version' to confirm the installed IRIX version is 6.2 or 6.3
    Affected if The system runs IRIX 6.2 or 6.3 exactly
  2. Locate dmplay binary
    Run 'which dmplay' or 'find /usr -name dmplay -type f 2>/dev/null' to find the dmplay binary
    Affected if The dmplay binary exists on the system
  3. Check binary permissions
    Run 'ls -la /path/to/dmplay' (use path from previous step) to examine ownership and permissions
    Affected if The binary is owned by root and has world-executable or setuid permissions
  4. Verify binary is setuid root
    Run 'ls -la /path/to/dmplay | grep '^-..s' to check for setuid bit
    Affected if The dmplay binary has the setuid bit set and is owned by root
  5. Assess user access
    Check which users or groups can execute dmplay by reviewing file permissions and comparing against untrusted user accounts
    Affected if Untrusted or non-admin users have execute access to the setuid dmplay binary

A user is affected if they run IRIX 6.2 or 6.3 and the dmplay binary exists with root ownership and setuid permissions accessible to untrusted users.

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

Apply available Silicon Graphics patches for IRIX; if patches are unavailable, remove or rename the dmplay binary, or restrict execution to trusted users only.

Fix this in Irix Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $910
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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-2000-0796 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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