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AixOperating system · Ibm

CVE-2001-1557

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2001-12-31
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable 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 ftpd in IBM AIX 4.3 and 5.1 allows attackers to gain privileges.

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 ftpd daemon bundled with IBM AIX 4.3 and 5.1 allows remote attackers to potentially gain elevated privileges by overflowing a buffer in the FTP server process.

MitigationUpgrade to a supported AIX version with corresponding IBM security patches, or disable the ftpd service if not required, as AIX 4.3 and 5.1 are end-of-life and no longer receive security updates.

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
AixOperating system
Affected:= 4.3= 5.1

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

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. Identify the installed AIX version
    Run 'oslevel -r' or 'uname -a' to determine the AIX release level
    Affected if The version shown is 4.3 or 5.1 (specifically 4330-09 through 4330-12 or 5100-00 through 5100-05)
  2. Verify ftpd daemon is installed
    Check if the ftpd binary exists at /usr/sbin/ftpd or run 'lslpp -l | grep -i ftpd' to list installed FTP server packages
    Affected if The ftpd package is installed on the system
  3. Confirm ftpd is enabled in inetd configuration
    Grep for 'ftpd' in /etc/inetd.conf to see if the FTP service is configured to start
    Affected if A line containing 'ftpd' and uncommented exists in /etc/inetd.conf, indicating the service is enabled
  4. Verify ftpd is currently running
    Run 'ps -ef | grep ftpd' to check for active ftpd processes, or check if port 21 is listening with 'netstat -an | grep 21'
    Affected if An ftpd process is running or port 21 is in LISTEN state

The environment is affected if running AIX version 4.3 or 5.1 with the ftpd daemon enabled and running, as only those specific versions contain the vulnerable code and the flaw requires the service to be active.

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

Upgrade to a supported AIX version with corresponding IBM security patches, or disable the ftpd service if not required, as AIX 4.3 and 5.1 are end-of-life and no longer receive security updates.

Fix this in Aix Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation24.0 h
  • Testing16.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
56.0 hours of engineering $9,760
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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-2001-1557 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