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UnixwareApplication · Caldera

CVE-2002-0105

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v2.0 Published 2002-03-25
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
CDE dtlogin in Caldera UnixWare 7.1.0, and possibly other operating systems, allows local users to gain privileges via a symlink attack on /var/dt/Xerrors since /var/dt is world-writable.

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

Local privilege escalation vulnerability in CDE dtlogin on Caldera UnixWare 7.1.0. The /var/dt directory is world-writable, allowing local users to perform a symlink attack on /var/dt/Xerrors to gain elevated privileges.

MitigationRemove world-writable permissions from the /var/dt directory (chmod 755 /var/dt) to prevent symlink attacks and restrict access to privileged system files.

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
UnixwareApplication
Affected:= 7.1.0

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. Identify the operating system version
    Run 'uname -a' or check /etc/release to confirm the Caldera UnixWare version
    Affected if The system is not Caldera UnixWare 7.1.0 (this CVE only applies to that specific version)
  2. Verify the /var/dt directory exists
    Run 'ls -ld /var/dt' to confirm the directory is present on the system
    Affected if The /var/dt directory does not exist - the vulnerability does not apply
  3. Check /var/dt directory permissions
    Run 'ls -ld /var/dt' and examine the permission bits (the first column)
    Affected if The directory shows world-writable permissions (e.g., 'drwxrwxrwx' or permissions ending in '777') - this indicates the system is vulnerable
  4. Inspect /var/dt/Xerrors for symlink vulnerability
    Run 'ls -la /var/dt/Xerrors' to check if the file exists and what it points to (if it is a symlink)
    Affected if The Xerrors file is a symlink or can be manipulated due to world-writable parent directory permissions

A system is affected if it is Caldera UnixWare 7.1.0 AND the /var/dt directory has world-writable permissions, allowing any local user to create or modify symlinks within that directory 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

Remove world-writable permissions from the /var/dt directory (chmod 755 /var/dt) to prevent symlink attacks and restrict access to privileged system files.

Fix this in Unixware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $860
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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-2002-0105 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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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