CVE-2002-0174
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 · uneditednsd on SGI IRIX before 6.5.11 allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files and gain root privileges via a symlink attack on the nsd.dump file.
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 confidenceThe nsd (name server daemon) on SGI IRIX creates a dump file (nsd.dump) in a location with insecure permissions. A local attacker can create a symbolic link from nsd.dump to a sensitive target file (such as /etc/passwd or /etc/shadow). When nsd runs, it follows the symlink and overwrites the target file, allowing privilege escalation to root.
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= 6.5= 6.5.1= 6.5.2= 6.5.3= 6.5.4= 6.5.5= 6.5.6= 6.5.7= 6.5.8= 6.5.9= 6.5.10CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the operating systemRun 'uname -a' or 'cat /etc/issue' to confirm the system is SGI IRIXAffected if The system is not SGI IRIX (the vulnerability only affects IRIX)
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Check the IRIX versionRun 'uname -r' or 'cat /usr/gnu/lib/.version' to get the exact version numberAffected if The version is 6.5, 6.5.1, 6.5.2, 6.5.3, 6.5.4, 6.5.5, 6.5.6, 6.5.7, 6.5.8, 6.5.9, or 6.5.10 (versions 6.5.11 and later are patched)
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Verify nsd is installedCheck for the nsd binary (commonly in /usr/etc/nsd or via 'which nsd') and look for nsd in the running processes with 'ps -ef | grep nsd'Affected if The nsd daemon is installed and running on the system
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Check for nsd dump file location and permissionsLocate where nsd.dump is created (typically in /var/nsd or /var/named, check the directory where nsd writes its dump files) and inspect permissions with 'ls -la' on that directoryAffected if The directory allows world-writable permissions or the nsd.dump file can be replaced by a local user
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Test for symlink vulnerabilityAs a low-privileged user, check if they can create or replace files in the nsd dump directory; verify if an attacker could place a symlink named nsd.dump pointing to a sensitive file like /etc/passwdAffected if A local unprivileged user can create a symbolic link named nsd.dump in the dump directory before nsd runs
You are affected if you are running SGI IRIX version 6.5 through 6.5.10 with the nsd daemon installed, and the nsd dump file directory permits unprivileged users to create or replace files via symlink attacks.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpgrade to IRIX 6.5.11 or later which contains the patched nsd, or modify nsd to use secure file operations (e.g., O_NOFOLLOW flag, pre-creation file type checks) when writing the dump file.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2002-0174 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2002-0174 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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