CupsApplication · Easy Software Products

CVE-2002-1366

MEDIUM · 6.2 CVSS v2.0 Published 2002-12-26
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
67/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Common Unix Printing System (CUPS) 1.1.14 through 1.1.17 allows local users with lp privileges to create or overwrite arbitrary files via file race conditions, as demonstrated by ice-cream.

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

CUPS versions 1.1.14 through 1.1.17 contain a time-of-check-to-time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition that allows local users with lp privileges to create or overwrite arbitrary files on the system by winning the race between the permission check and the file operation.

MitigationUpgrade CUPS to a version beyond 1.1.17 (which includes patched versions that address this vulnerability), or if upgrade is not feasible, restrict lp group membership to only trusted users and monitor for suspicious file creation activity.

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
CupsApplication
Affected:= 1.0.4= 1.1.1= 1.1.4= 1.1.6= 1.1.7= 1.1.10= 1.1.13= 1.1.14= 1.1.17
Mac Os XOperating system
Affected:= 10.2= 10.2.2

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
High
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:L/AC:H/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 installed CUPS version
    Run 'cups-config --version' or check the package manager (dpkg -l cups, rpm -q cups, etc.)
    Affected if The version matches 1.1.14, 1.1.17, or one of the other affected versions listed (1.0.4, 1.1.1, 1.1.4, 1.1.6, 1.1.7, 1.1.10, 1.1.13)
  2. Verify lp group membership
    Run 'groups' command or check /etc/group for lp group entries containing user accounts
    Affected if Your user account or any untrusted account is a member of the lp group
  3. Check if CUPS daemon is running
    Run 'ps aux | grep cupsd' or check service status (systemctl status cups, service cups status)
    Affected if The CUPS daemon (cupsd) is running and the system has the vulnerable version and lp group membership
  4. Verify lp group permissions on CUPS directories
    Check /etc/cups directory permissions and ownership, particularly any writable directories (ls -la /etc/cups, ls -la /var/spool/cups)
    Affected if The lp group has write access to CUPS configuration or spool directories

You are affected if you are running a CUPS version in the affected list (1.0.4, 1.1.1, 1.1.4, 1.1.6, 1.1.7, 1.1.10, 1.1.13, 1.1.14, or 1.1.17), have the CUPS daemon running, and have untrusted users in the lp group.

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 CUPS to a version beyond 1.1.17 (which includes patched versions that address this vulnerability), or if upgrade is not feasible, restrict lp group membership to only trusted users and monitor for suspicious file creation activity.

Fix this in Cups Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2002-1366 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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