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AixOperating system · Ibm

CVE-2002-1622

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2002-12-31
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 certain RPC routines in IBM AIX 4.3 may allow attackers to execute arbitrary code, related to a "variable data type."

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 certain RPC (Remote Procedure Call) routines in IBM AIX 4.3 allows remote attackers to potentially execute arbitrary code via a 'variable data type' flaw. The vulnerability has a CVSS score of 7.5 (HIGH), indicating significant risk of complete compromise.

MitigationFor legacy AIX 4.3 systems, apply IBM security patches if available; otherwise disable or filter RPC services at the network perimeter and consider system isolation or retirement since AIX 4.3 is long end-of-life.

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

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 version and release
    Affected if The system is running AIX version 4.3 (any 4.3.x variant)
  2. Verify RPC portmapper service status
    Execute 'rpcinfo -p' to query the portmapper and list registered RPC programs
    Affected if The RPC portmapper (port 111) is running and responding to queries
  3. Check RPC service exposure
    Use 'netstat -an | grep 111' to determine if the RPC portmapper is bound to network-accessible interfaces
    Affected if Port 111 is listening on non-loopback interfaces and is reachable from the network

A system is affected if it runs AIX 4.3 and has RPC services enabled and exposed to the network, as the buffer overflow exists in RPC routines accessible remotely.

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

For legacy AIX 4.3 systems, apply IBM security patches if available; otherwise disable or filter RPC services at the network perimeter and consider system isolation or retirement since AIX 4.3 is long end-of-life.

Fix this in Aix Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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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-2002-1622 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