CVE-2003-0680
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 · uneditedUnknown vulnerability in NFS for SGI IRIX 6.5.21 and earlier may allow an NFS client to bypass read-only restrictions.
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 confidenceThis CVE describes a vulnerability in SGI IRIX 6.5.21 and earlier where an NFS client can bypass read-only mount restrictions, potentially gaining unauthorized write access to filesystems that were intended to be mounted as read-only. The specific technical details of the flaw are not publicly detailed, but the impact allows privilege escalation through NFS mount manipulation.
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= 6.5.21= 6.5.21f= 6.5.21mCVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the operating system and versionRun 'uname -a' or 'cat /etc/issue' to confirm the system is SGI IRIX and obtain the exact version numberAffected if The system is not SGI IRIX or the version is unknown and cannot be verified against the affected range
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Check the specific IRIX release versionRun 'uname -r' or check '/var/sysmaster' or use the 'vers' command to get the precise IRIX release (e.g., 6.5.21, 6.5.21f, 6.5.21m)Affected if The IRIX version is 6.5.21 or any earlier version (6.5.x where x is less than 21)
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Verify NFS client functionality is presentCheck if NFS client utilities are installed by running 'nfstat' or examining /etc/fstab for NFS mount entries, or use 'showmount -e localhost' to query NFS exportsAffected if NFS client support is enabled and the system mounts or can mount NFS filesystems
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Identify read-only NFS mounts in useRun 'mount' or 'df -t nfs' to list all NFS-mounted filesystems and identify any explicitly mounted as read-only (ro option)Affected if The system has NFS filesystems mounted with read-only restrictions that could be bypassed
A system is affected if it is running SGI IRIX version 6.5.21 or earlier and uses NFS client functionality with read-only mounted filesystems that could be manipulated.
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 SGI IRIX to a version beyond 6.5.21, apply vendor patches if available, and enforce strict NFS export options (read-only) with additional authentication controls such as Kerberos or IP-based restrictions.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2003-0680 — 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-2003-0680 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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