dbcve.org
IrixOperating system · Sgi

CVE-2004-1889

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2004-12-31
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Unknown vulnerability in ftpd in SGI IRIX 6.5.20 through 6.5.23 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (hang) via a link failure with Microsoft Windows.

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

Denial of service vulnerability in SGI IRIX 6.5.20-6.5.23 ftpd daemon allows remote attackers to hang the service via a link failure condition involving Microsoft Windows clients. The specific technical mechanism is not disclosed.

MitigationIsolate affected IRIX systems on restricted network segments; block or limit FTP access at network perimeter; consider disabling ftpd if not required as IRIX 6.5.x is end-of-life and unlikely to receive vendor patches.

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
IrixOperating system
Affected:= 6.5.20= 6.5.20f= 6.5.20m= 6.5.21= 6.5.21f= 6.5.21m= 6.5.22= 6.5.23

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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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 operating system version
    Run 'uname -a' or 'cat /etc/version' to confirm the OS is SGI IRIX and note the exact version number (e.g., 6.5.21, 6.5.22, etc.)
    Affected if The version shown is 6.5.20, 6.5.21, 6.5.22, or 6.5.23 (including f and m variants)
  2. Confirm ftpd daemon is running
    Run 'ps -ef | grep ftpd' or check inetd/xinetd configuration to see if the FTP daemon is actively running
    Affected if The ftpd process is running or FTP service is enabled in inetd/xinetd
  3. Verify FTP service is listening
    Run 'netstat -an | grep :21' or 'sockinfo ftpd' to check if port 21 is in LISTEN state and accepting connections
    Affected if Port 21 (FTP) is open and listening for connections

A system is affected if it runs SGI IRIX version 6.5.20 through 6.5.23 AND has the ftpd daemon running and accessible on the network.

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

Isolate affected IRIX systems on restricted network segments; block or limit FTP access at network perimeter; consider disabling ftpd if not required as IRIX 6.5.x is end-of-life and unlikely to receive vendor patches.

Fix this in Irix Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2004-1889 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2004-1889 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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