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AixOperating system · Ibm

CVE-2007-4003

MEDIUM · 6.9 CVSS v2.0 Published 2007-07-26
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
74/100
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
pioout in IBM AIX 5.3 SP6 allows local users to execute arbitrary code by specifying a malicious library with the -R (ParseRoutine) command line argument.

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

The pioout utility in IBM AIX 5.3 SP6 contains a vulnerability where local users can execute arbitrary code by specifying a malicious shared library via the -R (ParseRoutine) command line argument. This is a local privilege escalation issue allowing controlled code execution with the privileges of the pioout process.

MitigationRestrict or disable the pioout utility for unprivileged users, and apply any available IBM AIX patches for this vulnerability. Implement file permission controls to limit access to the pioout binary.

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:= 5.3

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
Local
Complexity
M
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:L/AC:M/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. Confirm AIX version is 5.3
    Run 'oslevel -s' or 'bootinfo -v' to check the installed AIX version
    Affected if The version shown is AIX 5.3 (any service pack, though SP6 is explicitly mentioned)
  2. Locate the pioout binary
    Run 'which pioout' or 'find /usr -name pioout 2>/dev/null' to find the pioout executable
    Affected if The pioout binary exists on the system at any location
  3. Check pioout binary permissions
    Run 'ls -la $(which pioout)' or 'ls -la /usr/bin/pioout' to view ownership and permissions
    Affected if The binary is world-executable or owned by a privileged user and executable by others
  4. Verify unprivileged user access to pioout
    As a non-root user, run 'pioout -R /tmp/test 2>&1' to test if the -R option is accessible
    Affected if The command executes without permission denied errors, indicating the -R flag is usable by unprivileged users

A user is affected if running AIX 5.3 with the pioout binary present and accessible to unprivileged users, allowing the -R argument to load arbitrary shared libraries.

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

Restrict or disable the pioout utility for unprivileged users, and apply any available IBM AIX patches for this vulnerability. Implement file permission controls to limit access to the pioout binary.

Fix this in Aix Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
13.0 hours of engineering $2,330
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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-2007-4003 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