AixOperating system · Ibm

CVE-2014-0899

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2014-03-11
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable 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
ftpd in IBM AIX 7.1.1 before SP10 and 7.1.2 before SP5, when a Workload Partition (aka WPAR) for AIX 5.2 or 5.3 is used, allows remote authenticated users to bypass intended permission settings and modify arbitrary files via FTP commands.

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 ftpd daemon in IBM AIX 7.1.1 before SP10 and 7.1.2 before SP5 contains an authorization bypass flaw when Workload Partitions (WPARs) configured for AIX 5.2 or 5.3 are in use. Authenticated remote FTP users can bypass intended file permission restrictions and write to arbitrary files on the system.

MitigationApply IBM AIX service pack SP10 for version 7.1.1 or SP5 for version 7.1.2 to address the ftpd authorization bypass. Consider disabling anonymous FTP and restricting FTP access to only essential personnel until the patch is applied.

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:= 7.1.1= 7.1.2

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
Single
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/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 AIX version and service pack level
    Run 'oslevel -s' to get the full version and service pack level, or 'oslevel' to get the base version
    Affected if Version shows 7.1.1 without SP10 or later, or 7.1.2 without SP5 or later
  2. Verify ftpd daemon is running
    Run 'lssrc -s ftpd' or 'ps -ef | grep ftpd' to check if the FTP daemon is active
    Affected if ftpd process is shown as active in the subsystem list or running processes
  3. Check for WPARs configured with AIX 5.2 or 5.3 compatibility
    Run 'lswpar -a' to list all Workload Partitions and examine the 'OS' or 'Version' field for each WPAR
    Affected if Any WPAR shows OS type AIX 5.2 or AIX 5.3, indicating WPARs are configured for those legacy versions
  4. Confirm FTP service is accessible remotely
    Verify that the FTP port (21) is listening by running 'netstat -an | grep :21' or 'ftp localhost' to test connectivity
    Affected if Port 21 is in LISTEN state and FTP access is permitted from network

A system is affected if it runs IBM AIX 7.1.1 before SP10 or 7.1.2 before SP5, has ftpd enabled, and has WPARs configured for AIX 5.2 or 5.3 compatibility.

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

Apply IBM AIX service pack SP10 for version 7.1.1 or SP5 for version 7.1.2 to address the ftpd authorization bypass. Consider disabling anonymous FTP and restricting FTP access to only essential personnel until the patch is applied.

Fix this in Aix Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
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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-2014-0899 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
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