Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-1999-0475 is a legacy procmail issue where a timing flaw around .procmailrc handling could let a local user read files accessible to the account running procmail. The provided sources do not identify affected versions, a patch, or current exploitation.
Executive priority
Prioritize based on whether procmail exists on current multi-user systems. This is not supported as remotely exploitable or actively exploited in the provided sources, but it may matter in legacy environments holding sensitive local files.
Technical view
The CVE describes a race condition in procmail's handling of .procmailrc files. Successful abuse requires local access and can expose arbitrary files readable by the user context executing procmail. No CVSS, CWE, affected version, or remediation detail is provided in the source bundle.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most plausible on legacy Unix-like mail systems using procmail, especially multi-user hosts where untrusted local users can influence .procmailrc handling. The bundle lists affected product and version data as unavailable.
Exploitation context
The source bundle supports only local exploitation. It does not show CISA KEV listing, active exploitation, public exploit maturity, or remote attack paths. Treat any exploitation claim beyond local file-read risk as unsupported by these sources.
Researcher notes
Evidence is sparse: the CVE states the vulnerability class and impact, but affected versions, patch status, scoring, and exploit status are not provided. Validation should focus on confirming real procmail deployment and local-user exposure before escalation.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory systems that still run procmail or process .procmailrc files.
- Check OS distribution and procmail vendor advisories for supported fixes.
- Retire or isolate procmail on multi-user systems where practical.
- Limit local account access on systems that process mail with procmail.
- Review file permissions for mail-processing users and sensitive readable files.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether procmail is installed and actively invoked for mail delivery.
- Identify which user context runs procmail on each affected host.
- Review whether local users can create or alter .procmailrc files.
- Check vendor package metadata and advisories for fixed versions.
- Document compensating controls if vendor fix information is unavailable.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CVE-1999-0475 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Unknown
- CVSS
- Not scored
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS and timeline data
No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/CVE-1999-0475CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.