Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This is an old local privilege escalation issue in legacy Solaris authentication components. A user who already has local access could potentially gain root privileges through password-related programs. The sources do not identify active exploitation or a vendor fix.
Executive priority
Treat as high priority only if legacy Solaris systems remain in use. The business risk is root compromise by an existing local user, but exposure is likely narrow in modern environments.
Technical view
CVE-1999-1158 describes a buffer overflow in PAM on Solaris 2.5.1 and 2.5, and unix_scheme on Solaris 2.4 and 2.3. Programs using these modules, including passwd, yppasswd, and nispasswd, may allow local users to gain root privileges.
Likely exposure
Exposure appears limited to very old Solaris 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, and 2.5.1 systems using the named authentication modules. The provided structured affected-product data is incomplete, so confirm against actual Solaris estate records.
Exploitation context
The described attack requires local user access to a vulnerable Solaris system. No provided source or KEV listing supports active exploitation claims. Public exploit status is not established by the supplied evidence.
Researcher notes
Evidence is sparse and old. The CVE description names affected Solaris versions and components, but the bundle has no CVSS, CWE, references, patch details, or exploit confirmation. Avoid broad conclusions beyond legacy Solaris local privilege escalation.
Mitigation direction
- Identify any Solaris 2.3 through 2.5.1 systems in production or labs.
- Check current vendor or archive guidance for applicable security patches.
- Prioritize retirement, isolation, or upgrade of unsupported Solaris systems.
- Limit local shell access to legacy Solaris hosts where possible.
Validation and detection
- Confirm Solaris version on any legacy hosts.
- Review whether PAM or unix_scheme is used for local password utilities.
- Verify whether passwd, yppasswd, or nispasswd are present and accessible.
- Document compensating controls for any system that cannot be upgraded.
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-1999-1158 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
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.