Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-1999-1191 is an old Solaris flaw where a local user could potentially turn normal access into root control. It affects Solaris 2.5.1 and earlier, according to the CVE record. Business urgency depends on whether these legacy systems still exist in production or labs.
Executive priority
Treat as urgent for any remaining legacy Solaris systems with multiple users. If no Solaris 2.5.1 or earlier systems exist, this is low operational priority.
Technical view
The CVE describes a buffer overflow in the Solaris chkey utility. A local user can trigger it with an overly long command-line argument, potentially gaining root privileges. The source data does not provide CVSS, CWE, patch details, or affected CPEs.
Likely exposure
Exposure is likely limited to Solaris 2.5.1 and earlier systems where untrusted or low-privileged local users can log in or run local programs.
Exploitation context
This is a local privilege escalation issue, not a remote entry point. The provided sources do not show CISA KEV listing or active exploitation evidence.
Researcher notes
The record is sparse and old. Do not assume modern Solaris versions are affected from this data alone. No patch reference, exploit status, CVSS score, or vendor advisory is included in the provided bundle.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory for Solaris 2.5.1 and earlier hosts.
- Check current vendor or legacy Sun/Oracle guidance for patches or advisories.
- Restrict local shell access to trusted administrators only.
- Prioritize retirement or isolation of unsupported Solaris systems.
Validation and detection
- Confirm Solaris version on legacy Unix assets.
- Verify whether chkey is present and accessible to local users.
- Review accounts with local login or batch execution rights.
- 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-1999-1191 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.