Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-1999-1461 is a legacy local privilege escalation issue in SGI IRIX InPerson. A local user could make inpview run a malicious replacement for ttsession because it trusts the PATH environment variable. Successful abuse could grant root access. Exposure is mainly relevant to organizations still operating IRIX systems.
Executive priority
Treat as high priority only where legacy IRIX InPerson systems remain in use. The business risk is full local takeover of obsolete systems, but broad enterprise exposure is unlikely unless IRIX is still operational.
Technical view
inpview in InPerson on IRIX 5.3 through IRIX 6.5.10 locates and executes ttsession using PATH. If a local user controls PATH, inpview may execute an attacker-supplied program with elevated privileges, resulting in root access. The provided sources do not include CVSS, CWE, patch status, or vendor advisory details.
Likely exposure
Likely limited to legacy SGI IRIX environments running InPerson on IRIX 5.3 through 6.5.10. Internet exposure is not indicated; local system access is required.
Exploitation context
The CVE describes local exploitation by PATH manipulation. The provided sources do not report active exploitation, public exploit availability, or CISA KEV listing.
Researcher notes
Source detail is sparse. The CVE record provides the vulnerable behavior and version range, but no CVSS, CWE, affected CPEs, or remediation reference. Avoid assuming patch availability without external vendor evidence.
Mitigation direction
- Identify any remaining IRIX 5.3 through 6.5.10 systems running InPerson.
- Check SGI or platform-maintainer guidance for historical patches or configuration guidance.
- Restrict local shell access on affected legacy systems.
- Remove or disable InPerson if it is not required.
- Prioritize decommissioning unsupported IRIX systems where feasible.
Validation and detection
- Inventory IRIX hosts and confirm OS versions.
- Check whether InPerson and inpview are installed.
- Review local user access to affected systems.
- Verify whether vendor or maintainer fixes were historically applied.
- Document compensating controls for systems that cannot be patched.
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
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CVE-1999-1461 mapping review
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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.