Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-1999-1492 is an old local privilege-escalation issue in SGI IRIX 6.4 utilities diskperf and diskalign. A user with local access could create root-owned files and potentially gain root privileges. Business urgency is mainly for organizations still running IRIX 6.4 or archived systems with local user access.
Executive priority
Treat this as a legacy-system risk review. It is not a broad enterprise emergency, but any remaining IRIX 6.4 system with local users should be assessed promptly because successful exploitation could lead to full root control.
Technical view
The CVE description states diskperf and diskalign in IRIX 6.4 allow a local attacker to create arbitrary root-owned files, leading to root privileges. No CVSS score, CWE, patch detail, or current affected-product metadata is provided in the source bundle. IBM X-Force entries are cited as vulnerability references.
Likely exposure
Exposure is likely limited to legacy SGI IRIX 6.4 systems where diskperf or diskalign are installed and local users can log in. Modern environments are unlikely to be affected unless they retain legacy IRIX systems for operations, research, or archives.
Exploitation context
The source describes local exploitation, not remote exploitation. CISA KEV is false in the provided bundle, and no cited source states active exploitation. The practical risk depends on whether untrusted or low-privileged users can access an affected IRIX host.
Researcher notes
Evidence is sparse. The CVE record identifies IRIX 6.4 diskperf and diskalign and describes arbitrary root-owned file creation leading to root privileges. The bundle does not provide exploit details, CVSS, CWE, vendor patch information, or evidence of current exploitation.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory any SGI IRIX 6.4 systems in production, labs, and archives.
- Check SGI or trusted historical vendor guidance for available fixes or workarounds.
- Restrict local shell access to trusted administrators only.
- Consider isolating or retiring affected legacy systems where patch status cannot be confirmed.
- Review permissions and operational need for diskperf and diskalign.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether any hosts run IRIX 6.4.
- Verify whether diskperf or diskalign exist on those hosts.
- Review file permissions and ownership for the affected utilities.
- Check whether non-administrative local accounts can access the system.
- Document patch, workaround, isolation, or retirement status.
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-1999-1492 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
- sgi-diskperf(2103)CVE reference · vdb-entry, x_refsource_XF
- sgi-diskalign(2104)CVE reference · vdb-entry, x_refsource_XF
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.