CVE-2000-0476: xterm, Eterm, and rxvt allow an attacker to cause a denial of service by embedding certain escape character...

Security readout for executives and security teams

A flaw disclosed in 2000 lets someone send special control characters to xterm, Eterm, or rxvt terminal windows that force them to resize. When a user views crafted output, their terminal can become unresponsive or crash, disrupting the session. Impact is limited to the local user's terminal experience, not the underlying system or data. Exposure is limited to systems still running unpatched, decades-old builds of xterm, Eterm, or rxvt where users may view untrusted output (logs, downloaded files, remote command output). Modern maintained builds and derivatives (e.g., VTE-based emulators) generally have addressed escape-sequence handling over the years. Low priority. This is a legacy usability/denial-of-service issue in old terminal software, not a breach risk. Address it through routine patching and modernization of developer and admin tooling rather than an emergency response. Mitigation focus: Upgrade xterm, Eterm, and rxvt to current vendor-maintained releases.; Avoid catting untrusted files or logs directly to legacy terminal emulators.; Prefer actively maintained emulators that sanitize escape sequences..

Prepared

Jul 12, 2026, 01:28 UTC (UTC+00:00)

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.