Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2000-0996 is an old local privilege-escalation issue in the OpenBSD su program. A user already on the system could potentially gain root privileges using malformed shell-related input. Business urgency is mainly for legacy OpenBSD or BSD-derived systems still in service.
Executive priority
Prioritize if legacy BSD systems remain in use, especially shared shell hosts. For modern, fully supported environments, urgency is lower pending vendor confirmation.
Technical view
The CVE describes a format string vulnerability in OpenBSD su, and possibly other BSD-based operating systems. The reported impact is local attackers gaining root privileges. Public metadata does not provide CVSS, affected version ranges, patch identifiers, or detailed vendor remediation in the supplied sources.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely on very old OpenBSD or BSD-derived installations using the vulnerable su implementation. Modern supported systems may not be affected, but the supplied sources do not define exact versions.
Exploitation context
The issue requires local access. There is no KEV listing in the provided bundle and no cited source here confirms active exploitation. Risk increases where untrusted users have shell access to legacy BSD systems.
Researcher notes
Evidence is sparse. The CVE record names OpenBSD su and possible other BSD-based systems but does not provide exact affected versions, CVSS, CWE, or patch details. Avoid assuming broader exposure without vendor corroboration.
Mitigation direction
- Identify any OpenBSD or BSD-derived systems still in production.
- Check vendor advisories or release notes for the affected su implementation.
- Upgrade unsupported or legacy BSD systems to maintained releases.
- Restrict interactive shell access to trusted users only.
- Monitor privileged account usage on systems that cannot be upgraded promptly.
Validation and detection
- Inventory systems running OpenBSD or BSD-derived operating systems.
- Confirm operating system versions and su package provenance.
- Review vendor documentation for CVE-2000-0996 or related su fixes.
- Check whether untrusted local users can access affected hosts.
- Document compensating controls for any legacy systems retained.
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-2000-0996 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
- bsd-su-format(5636)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.