CVE-1999-0040
Buffer overflow in Xt library of X Windowing System allows local users to execute commands with root privileges.
- 7.2HighCVSS base score
- 1.2%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 31% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- 5Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
Description
Buffer overflow in Xt library of X Windowing System allows local users to execute commands with root privileges.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list 5 Exploit-DB entries for it.
Show the exploits5
Exploit-DB5 entries
- BSD/OS 2.1 / Caldera UnixWare 7/7.1.0 / FreeBSD 1.1.5.1/2.0 / HP HP-UX 10.34 / IBM AIX 4.2 / SGI IRIX 6.3 / SunOS 4.1.4 - 'libXt Library' Local Overflow / Local Privilege Escalation (1) (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 19200local, unixpublished 25 Aug 1997Verified
- BSD/OS 2.1 / Caldera UnixWare 7/7.1.0 / FreeBSD 1.1.5.1/2.0 / HP HP-UX 10.34 / IBM AIX 4.2 / SGI IRIX 6.3 / SunOS 4.1.4 - 'libXt Library' Local Overflow / Local Privilege Escalation (2) (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 19201local, unixpublished 25 Aug 1997Verified
- BSD/OS 2.1 / Caldera UnixWare 7/7.1.0 / FreeBSD 1.1.5.1/2.0 / HP HP-UX 10.34 / IBM AIX 4.2 / SGI IRIX 6.3 / SunOS 4.1.4 - 'libXt Library' Local Overflow / Local Privilege Escalation (3) (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 19202local, unixpublished 25 Aug 1997Verified
- LibXt - 'XtAppInitialize()' Local Overflow *xterm (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 331local, linuxpublished 14 May 1997Verified
- Xt Library - Local Privilege Escalation (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 322local, linuxpublished 24 Aug 1996Verified
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By mitre
- 4 months later
· 4 months later
Published
- 25 years later
· 25 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVDNVD · Modified | 2.0 | High7.2 | AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 1.2% · top 31% of all CVEs (11 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.2.
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
References
References1
- https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/CVE-1999-0040 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-1999-0040 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-1999-0040)Record last updated .