CVE-1999-1191Buffer overflow in chkey in Solaris 2.5.1 and earlier allows local users to gain root privileges via a long command line argument.
- 7.2HighCVSS base score
- 1.9%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 20% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- 2Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
Description
Buffer overflow in chkey in Solaris 2.5.1 and earlier allows local users to gain root privileges via a long command line argument.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list 2 Exploit-DB entries for it.
Show the exploits2
Exploit-DB2 entries
- Solaris 2.5.1 - 'chkey' Local Privilege Escalation (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 19160local, solarispublished 19 May 1997Verified
- Solaris 2.5.0/2.5.1 ps / chkey - Data Buffer (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 332local, solarispublished 19 May 1997Verified
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
- 6 months later
· 6 months later
Published
- 22 years later
· 22 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)
- 1.9% · top 20% of all CVEs (14 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
References4
- solaris-chkey-bo(7442) (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_XFx_transferred
- 00144 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_SUNx_transferred
- 207 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
- 19970519 Re: Finally, most of an exploit for Solaris 2.5.1's ps. (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_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-1999-1172 (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-1999-1191)Record last updated .