# CVE-1999-1501: Command injection in n/a

> Local attackers can execute arbitrary commands via environment variable manipulation in SGI IRIX utilities, leading to privilege escalation.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.6 (`AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 12 Sep 2001
- **Updated:** 1 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-442g-whj9-hm26

## What is CVE-1999-1501?

CVE-1999-1501 is a medium-severity command injection vulnerability in Sgi Irix, published on 12 Sep 2001. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

(1) ipxchk and (2) ipxlink in SGI OS2 IRIX 6.3 does not properly clear the IFS environmental variable before executing system calls, which allows local users to execute arbitrary commands.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-1999-1501?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Sgi Irix.

## How do I fix CVE-1999-1501?

No fix has been published for CVE-1999-1501 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-1999-1501 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-1999-1501 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Sgi Irix

- [CVE-2002-1584](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2002-1584/): Privilege escalation in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2004-0139](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2004-0139/): Other in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2003-0575](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2003-0575/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2003-0473](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2003-0473/): Privilege escalation in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2002-0359](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2002-0359/): Auth bypass in n/a (critical 10.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-1999-1501 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-1999-1501 is a medium-severity command injection vulnerability in Sgi Irix, published on 12 Sep 2001. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-1999-1501 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Sgi Irix. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-1999-1501/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-1999-1501/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-1999-1501
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-1999-1501
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-1999-1501

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-1999-1501/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.