# CVE-2001-0559: Privilege escalation in n/a

> A local attacker can gain additional privileges by exploiting improper privilege dropping in Vixie cron when an editor is invoked after a parsing error.

- **Severity:** High 7.2 (`AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 9 Mar 2002
- **Updated:** 8 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-xxwc-wcp3-hfp4

## What is CVE-2001-0559?

CVE-2001-0559 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 9 Mar 2002. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

crontab in Vixie cron 3.0.1 and earlier does not properly drop privileges after the failed parsing of a modification operation, which could allow a local attacker to gain additional privileges when an editor is called to correct the error.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2001-0559?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Paul Vixie Vixie Cron.

## How do I fix CVE-2001-0559?

No fix has been published for CVE-2001-0559 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2001-0559 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2001-0559 exists.

Public exploit code:

- Vixie Cron crontab 3.0 - Privilege Lowering Failure (1) (exploitdb)
- Vixie Cron crontab 3.0 - Privilege Lowering Failure (2) (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2006-2607](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2006-2607/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 7.2)
- [CVE-2001-0560](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2001-0560/): Memory corruption in n/a (medium 4.6)
- [CVE-2000-1096](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2000-1096/): Race condition in n/a (low 3.7)
- [CVE-2007-1856](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2007-1856/): Misconfiguration in n/a (low 2.1)
- [CVE-2005-1038](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2005-1038/): Path traversal in n/a (low 2.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2001-0559 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2001-0559 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 9 Mar 2002. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2001-0559 exists.

Affected product: n/a. 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-2001-0559/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2001-0559/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2001-0559
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2001-0559
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2001-0559

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2001-0559/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.