# CVE-2003-1033: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can gain root privileges by manipulating the INSTROOT environment variable in SAP DB Development Tools to execute malicious programs.

- **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:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 16 Mar 2004
- **Updated:** 8 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-r6qc-f493-x3mg

## What is CVE-2003-1033?

CVE-2003-1033 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 16 Mar 2004. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The (1) instdbmsrv and (2) instlserver programs in SAP DB Development Tools 7.x trust the user-provided INSTROOT environment variable as a path when assigning setuid permissions to the lserver program, which allows local users to gain root privileges via a modified INSTROOT that points to a malicious dbmsrv or lserver program.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2003-1033?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Sap Sap Db.

## How do I fix CVE-2003-1033?

No fix has been published for CVE-2003-1033 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2003-1033 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2003-1033 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2007-3614](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2007-3614/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2003-0939](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2003-0939/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2003-0941](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2003-0941/): Missing authorization in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2003-0942](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2003-0942/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2003-0943](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2003-0943/): Information disclosure in n/a (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2003-1033 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2003-1033 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 16 Mar 2004. 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-2003-1033 in the wild and no public exploit code.

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-2003-1033/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2003-1033/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2003-1033
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2003-1033
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2003-1033

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2003-1033/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.