Matt Wright Textcounter 1.2 textcounter.pl Metacharacter privileges management

CVSS Meta Temp Score
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Current Exploit Price (≈)
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CTI Interest Score
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8.9$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Matt Wright Textcounter 1.2. Affected is an unknown function of the file textcounter.pl. Such manipulation as part of Metacharacter leads to privileges management. This vulnerability is documented as CVE-1999-1479. Additionally, an exploit exists.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Matt Wright Textcounter 1.2. It has been rated as very critical. Affected by this issue is some unknown functionality of the file textcounter.pl. The manipulation as part of a Metacharacter leads to a privileges management vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-269. The product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

The textcounter.pl by Matt Wright allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands via shell metacharacters.

The weakness was released 06/24/1998 by Doru Petrescu as not defined posting (Bugtraq). The advisory is shared for download at securityfocus.com. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-1999-1479. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be launched remotely. No form of authentication is required for exploitation. Technical details as well as a public exploit are known. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 10/20/2025). The MITRE ATT&CK project declares the attack technique as T1068.

A public exploit has been developed in Perl. The exploit is available at securityfocus.com. It is declared as proof-of-concept. The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 11451 (Matt Wright textcounter.pl Arbitrary Command Execution), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment. It is assigned to the family CGI abuses and running in the context r. The commercial vulnerability scanner Qualys is able to test this issue with plugin 10031 (textcounter.pl" CGI Vulnerability).

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product. Attack attempts may be identified with Snort ID 836.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at X-Force (2052), Exploit-DB (20583), Tenable (11451), SecurityFocus (BID 2265†) and Vulnerability Center (SBV-715†). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Vendor

Name

Version

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 9.8
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 8.9

VulDB Base Score: 9.8
VulDB Temp Score: 8.9
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
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VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
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VulDB Base Score: 🔍
VulDB Temp Score: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Privileges management
CWE: CWE-269 / CWE-266
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔍
Access: Public
Status: Proof-of-Concept
Programming Language: 🔍
Download: 🔍

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

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Nessus ID: 11451
Nessus Name: Matt Wright textcounter.pl Arbitrary Command Execution
Nessus File: 🔍
Nessus Risk: 🔍
Nessus Family: 🔍
Nessus Context: 🔍

Qualys ID: 🔍
Qualys Name: 🔍

Exploit-DB: 🔍

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: no mitigation known
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔍
Snort ID: 836
Snort Message: SERVER-WEBAPP textcounter.pl access
Snort Class: 🔍
SourceFire IPS: 🔍

Timelineinfo

06/24/1998 🔍
06/24/1998 +0 days 🔍
06/24/1998 +0 days 🔍
06/24/1998 +0 days 🔍
01/23/2003 +1674 days 🔍
03/23/2003 +59 days 🔍
06/19/2014 +4106 days 🔍
10/20/2025 +4141 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Advisory: securityfocus.com⛔
Researcher: Doru Petrescu
Status: Not defined

CVE: CVE-1999-1479 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-1999-1479
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-14156
X-Force: 2052
SecurityFocus: 2265 - textcounter.pl Arbitrary Command Execution Vulnerability
Vulnerability Center: 715 - textcounter.pl CGI Script Allows Arbitrary Command Execution, High

scip Labs: https://www.scip.ch/en/?labs.20161013

Entryinfo

Created: 06/19/2014 15:57
Updated: 10/20/2025 03:34
Changes: 06/19/2014 15:57 (73), 05/08/2019 10:56 (1), 07/12/2024 01:28 (19), 10/20/2025 03:34 (5)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

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