VDB-14661 · CVE-1999-1393 · BID 532

Apple Mac OS 8.5/8.6 on PowerBook Password Security Local Privilege Escalation

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
5.7	$0-$5k	0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Apple Mac OS 8.5/8.6 on PowerBook and classified as problematic. This impacts an unknown function of the component Password Security. Performing a manipulation results in Local Privilege Escalation. This vulnerability is identified as CVE-1999-1393. There is not any exploit available. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as problematic has been found in Apple Mac OS 8.5/8.6 on PowerBook (Operating System). This affects an unknown part of the component Password Security. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a local privilege escalation vulnerability. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

Control Panel "Password Security" option for Apple Powerbooks allows attackers with physical access to the machine to bypass the security by booting it with an emergency startup disk and using a disk editor to modify the on/off toggle or password in the aaaaaaaAPWD file, which is normally inaccessible.

The weakness was released 05/21/1999 (Website). The advisory is shared at securityfocus.com. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-1999-1393. The exploitability is told to be easy. An attack has to be approached locally. No form of authentication is needed for exploitation. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available.

Upgrading eliminates this vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at SecurityFocus (BID 532†). If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Productinfo

Type

Operating System

Vendor

Apple

Name

Mac OS

Version

License

commercial

Website

Vendor: https://www.apple.com/

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 5.9
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 5.7

VulDB Base Score: 5.9
VulDB Temp Score: 5.7
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔍
VulDB Temp Score: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Local Privilege Escalation
CWE: Unknown
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: No

Availability: 🔍
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Threat Intelligenceinfo

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

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔍

Timelineinfo

05/21/1999 🔍
05/21/1999 +0 days 🔍
05/21/1999 +0 days 🔍
06/20/2014 +5509 days 🔍
04/19/2026 +4321 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: apple.com

Advisory: securityfocus.com⛔
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-1999-1393 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-1999-1393
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-14661
SecurityFocus: 532 - Apple PowerBook Password Security Control Panel Vulnerability

Entryinfo

Created: 06/21/2014 00:29
Updated: 04/19/2026 03:22
Changes: 06/21/2014 00:29 (38), 04/04/2019 14:48 (13), 04/19/2026 03:22 (18)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.