CVE-1999-1409 is a low-severity local information disclosure vulnerability affecting the 'at' program in IRIX versions 6.2 through 6.5.1 and NetBSD versions 1.0 through 1.3.1 and earlier. The 'at' utility is used to schedule commands to be executed at a later time. This vulnerability arises when a local user submits a file to the 'at' command using the '-f' argument. If the file contains references to arbitrary files that cannot be processed correctly, the 'at' program generates error messages that include portions of these arbitrary files. These error messages are then sent to the user via email, effectively allowing the user to read parts of files they would not normally have permission to access. The vulnerability does not allow modification or deletion of files, nor does it allow remote exploitation, as it requires local user access. The CVSS score of 2.1 reflects the limited impact and low complexity of exploitation, with no authentication required but limited to local access. No patches are available for this vulnerability, and there are no known exploits in the wild. The vulnerability primarily impacts confidentiality by exposing partial contents of arbitrary files to unauthorized local users, but it does not affect integrity or availability.

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-1999-1409 is generally low due to the requirement for local access and the limited scope of information disclosure. However, in environments where IRIX or NetBSD systems are still in use—such as legacy industrial control systems, research institutions, or specialized computing environments—this vulnerability could allow unauthorized local users to gain partial access to sensitive configuration files, credentials, or other confidential data. This could facilitate further privilege escalation or lateral movement within the network if combined with other vulnerabilities or misconfigurations. Given the age of the affected systems and the lack of patches, organizations relying on these platforms should be aware of the risk of insider threats or unauthorized local access leading to information leakage. The vulnerability does not pose a direct threat to system availability or integrity, but the confidentiality breach could have compliance and operational implications depending on the sensitivity of the exposed data.

Since no official patches are available for this vulnerability, European organizations should focus on compensating controls to mitigate risk. These include: 1) Restricting local user access strictly to trusted personnel and enforcing the principle of least privilege to minimize the number of users who can execute the 'at' command. 2) Monitoring and auditing usage of the 'at' utility and local user activities to detect suspicious attempts to exploit this vulnerability. 3) If feasible, disabling the 'at' service entirely on systems where it is not required to eliminate the attack vector. 4) Segregating legacy IRIX and NetBSD systems from critical network segments to limit potential lateral movement. 5) Employing host-based intrusion detection systems (HIDS) to alert on anomalous file access or email generation related to the 'at' command. 6) Planning for migration or upgrade from unsupported IRIX and NetBSD versions to modern, supported operating systems to remove exposure to this and other legacy vulnerabilities.