SOC status:Duty analyst on shift

UK Cyber Defence
VulnerabilityModified

CVE-2006-5558

Format string vulnerability in the swask command in HP-UX B.11.11 and possibly other versions allows local users to execute arbitrary code via format string specifiers in the -s argument.

EXPLOIT ✓HIGH 10.0EPSS 7.71%

Does this matter?

A public exploit is published in Exploit-DB (verified) and the impact is high, while EPSS rates exploitation at 7.7%. Anyone can run this; patch or mitigate before the next change window and check exposed instances for signs of use.

Description

Format string vulnerability in the swask command in HP-UX B.11.11 and possibly other versions allows local users to execute arbitrary code via format string specifiers in the -s argument. NOTE: this might be a duplicate of CVE-2006-2574, but the details relating to CVE-2006-2574 are too vague to be certain.

CVSS 2.0
10.0 HIGHAV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
EPSS
7.71% probability · 95th percentile
Public exploits
1 in Exploit-DB · verified · first 24 October 2006
CISA KEV
Not listed
Affected
hp/hp-ux
Source
cve@mitre.org
EPSS trend
0%5%10%26 October 2026: 7.71%26 October 202626 October 2026

EPSS 7.7% since 26 October 2026; no change recorded yet. The dashed line is the ten per cent mark our analysts treat as “patch before the next change window”. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.

Public exploits (1)

Entries in Exploit-DB that cite this CVE. Links go to the Exploit-DB page and to the file in the public repository; nothing is hosted here. A verified tick means the Exploit-DB team confirmed the exploit works against the stated version.

EDB-IDTitleTypePublishedVerified
EDB-2635source ↗HP-UX 11i - 'swask' Format String Privilege Escalationhp-ux · prdelkalocal24 October 2006yes

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.