CVE-2012-3817: Heavy DNSSEC Validation Load Can Cause a "Bad Cache" Assertion Failure in BIND 9
  • 10 Dec 2018
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CVE-2012-3817: Heavy DNSSEC Validation Load Can Cause a "Bad Cache" Assertion Failure in BIND 9

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Article Summary

Title: Heavy DNSSEC Validation Load Can Cause a "Bad Cache" Assertion Failure in BIND 9

Summary: High numbers of queries with DNSSEC validation enabled can cause an assertion failure in named, caused by using a "bad cache" data structure before it has been initialized.

CVE: CVE-2012-3817

Document version: 2.3

Posting date: 24 July, 2012

Program impacted: BIND 9

Versions affected: 9.6-ESV through 9.6-ESV-R7-P1; 9.7.1 through 9.7.6-P1; 9.8.0 through 9.8.3-P1; 9.9.0 through 9.9.1-P1.

Severity: Critical

Exploitable: Remotely

Description:

BIND 9 stores a cache of query names that are known to be failing due to misconfigured name servers or a broken chain of trust. Under high query loads when DNSSEC validation is active, it is possible for a condition to arise in which data from this cache of failing queries could be used before it was fully initialized, triggering an assertion failure.

This bug cannot be encountered unless your server is doing DNSSEC validation.

Please note: Versions of BIND 9.4 and 9.5 are also affected, but these branches are beyond their "end of life" (EOL) and no longer receive testing or security fixes from ISC. For current information on which versions are actively supported, please see https://www.isc.org/downloads.

CVSS Score: 7.8

CVSS Equation: (AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C)

For more information on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System and to obtain your specific environmental score please visit:http://nvd.nist.gov/cvss.cfm?calculator&adv&version=2&vector=(AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C).

Workarounds: None

Solution: Upgrade to the patched release most closely related to your current version of BIND. These can all be downloaded from https://www.isc.org/downloads.

  • BIND 9 version 9.9.1-P2
  • BIND 9 version 9.8.3-P2
  • BIND 9 version 9.7.6-P2
  • BIND 9 version 9.6-ESV-R7-P2

Exploit Status: None known at this time

Acknowledgment: ISC would like to thank Einar Lonn of IIS.se.

Document Revision History:

1.0 - 11 July, 2012 Phase 1 notice sent
1.1 - 17 July, 2012 Phase 1 re-issued due to change in patch for CVE-2012-3868 that affects 9.9.x only
1.2 - 23 July, 2012 Phase 2 & 3 sent
2.0 - 24 July, 2012 Phase 3 (Public) notified
2.1 - 30 July, 2012 Added Chinese translation
2.2 - 6 August, 2012 Added link to article with additional information/FAQs
2.3 - 12 December 2014 Versions Affected now includes 9.6-ESV (previously 9.6-ESV-R1 through 9.6-ESV-R7-P1)

References:

- Japanese Translation: https://kb.isc.org/docs/aa-00752

- Spanish Translation: https://kb.isc.org/docs/aa-00750

- German Translation: https://kb.isc.org/docs/aa-00743

- Chinese Translation: https://kb.isc.org/docs/aa-00757

If you'd like more information on ISC Subscription Support and Advance Security Notifications, please visit https://www.isc.org/support/.

See our BIND 9 Security Vulnerability Matrix for a complete listing of security vulnerabilities and versions affected.

Do you still have questions? Questions regarding this advisory should go to security-officer@isc.orgTo report a new issue, please encrypt your message using security-officer@isc.org's PGP key which can be found here: https://www.isc.org/downloads/software-support-policy/openpgp-key/. If you are unable to use encrypted email, you may also report new issues at: https://www.isc.org/community/report-bug/.

Note: ISC patches only currently supported versions. When possible, we indicate EOL versions affected. (For current information on which versions are actively supported, please see https://www.isc.org/downloads/.)

ISC Security Vulnerability Disclosure Policy: Details of our current security advisory policy and practice can be found in the ISC Software Defect and Security Vulnerability Disclosure Policy.

This Knowledgebase article is the complete and official security advisory document.

Legal Disclaimer:
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