BIND 9.12's serve-stale implementation can cause an assertion failure in rbtdb.c or other undesirable behavior, even if serve-stale is not enabled.
A problem with the implementation of the new serve-stale feature in BIND 9.12 can lead to an assertion failure in rbtdb.c, even when stale-answer-enable is off. Additionally, problematic interaction between the serve-stale feature and NSEC aggressive negative caching can in some cases cause undesirable behavior from named, such as a recursion loop or excessive logging. Deliberate exploitation of this condition could cause operational problems depending on the particular manifestation -- either degradation or denial of service. Affects BIND 9.12.0 and 9.12.1.
- Published
- Jan 16, 2019
- Updated
- Jun 16, 2026
- EPSS
- 10.4% · 96th percentile
- CWE
- CWE-617
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Report tools
Action score
33
Monitor
Low priority for now.
- CVSS
- 30 / 40 · 7.5 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 3 / 30 · 10.4%
CNA vs NVD score
- NVD
- 7.5
- CNA · isc
- 5.9
- 1.6 point gap
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.
Affected systems
| Vendor | Product | CPE |
|---|---|---|
| isc | bind | cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind |
| netapp | cloud backup | cpe:2.3:a:netapp:cloud_backup |
| netapp | data ontap edge | cpe:2.3:a:netapp:data_ontap_edge |
Affected versions
NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.
- isc bind9.12.0
- isc bind9.12.1
- netapp cloud backupall versions
- netapp data ontap edgeall versions
Versions reported by the vendor
Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (isc). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.
ISC BIND 9
- 9.12.0 and 9.12.1affected
Package-level exposure
OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine:v3.10 | bind | before 9.12.1_p2-r0 | 9.12.1_p2-r0 |
| openSUSE:Tumbleweed | bind | before 9.16.20-1.4 | 9.16.20-1.4 |
Same product
isc: all recordsOther highest-scoring records for the same primary product.
- CVE-2015-5477named in ISC BIND 9.x before 9.9.7-P2 and 9.10.x before 9.10.2-P3 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (REQUIRE assertion fa58Plan
- CVE-2016-2776buffer.c in named in ISC BIND 9 before 9.9.9-P3, 9.10.x before 9.10.4-P3, and 9.11.x before 9.11.0rc3 does not properly construct responses,57Plan
- CVE-2016-1286named in ISC BIND 9.x before 9.9.8-P4 and 9.10.x before 9.10.3-P4 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (assertion failure an53Plan
- CVE-2020-8625A vulnerability in BIND's GSSAPI security policy negotiation can be targeted by a buffer overflow attack51Plan
- CVE-2020-8617A logic error in code which checks TSIG validity can be used to trigger an assertion failure in tsig.c51Plan
- CVE-2001-0010Buffer overflow in transaction signature (TSIG) handling code in BIND 8 allows remote attackers to gain root privileges.49Plan
Remediation
Which version to upgrade to
Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.
| Product / package | Fixed version | Source |
|---|---|---|
| alpine:bind | 9.12.1_p2-r0 · Alpine:v3.10 | Package registry (OSV) |
| opensuse:bind | 9.16.20-1.4 · openSUSE:Tumbleweed | Package registry (OSV) |
Exploit status
No known public exploit
No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.
Research context
For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.
Timeline
From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.
No dated events beyond publication.
FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).
Patch and commit links
Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.
No commit or PR link among the references.
Credits
All researchersFinders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.
Variant candidates
Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.
No nightly-computed relations.
Chain candidates
An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.
—
Bug bounty scope
No known public program.
Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).
Technical details
Attack conditions
- Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
- No account or password is required.
- No user action is required.
- No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
If successful
- Confidentiality
- none
- Integrity
- none
- Availability
- high · the service can be disrupted
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality impact
- None
- Integrity impact
- None
- Availability impact
- High
Weakness class (CWE)
CWE-617 · Reachable AssertionCVSS vector
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
nvd-primary
Attack context
MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.
MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.
Noroxi analysis
No Noroxi analysis for this record yet
We don't hand-write analysis for all 385,000+ vulnerabilities; that wouldn't be honest. For notable, high-impact vulnerabilities our team writes the mechanism, detection and remediation steps.
We use this product, ask for helpChange log
- Fix✗ → ✓
For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →
References
- www.securityfocus.com/bid/104236
- www.securitytracker.com/id/1040942
- kb.isc.org/docs/aa-01606
- security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20180926-0004/
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.