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CVE-2018-5738· NVD / CVE Program· CNA isc

Some versions of BIND can improperly permit recursive query service to unauthorized clients

Change #4777 (introduced in October 2017) introduced an unforeseen issue in releases which were issued after that date, affecting which clients are permitted to make recursive queries to a BIND nameserver. The intended (and documented) behavior is that if an operator has not specified a value for the "allow-recursion" setting, it SHOULD default to one of the following: none, if "recursion no;" is set in named.conf; a value inherited from the "allow-query-cache" or "allow-query" settings IF "recursion yes;" (the default for that setting) AND match lists are explicitly set for "allow-query-cache" or "allow-query" (see the BIND9 Administrative Reference Manual section 6.2 for more details); or the intended default of "allow-recursion {localhost; localnets;};" if "recursion yes;" is in effect and no values are explicitly set for "allow-query-cache" or "allow-query". However, because of the regression introduced by change #4777, it is possible when "recursion yes;" is in effect and no match list values are provided for "allow-query-cache" or "allow-query" for the setting of "allow-recursion" to inherit a setting of all hosts from the "allow-query" setting default, improperly permitting recursion to all clients. Affects BIND 9.9.12, 9.10.7, 9.11.3, 9.12.0->9.12.1-P2, the development release 9.13.0, and also releases 9.9.12-S1, 9.10.7-S1, 9.11.3-S1, and 9.11.3-S2 from BIND 9 Supported Preview Edition.

HighCVSS 7.5 · v3.0—No exploit Fix available
Published
Jan 16, 2019
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
11.2% · 96th percentile
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Report tools

JSON

Action score

33

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
30 / 40 · 7.5 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
3 / 30 · 11.2%

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
7.5
CNA · isc
5.3
2.2 point gap

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Affected systems

VendorProduct
iscbind
canonicalubuntu linux

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • canonical ubuntu linux18.04
  • isc bind9.10.7
  • isc bind9.11.3
  • isc bind9.12.0
  • isc bind9.12.1
  • isc bind9.13.0
  • isc bind9.9.12

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

    • 9.9.12, 9.10.7, 9.11.3, 9.12.0->9.12.1-P2, the development release 9.13.0, and also releases 9.9.12-S1, 9.10.7-S1, 9.11.3-S1, and 9.11.3-S2 from BIND 9 Supported Preview Edition.affected

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Alpine:v3.10bindbefore 9.12.2_p1-r09.12.2_p1-r0
Alpine:v3.6bindbefore 9.11.5_p4-r09.11.5_p4-r0
Debian:12bind9before 1:9.11.3+dfsg-21:9.11.3+dfsg-2

Same product

isc: all records

Other 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 fa
    58Plan
  • 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 an
    53Plan
  • CVE-2020-8625A vulnerability in BIND's GSSAPI security policy negotiation can be targeted by a buffer overflow attack
    51Plan
  • CVE-2020-8617A logic error in code which checks TSIG validity can be used to trigger an assertion failure in tsig.c
    51Plan
  • 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 / packageFixed versionSource
alpine:bind9.12.2_p1-r0 · Alpine:v3.10Package registry (OSV)
debian:bind91:9.11.3+dfsg-2 · Debian:12Package 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.

EPSS, last 120 days

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 researchers

Finders, 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
high · data can be read
Integrity
none
Availability
none
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
None
Availability impact
None

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-200 · Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

nvd-primary

Root cause

The extension requests broader permissions than its function needs and sends the data it collects out for purposes beyond its stated function.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-200 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

json
{  "permissions": ["tabs", "<all_urls>"],  "background": { "service_worker": "analytics.js" }}

Fixed

json
{  "permissions": ["activeTab"],  "host_permissions": ["https://yildiz.example/*"]}

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

Noroxi analysis

No Noroxi analysis for this record yet

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Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

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References

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records