CVE-2018-5744 : Exploit Details and Defense Strategies

A vulnerability in BIND 9 could allow an attacker to cause a memory leak by sending a specially crafted packet.

Understanding CVE-2018-5744

This CVE involves a failure to release memory when processing messages with specific EDNS options, impacting various versions of BIND.

What is CVE-2018-5744?

When handling messages with a particular set of EDNS options, a failure to release memory can occur, leading to a memory leak in BIND 9.

The Impact of CVE-2018-5744

The vulnerability has a CVSS base score of 7.5 (High severity) with a high availability impact. An attacker exploiting this issue could exhaust all available memory on the server.

Technical Details of CVE-2018-5744

This section provides more in-depth technical information about the vulnerability.

Vulnerability Description

By exploiting this condition, an attacker can cause named's memory use to grow without bounds until all available memory is exhausted.

Affected Systems and Versions

BIND 9.10.7 to 9.10.8-P1
BIND 9.11.3 to 9.11.5-P1
BIND 9.12.0 to 9.12.3-P1
Versions 9.10.7-S1 to 9.11.5-S3 of BIND 9 Supported Preview Edition
Versions 9.13.0 to 9.13.6 of the 9.13 development branch

Exploitation Mechanism

The vulnerability occurs when processing messages with specific EDNS options, causing a failure to release memory and leading to a memory leak.

Mitigation and Prevention

Protect your systems from this vulnerability by following these mitigation strategies.

Immediate Steps to Take

Upgrade to BIND 9.11.5-P4 or higher
Upgrade to BIND 9.12.3-P4 or higher

Long-Term Security Practices

Regularly update BIND to the latest version
Implement network segmentation and access controls

Patching and Updates

Ensure that your BIND software is regularly updated to the latest version containing a fix for the memory leak.