CVE-2023-3341

A stack exhaustion flaw in control channel code may cause named to terminate unexpectedly

HIGH
7.5
CVSS Score
Published: September 20, 2023 at 12:32 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 06:13 AM UTC
3 products affected across 3 vendorsDebian LinuxFedoraBIND

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Severity
HIGH7.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 3%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

The code that processes control channel messages sent to `named` calls certain functions recursively during packet parsing. Recursion depth is only limited by the maximum accepted packet size; depending on the environment, this may cause the packet-parsing code to run out of available stack memory, causing `named` to terminate unexpectedly. Since each incoming control channel message is fully parsed before its contents are authenticated, exploiting this flaw does not require the attacker to hold a valid RNDC key; only network access to the control channel's configured TCP port is necessary. This issue affects BIND 9 versions 9.2.0 through 9.16.43, 9.18.0 through 9.18.18, 9.19.0 through 9.19.16, 9.9.3-S1 through 9.16.43-S1, and 9.18.0-S1 through 9.18.18-S1.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

9.18.0 ≤ v ≤ 9.18.189.18.0 ≤ v < 9.18.199.18.0-S1 ≤ v ≤ 9.18.18-S19.19.0 ≤ v ≤ 9.19.169.19.0 ≤ v < 9.19.179.2.0 ≤ v ≤ 9.16.439.2.0 ≤ v < 9.16.449.9.3-S1 ≤ v ≤ 9.16.43-S19.10.5 s19.10.7 s19.11.12 s19.11.21 s19.11.27 s19.11.29 s19.11.3 s19.11.3 s49.11.35 s19.11.37 s19.11.4 s19.11.5 s39.11.5 s59.11.5 s69.11.6 s19.11.7 s19.11.8 s19.16.11 s19.16.12 s19.16.13 s19.16.14 s19.16.21 s19.16.32 s19.16.36 s19.16.43 s19.16.8 s19.18.09.18.0 s19.18.0-S19.18.18 s19.19.09.2.09.9.12 s19.9.13 s19.9.3 s19.9.3-S1
Affected range stops below 9.16.44, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 9.18.19, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 9.19.17, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitAutomatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

7.5HIGHisc
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
NONE
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-787CWE-1325

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