named's configured cache size limit can be significantly exceeded

CVE-2023-2828
7.5HIGH

Key Information

Vendor
ISC
Status
BIND 9
Vendor
CVE Published:
21 June 2023

Summary

Every `named` instance configured to run as a recursive resolver maintains a cache database holding the responses to the queries it has recently sent to authoritative servers. The size limit for that cache database can be configured using the `max-cache-size` statement in the configuration file; it defaults to 90% of the total amount of memory available on the host. When the size of the cache reaches 7/8 of the configured limit, a cache-cleaning algorithm starts to remove expired and/or least-recently used RRsets from the cache, to keep memory use below the configured limit. It has been discovered that the effectiveness of the cache-cleaning algorithm used in `named` can be severely diminished by querying the resolver for specific RRsets in a certain order, effectively allowing the configured `max-cache-size` limit to be significantly exceeded. This issue affects BIND 9 versions 9.11.0 through 9.16.41, 9.18.0 through 9.18.15, 9.19.0 through 9.19.13, 9.11.3-S1 through 9.16.41-S1, and 9.18.11-S1 through 9.18.15-S1.

Affected Version(s)

BIND 9 <= 9.16.41

BIND 9 <= 9.18.15

BIND 9 <= 9.19.13

CVSS V3.1

Score:
7.5
Severity:
HIGH
Confidentiality:
None
Integrity:
None
Availability:
High
Attack Vector:
Network
Attack Complexity:
Low
Privileges Required:
None
User Interaction:
None
Scope:
Unchanged

Timeline

  • Vulnerability published.

  • Vulnerability Reserved.

Collectors

NVD DatabaseMitre Database

Credit

ISC would like to thank Shoham Danino from Reichman University, Anat Bremler-Barr from Tel-Aviv University, Yehuda Afek from Tel-Aviv University, and Yuval Shavitt from Tel-Aviv University for bringing this vulnerability to our attention.
.