CVE-1999-0184
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedWhen compiled with the -DALLOW_UPDATES option, bind allows dynamic updates to the DNS server, allowing for malicious modification of DNS records.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceIn BIND DNS servers compiled with the -DALLOW_UPDATES flag, dynamic DNS updates are enabled, allowing any client to modify DNS records without authentication. This can lead to DNS poisoning attacks where attackers redirect traffic to malicious servers by altering DNS mappings.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data= 9.4.0CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:P
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify BIND installation and versionRun 'named -v' or 'named -V' to get the BIND version, or check the package manager (e.g., 'rpm -q bind', 'dpkg -l bind9')Affected if The installed version matches Isc Bind 9.4.0 exactly
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Check if BIND process is runningRun 'ps aux | grep named' or 'systemctl status named' to verify the named process is activeAffected if BIND is running as a DNS server
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Verify compilation flags used for BINDRun 'named -V' and look for -DALLOW_UPDATES in the compile-time options, or check the binary with 'strings /usr/sbin/named | grep ALLOW_UPDATES'Affected if The -DALLOW_UPDATES flag appears in the compiled options
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Inspect DNS update configuration in named.confCheck the BIND configuration file (commonly /etc/named.conf or /etc/bind/named.conf) for 'allow-update' directives within zone definitionsAffected if An 'allow-update' directive is present and permits updates from 'any' or an unrestricted IP range
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Check for dynamic zone updatesReview zone files in the BIND working directory for .jnl (journal) files indicating recent dynamic updates, using 'ls -la *.jnl' in the zone directoryAffected if Journal files exist, indicating dynamic updates have been performed
You are affected if running BIND 9.4.0 that was compiled with -DALLOW_UPDATES and has dynamic updates enabled in the configuration without IP restrictions.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataRecompile BIND without the -DALLOW_UPDATES option, or upgrade to a modern BIND version that disables dynamic updates by default and requires proper authentication (TSIG keys or ACLs) for any legitimate update functionality.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-1999-0184 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-1999-0184 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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