dbcve.org
BindApplication · Isc

CVE-1999-0837

HIGH · 10.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 1999-11-10
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
Denial of service in BIND by improperly closing TCP sessions via so_linger.

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 · moderate confidence

Denial of service vulnerability in BIND (versions 4 and 8) where improperly closing TCP sessions using the so_linger socket option with zero timeout causes the server to crash or become unresponsive. The issue stems from how BIND handles TCP connections during graceful shutdown, potentially sending RST packets instead of proper FIN handshakes, leading to resource exhaustion or service failure.

MitigationUpgrade to a modern version of BIND (BIND 9 or later) which does not contain this vulnerability. If older BIND versions must be maintained, apply available vendor patches or consider network-level filtering to limit exposure to TCP-based DNS queries.

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
BindApplication
Affected:= 8.2= 8.2.1
SolarisOperating system
Affected:= 7.0
SunosOperating system
Affected:= 5.7

CVSS 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
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify if BIND is running on the system
    Run 'ps -ef | grep named' or 'systemctl status named' to check if the BIND/named process is active
    Affected if BIND named process is running and handling DNS queries
  2. Determine the installed BIND version
    Run 'named -v' or 'named -V' to display the BIND version number
    Affected if The version shown is 8.2 or 8.2.1 specifically (versions outside this range are not affected by this specific CVE)
  3. Check the operating system version on Sun systems
    Run 'uname -a' or 'cat /etc/release' to identify the OS version
    Affected if The system is Sun Solaris 7.0 or Sun SunOS 5.7 and BIND is in use
  4. Verify if TCP DNS queries are enabled
    Check the named.conf file for 'tcp-clients' directive or inspect if TCP port 53 is listening using 'netstat -tlnp | grep :53'
    Affected if TCP connections to BIND are permitted and the vulnerable BIND version is running
  5. Confirm the TCP listener is active
    Run 'netstat -an | grep :53' or 'ss -tlnp | grep :53' to verify DNS is listening on TCP port 53
    Affected if BIND is accepting TCP connections on port 53

The environment is affected if BIND version 8.2 or 8.2.1 is running on Sun Solaris 7.0 or SunOS 5.7 and accepting TCP DNS connections.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade to a modern version of BIND (BIND 9 or later) which does not contain this vulnerability. If older BIND versions must be maintained, apply available vendor patches or consider network-level filtering to limit exposure to TCP-based DNS queries.

Recommended fix High confidence

BIND 8.2.3 or later (8.3.x recommended)

  1. 1. Identify the current BIND version installed: 'named -v' or 'nslookup -version'
  2. 2. If running BIND 8.2 or 8.2.1, plan for upgrade to BIND 8.2.3 or later (8.3.x series)
  3. 3. Backup current BIND configuration files (named.conf and zone files)
  4. 4. Stop the named service: 'ndc stop' or '/etc/init.d/named stop'
  5. 5. Install the upgraded BIND version from vendor packages or compile from source
  6. 6. Verify the new version is installed: 'named -v'
  7. 7. Start the named service: 'ndc start' or '/etc/init.d/named start'
  8. 8. Monitor logs for any startup errors or unusual behavior
Caveat BIND 8.x is deprecated; consider upgrading to BIND 9.x for long-term support if environment permits

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Bind Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,060
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,696.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-1999-0837 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-1999-0837 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data