CVE-2008-4163
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 · uneditedUnspecified vulnerability in ISC BIND 9.3.5-P2-W1, 9.4.2-P2-W1, and 9.5.0-P2-W1 on Windows allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (UDP client handler termination) via unknown vectors.
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 confidenceISC BIND 9 versions 9.3.5-P2-W1, 9.4.2-P2-W1, and 9.5.0-P2-W1 running on Windows contain an unspecified vulnerability that allows remote attackers to terminate the UDP client handler, causing denial of service. The attack vector is unknown but appears to involve crafted network packets processed by the DNS server's UDP handling subsystem.
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= 9.3.5= 9.4.2= 9.5.0CVSS 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
- None
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify if BIND is installedCheck for BIND installation by looking for named.exe process or checking installed programs on Windows. Run 'tasklist | findstr named' or check Program Files for BIND directory.Affected if BIND DNS server software is present on the system
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Determine BIND version numberRun 'named -v' or 'named -V' from the BIND installation directory, or check the version property of named.exe in Windows Explorer.Affected if The installed version is exactly 9.3.5, 9.4.2, or 9.5.0 (or any P2-W1 variant of these versions)
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Verify operating system platformCheck if BIND is running on Windows by running 'systeminfo | findstr OS' or checking the Windows version with 'winver'.Affected if The BIND server is running on a Windows operating system (any Windows version)
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Confirm UDP DNS service is accessibleCheck if port 53/UDP is listening and exposed. Run 'netstat -an | findstr :53' to see if UDP port 53 is bound, and verify network accessibility from external sources.Affected if The DNS service UDP port 53 is reachable from network locations where the vulnerability could be exploited
A system is affected if it runs BIND version 9.3.5, 9.4.2, or 9.5.0 (or their P2-W1 Windows variants) on Windows with UDP port 53 exposed to the network.
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 dataUpgrade BIND to a current stable version that includes the security fix, or if upgrade is not feasible, consider network-level filtering to limit exposure of the DNS service to untrusted networks.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2008-4163 — 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-2008-4163 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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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.
- 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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