CVE-2011-3453
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 · uneditedInteger overflow in libresolv in Apple Mac OS X before 10.7.3 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (heap memory corruption and application crash) via crafted DNS data.
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 confidenceInteger overflow vulnerability in the libresolv library (DNS resolver) in Apple Mac OS X versions prior to 10.7.3. The overflow occurs when parsing crafted DNS response data, leading to heap memory corruption that can be exploited for arbitrary code execution or cause denial of service via application crash.
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<= 10.7.2= 10.7.0= 10.7.1<= 10.7.2= 10.7.0= 10.7.1CVSS 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
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/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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Check Mac OS X versionRun 'sw_vers -productVersion' in Terminal or click Apple menu > About This MacAffected if Version is 10.7.0, 10.7.1, or 10.7.2 (any build) OR version is 10.7.x where x is less than 3
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Check Mac OS X Server versionRun 'sw_vers -productVersion' on Server installations or check /System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plistAffected if Version is 10.7.0, 10.7.1, or 10.7.2 (any build) OR version is 10.7.x where x is less than 3
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Verify DNS resolver is in useCheck that network DNS resolution is enabled: look for DNS servers in System Preferences > Network > Advanced > DNS, or run 'scutil --dns' to see active DNS configurationAffected if Any DNS server is configured or the system performs DNS lookups (the vulnerability triggers when processing DNS responses)
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Confirm libresolv library presenceRun 'ls -la /usr/lib/libresolv.*' to verify the libresolv dynamic library exists on the systemAffected if The library file exists at /usr/lib/libresolv.dylib or /usr/lib/libresolv.9.dylib (the vulnerable library is present)
The system is affected if it runs Mac OS X or Mac OS X Server version 10.7.0 through 10.7.2 and has the libresolv library present with DNS resolution enabled.
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 dataUpdate Mac OS X systems to version 10.7.3 or later to patch the vulnerable libresolv library. For systems that cannot be updated, consider restricting DNS traffic to trusted servers or implementing network-level DNS filtering.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2011-3453 — 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-2011-3453 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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