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FreeBSDOperating system

CVE-2013-4854

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2013-07-29
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
87/100
Remediation priority · High
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
The RFC 5011 implementation in rdata.c in ISC BIND 9.7.x and 9.8.x before 9.8.5-P2, 9.8.6b1, 9.9.x before 9.9.3-P2, and 9.9.4b1, and DNSco BIND 9.9.3-S1 before 9.9.3-S1-P1 and 9.9.4-S1b1, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (assertion failure and named daemon exit) via a query with a malformed RDATA section that is not properly handled during construction of a log message, as exploited in the wild in July 2013.

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 confidence

The RFC 5011 implementation in BIND's rdata.c fails to properly handle malformed RDATA sections in DNS queries during log message construction, triggering an assertion failure that causes the named daemon to crash (DoS).

MitigationUpgrade to BIND 9.8.5-P2, 9.9.3-P2, or later versions which contain the fix for this vulnerability.

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
FreeBSDOperating system
Affected:= 8.0= 8.1= 8.2= 8.3= 8.4= 9.0= 9.1= 9.2
Enterprise LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 5= 6.0
FedoraOperating system
Affected:= 18= 19
BindApplication
Affected:= 9.7.0= 9.7.1= 9.7.2= 9.7.3= 9.7.4= 9.7.5= 9.7.6= 9.7.7= 9.9.0= 9.9.1= 9.9.2= 9.9.3
Suse Linux Enterprise Software Development KitApplication
Affected:= 11.0
Suse LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 11
Dnsco BindApplication
Affected:= 9.9.3= 9.9.4
OpensuseOperating system
Affected:= 11.4

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
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 checks

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

  1. Identify installed BIND version
    Run 'named -v' or 'named -V' to display the BIND version. On Red Hat/Fedora use 'rpm -q bind'. On FreeBSD check '/usr/local/sbin/named -v' or pkg version.
    Affected if The version matches 9.7.0 through 9.7.7, 9.9.0 through 9.9.3, or 9.9.4 (Dnsco Bind)
  2. Confirm the BIND package name and version
    Use system package manager: 'rpm -qa | grep -i bind' (RHEL/Fedora), 'pkg info bind' (FreeBSD), or 'dpkg -l | grep bind' (Debian/SUSE). Compare output to affected versions 9.7.x, 9.9.0-9.9.3, or 9.9.4.
    Affected if The installed package version is one of the affected versions listed in the CVE
  3. Check for RFC 5011 managed keys configuration
    Inspect named.conf for 'managed-keys' or 'trusted-keys' statements. These enable RFC 5011 automatic trust anchor rollover. Use 'grep -E "(managed-keys|trusted-keys)" /etc/named.conf' or similar path to your named configuration.
    Affected if The server is configured with managed-keys or trusted-keys statements, enabling the vulnerable RFC 5011 code path
  4. Verify named process is running
    Run 'ps aux | grep named' or 'systemctl status named' to confirm the BIND daemon is active.
    Affected if Named is running with a vulnerable version and RFC 5011 configuration

You are affected if BIND version is 9.7.0-9.7.7, 9.9.0-9.9.3, or 9.9.4 AND the server is configured with managed-keys or trusted-keys (RFC 5011 feature) and the named daemon is running.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade to BIND 9.8.5-P2, 9.9.3-P2, or later versions which contain the fix for this vulnerability.

Fix this in FreeBSD Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,080
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2013-4854 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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