CVE-2015-5986
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 · uneditedopenpgpkey_61.c in named in ISC BIND 9.9.7 before 9.9.7-P3 and 9.10.x before 9.10.2-P4 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (REQUIRE assertion failure and daemon exit) via a crafted DNS response.
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 confidenceA vulnerability in openpgpkey_61.c in ISC BIND 9 versions 9.9.7 before 9.9.7-P3 and 9.10.x before 9.10.2-P4 allows remote attackers to cause denial of service via a crafted DNS response that triggers a REQUIRE assertion failure, causing the named daemon to exit.
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<= 9.9.7<= 9.10.2= 5.0.15CVSS 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
- M
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/AC:M/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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Check installed BIND versionRun 'named -v' or 'named -V' to display the BIND version. On RPM-based systems use 'rpm -q bind', on Debian use 'dpkg -l bind9'.Affected if The version is 9.9.7 or lower, or any 9.10.x version up to and including 9.10.2, indicating the server is running a vulnerable release.
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Check if openpgpkey feature is configuredSearch for 'openpgpkey' in named.conf files: review /etc/named.conf, /etc/named.conf.local, and any included configuration files under /etc/named.d/. Use 'grep -r openpgpkey /etc/named*' to locate the directive.Affected if The openpgpkey directive is present and enabled in the BIND configuration, meaning the server can process OpenPGP key DNS records.
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Determine if server processes external DNS responsesCheck if named is configured as a recursive resolver by looking for 'recursion yes;' or 'allow-recursion' directives in named.conf. Also verify the server listens on external interfaces by checking 'listen-on' statements.Affected if The server is configured as a recursive resolver or accepts DNS responses from external sources, allowing it to receive the crafted DNS response that triggers the vulnerability.
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Verify named daemon is runningCheck process status with 'ps aux | grep named' or 'systemctl status named' to confirm the named daemon is actively running.Affected if The named daemon is running and meets the conditions above (vulnerable version, openpgpkey enabled, external-facing), the server is affected by this CVE.
A server is affected if it runs a vulnerable BIND 9 version (9.9.7 or lower, or 9.10.0 through 9.10.2) with the openpgpkey feature enabled and the ability to process external DNS responses.
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 9 to version 9.9.7-P3 or later for the 9.9.x branch, or 9.10.2-P4 or later for the 9.10.x branch. If immediate upgrade is not possible, consider filtering or rate-limiting external DNS responses as a temporary workaround.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-5986 — 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-2015-5986 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
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