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Vulnerability Note VU#16532

BIND T_NXT record processing may cause buffer overflow

Overview

A vulnerability in BIND, repaired in verison 8.2.2p5, allows remote attackers to execute code with the privileges of the process running named. This vulnerability was widely exploited from November 1999 to December 2000.

I. Description

There is a buffer overflow in the processing of NXT records in the routine rrextract, part of the file ns_resp.c. Specifically, in vulnerable versions of BIND, there is a section of code which reads:

case T_NXT:
n = dn_expand(msg, eom, cp, (char *)data, sizeof data);
if (n < 0) {
hp->rcode = FORMERR;
return (-1);
}
if (!ns_nameok((char *)data, class, NULL, response_trans,
domain_ctx, dname, from.sin_addr)) {
hp->rcode = FORMERR;
return (-1);
}
cp += n;
cp1 = data + strlen((char *)data) + 1;
memcpy(cp1, cp, dlen - n);

The value of the dlen can be influenced by an intruder in such a way that the expression 'dlen - n' is larger than the size allocated to cp1. Further, the contents of cp can be influenced by an intruder. Thus, this vulnerability can be exploited to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the process running named.

An exploit for this vulnerability is publicly available .

NXT record processing was introduced to BIND in version 8.2. 8.1.2 and earlier (including 4.9.x) do not appear to be vulnerable to this problem.

II. Impact

Remote user may gain default process access of local nameserver, usually root

III. Solution

Upgrade to the latest version of BIND.

Systems Affected

VendorStatusDate NotifiedDate Updated
Compaq Computer CorporationUnknown28-Jan-2001
Data GeneralUnknown28-Jan-2001
FujitsuNot Vulnerable28-Jan-2001
Sun Microsystems, Inc.Not Vulnerable28-Jan-2001
The SCO Group (SCO Unix)Vulnerable28-Jan-2001

References

http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2000-03.html
http://www.cert.org/summaries/CS-2000-02.html
http://www.cert.org/summaries/CS-2000-01.html
http://www.cert.org/summaries/CS-99-04.html
http://www.isc.org/products/BIND/bind-security-19991108.html
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA1999054-01.html
http://www.debian.org/security/1999/19991116
ftp://ftp.sco.com/SSE/sse033.ltr
http://www.securityfocus.com/vdb/bottom.html?vid=788

Credit

Our thanks to ISC for assistance in understanding this vulnerability.

This document was written by Shawn V Hernan.

Other Information

Date Public:99-11-10
Date First Published:2001-01-28
Date Last Updated:2006-02-03
CERT Advisory:CA-1999-14
CVE-ID(s):CVE-1999-0833
NVD-ID(s):CVE-1999-0833
US-CERT Technical Alerts: 
Metric:108.16
Document Revision:7

If you have feedback, comments, or additional information about this vulnerability, please send us email.
 

 
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