A Security Vulnerability in Solaris BIND named(1M) Due to Insufficient Input Validation of Dynamic Update Requests Can Lead to Denial of Service (DoS)

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A Security Vulnerability in Solaris BIND named(1M) Due to Insufficient Input Validation of Dynamic Update Requests Can Lead to Denial of Service (DoS)

1. Impact

An insufficient input validation vulnerability in the Solaris named(1M) daemon (part of the BIND 9 ISC distribution) may allow a remote unprivileged user to send a specially crafted dynamic update packet and crash the named(1M) daemon which is a type of Denial of Service (DoS).

This issue is also referenced in the following documents:


2. Contributing Factors

This issue can occur in the following releases:

SPARC Platform

• Solaris 8 with patch 109326-23 and without patch 109326-25 
• Solaris 9 with patch 112837-15 and without patch 112837-20
• Solaris 10 without patch 119783-12
• OpenSolaris based upon builds snv_01 or later

x86 Platform

• Solaris 8 with patch 109327-23 and without patch 109327-25
• Solaris 9 with patch 114265-14 and without patch 114265-19
• Solaris 10 without patch 119784-12
• OpenSolaris based upon builds snv_01 or later

Notes:

1. Solaris 8 entered EOSL Phase 2 on 1 April 2009. Entitlement to patches developed on or after 1 April 2009 requires the purchase of the Solaris 8 Vintage Patch Service. See note in section 5 for more details.

2. This issue only affects systems configured as Domain Name System (DNS) servers.  A system is configured to be a DNS server if the configuration file "/etc/named.conf" exists, (see named.conf(4)) and the named(1M) daemon is running on the system.  To determine if named(1M) is running on a system the following command can be used:

$ pgrep named || echo "named is not running"

3. This issue affects servers configured as primary server serving one or more zones with configured type "master". Such servers will have zone entries in '/etc/named.conf' similar to the following:

3. Symptoms

If this issue has occurred, the named(1M) daemon will no longer be running on the DNS server and depending on the system-wide coreadm(1M) settings, a core file may also be generated.

4. Workaround

Note that although this issue was introduced into Solaris 8 and 9 by installing patches which allowed the server to move from BIND 8 to BIND 9, it is NOT advisable to remove those patches to avoid this issue described in this Sun Alert. This is because there are several outstanding issues with BIND 8. All systems should now have moved from BIND 8 to BIND 9.

5. Resolution

This issue is addressed in the following releases:

SPARC Platform

• Solaris 8 with patch 109326-25 or later
• Solaris 9 with patch 112837-20 or later
• Solaris 10 with patch 119783-12 or later
• OpenSolaris based upon builds snv_01 or later

x86 Platform

• Solaris 8 with patch 109327-25 or later
• Solaris 9 with patch 114265-19 or later
• Solaris 10 with patch 119784-12 or later
• OpenSolaris based upon builds snv_01 or later

Note: The READMEs of Solaris 8 patches developed on or after 1 April 2009 are available to all customers. However, Solaris 8 entered EOSL Phase 2 on April 1, 2009 and thus entitlement for these patches, including those that fix security vulnerabilities, requires the purchase of the Solaris 8 Vintage Patch Service. More information about the Solaris 8 Vintage Patch Service is available at:


For more information on Security Sun Alerts, see Technical Instruction ID 213557.

This Sun Alert notification is being provided to you on an "AS IS" basis. This Sun Alert notification may contain information provided by third parties. The issues described in this Sun Alert notification may or may not impact your system(s). Sun makes no representations, warranties, or guarantees as to the information contained herein. ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, ARE HEREBY DISCLAIMED. BY ACCESSING THIS DOCUMENT YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT SUN SHALL IN NO EVENT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES THAT ARISE OUT OF YOUR USE OR FAILURE TO USE THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN. This Sun Alert notification contains Sun proprietary and confidential information. It is being provided to you pursuant to the provisions of your agreement to purchase services from Sun, or, if you do not have such an agreement, the Sun.com Terms of Use. This Sun Alert notification may only be used for the purposes contemplated by these agreements.

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Modification History

30-Jul-2009: Updated Contributing Factors section
31-Jul-2009: Updated Workaround section for T-Patches
05-Aug-2009: Updated Contributing Factors and Resolution sections; Resolved

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