Security Bulletin
Summary
IBM i Domain Name System (DNS) uses ISC BIND. ISC BIND on IBM i is vulnerable to denial of service attacks due to errors exploitable by remote attacker as described in the vulnerability details section [CVE-2023-4408, CVE-2023-5517, CVE-2023-5679, CVE-2023-6516, CVE-2023-50868]. This bulletin identifies the steps to take to address the vulnerabilities as described in the remediation/fixes section.
Vulnerability Details
CVEID: CVE-2023-5517
DESCRIPTION: ISC BIND is vulnerable to a denial of service, caused by a flaw in query-handling code. By querying RFC 1918 reverse zones, a remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to trigger an assertion failure.
CVSS Base score: 7.5
CVSS Temporal Score: See: https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/282905 for the current score.
CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)
CVEID: CVE-2023-50868
DESCRIPTION: ISC BIND is vulnerable to a denial of service, caused by an error when preparing an NSEC3 closest encloser proof. By flooding the target resolver with queries, a remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to cause CPU exhaustion on a DNSSEC-validating resolver.
CVSS Base score: 7.5
CVSS Temporal Score: See: https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/282901 for the current score.
CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)
CVEID: CVE-2023-6516
DESCRIPTION: ISC BIND is vulnerable to a denial of service, caused by an out-of-memory condition. By using specific recursive query patterns, a remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to cause the amount of memory used by a named resolver to go well beyond the configured max-cache-size limit, leading to a denial of service.
CVSS Base score: 7.5
CVSS Temporal Score: See: https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/282902 for the current score.
CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)
CVEID: CVE-2023-5679
DESCRIPTION: ISC BIND is vulnerable to a denial of service, caused by an error when enabling both DNS64 and serve-stale. By querying a DNS64-enabled resolver for domain names triggering serve-stale, a remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to trigger an assertion failure.
CVSS Base score: 7.5
CVSS Temporal Score: See: https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/282904 for the current score.
CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)
CVEID: CVE-2023-4408
DESCRIPTION: ISC BIND is vulnerable to a denial of service, caused by an error when parsing large DNS messages. By flooding the target server with queries, a remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to cause excessive CPU load.
CVSS Base score: 7.5
CVSS Temporal Score: See: https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/282906 for the current score.
CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)
Affected Products and Versions
| Affected Product(s) | Version(s) |
| IBM i | 7.5 |
| IBM i | 7.4 |
| IBM i | 7.3 |
| IBM i | 7.2 |
Remediation/Fixes
| IBM i Release | 5770-SS1 Option 31 PTF Number | PTF Download Link |
| 7.5 | SI85949 | https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/ptf/SI85949 |
| 7.4 | SI85950 | https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/ptf/SI85950 |
| 7.3 | SI85951 | https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/ptf/SI85951 |
| 7.2 | SI85952 | https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/ptf/SI85952 |
https://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral
Important note: IBM recommends that all users running unsupported versions of affected products upgrade to supported and fixed version of affected products.
Workarounds and Mitigations
None
Get Notified about Future Security Bulletins
References
Acknowledgement
Change History
01 Mar 2024: Initial Publication
*The CVSS Environment Score is customer environment specific and will ultimately impact the Overall CVSS Score. Customers can evaluate the impact of this vulnerability in their environments by accessing the links in the Reference section of this Security Bulletin.
Disclaimer
According to the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST), the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) is an "industry open standard designed to convey vulnerability severity and help to determine urgency and priority of response." IBM PROVIDES THE CVSS SCORES ""AS IS"" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. CUSTOMERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF ANY ACTUAL OR POTENTIAL SECURITY VULNERABILITY. In addition to other efforts to address potential vulnerabilities, IBM periodically updates the record of components contained in our product offerings. As part of that effort, if IBM identifies previously unidentified packages in a product/service inventory, we address relevant vulnerabilities regardless of CVE date. Inclusion of an older CVEID does not demonstrate that the referenced product has been used by IBM since that date, nor that IBM was aware of a vulnerability as of that date. We are making clients aware of relevant vulnerabilities as we become aware of them. "Affected Products and Versions" referenced in IBM Security Bulletins are intended to be only products and versions that are supported by IBM and have not passed their end-of-support or warranty date. Thus, failure to reference unsupported or extended-support products and versions in this Security Bulletin does not constitute a determination by IBM that they are unaffected by the vulnerability. Reference to one or more unsupported versions in this Security Bulletin shall not create an obligation for IBM to provide fixes for any unsupported or extended-support products or versions.
Document Location
Worldwide
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Document Information
Modified date:
01 March 2024
UID
ibm17129239