CVE-2021-25216

A second vulnerability in BIND's GSSAPI security policy negotiation can be targeted by a buffer overflow attack

Description

In BIND 9.5.0 -> 9.11.29, 9.12.0 -> 9.16.13, and versions BIND 9.11.3-S1 -> 9.11.29-S1 and 9.16.8-S1 -> 9.16.13-S1 of BIND Supported Preview Edition, as well as release versions 9.17.0 -> 9.17.1 of the BIND 9.17 development branch, BIND servers are vulnerable if they are running an affected version and are configured to use GSS-TSIG features. In a configuration which uses BIND's default settings the vulnerable code path is not exposed, but a server can be rendered vulnerable by explicitly setting values for the tkey-gssapi-keytab or tkey-gssapi-credential configuration options. Although the default configuration is not vulnerable, GSS-TSIG is frequently used in networks where BIND is integrated with Samba, as well as in mixed-server environments that combine BIND servers with Active Directory domain controllers. For servers that meet these conditions, the ISC SPNEGO implementation is vulnerable to various attacks, depending on the CPU architecture for which BIND was built: For named binaries compiled for 64-bit platforms, this flaw can be used to trigger a buffer over-read, leading to a server crash. For named binaries compiled for 32-bit platforms, this flaw can be used to trigger a server crash due to a buffer overflow and possibly also to achieve remote code execution. We have determined that standard SPNEGO implementations are available in the MIT and Heimdal Kerberos libraries, which support a broad range of operating systems, rendering the ISC implementation unnecessary and obsolete. Therefore, to reduce the attack surface for BIND users, we will be removing the ISC SPNEGO implementation in the April releases of BIND 9.11 and 9.16 (it had already been dropped from BIND 9.17). We would not normally remove something from a stable ESV (Extended Support Version) of BIND, but since system libraries can replace the ISC SPNEGO implementation, we have made an exception in this case for reasons of stability and security.

Remediation

Solution:

  • Upgrade to the patched release most closely related to your current version of BIND: BIND 9.11.31 BIND 9.16.15 BIND 9.17.12 BIND Supported Preview Edition is a special feature preview branch of BIND provided to eligible ISC support customers. BIND 9.11.31-S1 BIND 9.16.15-S1

Workaround:

  • This vulnerability only affects servers configured to use GSS-TSIG, most often to sign dynamic updates. If another mechanism can be used to authenticate updates, the vulnerability can be avoided by choosing not to enable the use of GSS-TSIG features. Prior to the April 2021 BIND releases, on some platforms it was possible to build a working BIND installation that was not vulnerable to CVE-2021-25216 by providing the --disable-isc-spnego command-line argument when running the ./configure script in the top level of the BIND source directory, before compiling and linking named. After the April 2021 BIND releases, all supported branches have removed isc-spnego support. This corrects CVE-2021-25216, but requires that the system have other libraries and header files to support GSS-TSIG functionality, unless such functionality is completely disabled at build time by providing the --without-gssapi argument to the ./configurescript when selecting build options.

Category

8.1
CVSS
Severity: High
CVSS 3.1 •
CVSS 2.0 •
EPSS 24.73% Top 5%
Vendor Advisory debian.org
Affected: ISC BIND9
Published at:
Updated at:

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the severity of CVE-2021-25216?
CVE-2021-25216 has been scored as a high severity vulnerability.
How to fix CVE-2021-25216?
To fix CVE-2021-25216: Upgrade to the patched release most closely related to your current version of BIND: BIND 9.11.31 BIND 9.16.15 BIND 9.17.12 BIND Supported Preview Edition is a special feature preview branch of BIND provided to eligible ISC support customers. BIND 9.11.31-S1 BIND 9.16.15-S1
Is CVE-2021-25216 being actively exploited in the wild?
It is possible that CVE-2021-25216 is being exploited or will be exploited in a near future based on public information. According to its EPSS score, there is a ~25% probability that this vulnerability will be exploited by malicious actors in the next 30 days.
What software or system is affected by CVE-2021-25216?
CVE-2021-25216 affects ISC BIND9.
This platform uses data from the NIST NVD, MITRE CVE, MITRE CWE, First.org and CISA KEV but is not endorsed or certified by these entities. CVE is a registred trademark of the MITRE Corporation and the authoritative source of CVE content is MITRE's CVE web site. CWE is a registred trademark of the MITRE Corporation and the authoritative source of CWE content is MITRE's CWE web site.
© 2025 Under My Watch. All Rights Reserved.