How severe is CVE-2018-5737?

CVE-2018-5737 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.9, rated medium severity. It is exploitable over network with high attack complexity, requires no privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability high.

Is CVE-2018-5737 being actively exploited?

It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 10% (95th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What products are affected by CVE-2018-5737?

CVE-2018-5737 primarily affects Isc Bind. In total, 4 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.

How do I fix CVE-2018-5737?

Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.

When was CVE-2018-5737 published?

CVE-2018-5737 was published on 2019-01-16 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

CVE-2018-5737

CVE-2018-5737 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Isc Bind with a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.9. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score of 10% places it in the 95th percentile, indicating an elevated likelihood of exploitation. The underlying weakness is classified as CWE-617.

Key facts

Severity: Medium (CVSS 3.x base score 5.9)
CVSS v2: 5.0
EPSS exploit prediction: 10% (95th percentile)
Actively exploited: Not listed in CISA KEV
Weakness: CWE-617
Affected product: Isc Bind
Published: 2019-01-16
Last modified: 2026-06-17

Description

A problem with the implementation of the new serve-stale feature in BIND 9.12 can lead to an assertion failure in rbtdb.c, even when stale-answer-enable is off. Additionally, problematic interaction between the serve-stale feature and NSEC aggressive negative caching can in some cases cause undesirable behavior from named, such as a recursion loop or excessive logging. Deliberate exploitation of this condition could cause operational problems depending on the particular manifestation -- either degradation or denial of service. Affects BIND 9.12.0 and 9.12.1.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2018-5737?: A problem with the implementation of the new serve-stale feature in BIND 9.12 can lead to an assertion failure in rbtdb.c, even when stale-answer-enable is off. Additionally, problematic interaction between the serve-stale feature and NSEC aggressive negative caching can in some cases cause undesirable behavior from named, such as a recursion loop or excessive logging. Deliberate exploitation of this condition could cause operational problems depending on the particular manifestation -- either degradation or denial of service. Affects BIND 9.12.0 and 9.12.1.
How severe is CVE-2018-5737?: CVE-2018-5737 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.9, rated medium severity. It is exploitable over network with high attack complexity, requires no privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability high.
Is CVE-2018-5737 being actively exploited?: It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 10% (95th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2018-5737?: CVE-2018-5737 primarily affects Isc Bind. In total, 4 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.
How do I fix CVE-2018-5737?: Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.
When was CVE-2018-5737 published?: CVE-2018-5737 was published on 2019-01-16 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Affected products (4)

cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:9.12.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:9.12.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:netapp:cloud_backup:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:netapp:data_ontap_edge:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

More vulnerabilities in Isc Bind

CVE-2008-0122 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Off-by-one error in the inet_network function in libbind in ISC BIND 9.4.2 and earlier, as used in libc in FreeBSD 6.2…
CVE-2001-0011 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Buffer overflow in nslookupComplain function in BIND 4 allows remote attackers to gain root privileges.
CVE-2001-0013 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Format string vulnerability in nslookupComplain function in BIND 4 allows remote attackers to gain root privileges.
CVE-2001-0010 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Buffer overflow in transaction signature (TSIG) handling code in BIND 8 allows remote attackers to gain root privileges.
CVE-2000-1029 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Buffer overflow in host command allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands via a long response to an AXFR…
CVE-1999-0837 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Denial of service in BIND by improperly closing TCP sessions via so_linger.

All CVEs affecting Isc Bind →

Other CWE-617 (Reachable Assertion) vulnerabilities

CVE-2020-3615 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): Valid deauth/disassoc frames is dropped in case if RMF is enabled and some rouge peer keep on sending rogue…
CVE-2019-9795 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): A vulnerability where type-confusion in the IonMonkey just-in-time (JIT) compiler could potentially be used by…
CVE-2026-31739 — High (CVSS 8.8): In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: crypto: tegra - Add missing CRYPTO_ALG_ASYNC The…
CVE-2020-12417 — High (CVSS 8.8): Due to confusion about ValueTags on JavaScript Objects, an object may pass through the type barrier, resulting in…
CVE-2020-6623 — High (CVSS 8.8): stb stb_truetype.h through 1.22 has an assertion failure in stbtt__cff_get_index.
CVE-2020-6619 — High (CVSS 8.8): stb stb_truetype.h through 1.22 has an assertion failure in stbtt__buf_seek.

Browse all CWE-617 (Reachable Assertion) vulnerabilities →