CVE-2020-8619
bind: asterisk character in an empty non-terminal can cause an assertion failure in rbtdb.c
Severity
ModerateRed Hat Product Security
CVSS 3.1
Review impact separately from score.
Published · June 17, 2020
Updated · September 2, 2026
Description
A flaw was found in bind when an asterisk character is present in an empty non-terminal location within the DNS graph. This flaw could trigger an assertion failure, causing bind to crash. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to system availability.
Statement
Based on upstream affected versions, this flaw only affects the versions of bind shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.
CVSS score applicability
The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.
Mitigation
As per upstream advisory: Unless a nameserver is providing authoritative service for one or more zones and at least one zone contains an empty non-terminal entry containing an asterisk ("*") character this defect cannot be encountered.
A would-be attacker who is allowed to change zone content could theoretically introduce such a record in order to exploit this condition to cause denial of service, though we consider the use of this vector unlikely because any such attack would require a significant privilege level and be easily traceable.
CVSS / CWE
CVSS 3.1 · 4.9CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CWE-617 · Reachable Assertion