# CVE-2016-6170: Denial of service in n/a

> Remote attackers can crash DNS servers by sending large AXFR, IXFR, or UPDATE messages, causing service disruption.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 6 Jul 2016
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2016-6170, GHSA-r98f-r8h7-rj5p, UBUNTU-CVE-2016-6170

## What is CVE-2016-6170?

CVE-2016-6170 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Isc Bind, published on 6 Jul 2016. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

ISC BIND through 9.9.9-P1, 9.10.x through 9.10.4-P1, and 9.11.x through 9.11.0b1 allows primary DNS servers to cause a denial of service (secondary DNS server crash) via a large AXFR response, and possibly allows IXFR servers to cause a denial of service (IXFR client crash) via a large IXFR response and allows remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service (primary DNS server crash) via a large UPDATE message.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-6170?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Isc Bind, Redhat Enterprise Linux.

## How do I fix CVE-2016-6170?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2016-6170 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-6170 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Isc Bind

- [CVE-2008-0122](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-0122/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2001-0010](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2001-0010/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2001-0011](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2001-0011/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2001-0013](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2001-0013/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2000-1029](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2000-1029/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2016-6170 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2016-6170 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Isc Bind, published on 6 Jul 2016. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-6170 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Isc Bind. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-6170/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-6170/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-6170
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-6170
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-6170

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-6170/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.