# CVE-2020-8619: A buffer boundary check assertion in rdataset.c can fail incorrectly during zone transfer

> An attacker with high privileges can cause a denial of service in ISC BIND9 by introducing specific zone records that trigger an assertion failure.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.9 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 17 Jun 2020
- **Updated:** 17 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2020-8619, DEBIAN-CVE-2020-8619, GHSA-fw3j-5rrr-7j3r, UBUNTU-CVE-2020-8619

## What is CVE-2020-8619?

CVE-2020-8619 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 17 Jun 2020. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In ISC BIND9 versions BIND 9.11.14 -> 9.11.19, BIND 9.14.9 -> 9.14.12, BIND 9.16.0 -> 9.16.3, BIND Supported Preview Edition 9.11.14-S1 -> 9.11.19-S1: 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.

Weakness: CWE-404 (Improper Resource Shutdown or Release)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-8619?

It affects 6 products.


Products: Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Debian Debian Linux, Fedoraproject Fedora, Isc Bind, Netapp Steelstore Cloud Integrated Storage, Opensuse Leap.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-8619?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2020-8619 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-8619 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Canonical Ubuntu Linux

- [CVE-2020-11651](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11651/): SaltStack Salt Authentication Bypass (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-7247](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-7247/): OpenSMTPD Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-16928](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-16928/): Exim Out-of-bounds Write (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2018-6789](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-6789/): Exim Buffer Overflow (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2015-2590](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-2590/): Oracle Java SE and Java SE Embedded Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-8619 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-8619 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 17 Jun 2020. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-8619 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Canonical Ubuntu Linux. 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-2020-8619/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-8619/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-8619
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-8619
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-8619

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-8619/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.