# CVE-2023-4408: Parsing large DNS messages may cause excessive CPU load

> Attackers can cause excessive CPU load and denial of service on BIND DNS servers by sending crafted DNS messages.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 13 Feb 2024
- **Updated:** 14 Mar 2025
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2023-4408, AZL-34353, AZL-34560, BELL-CVE-2023-4408, CLSA-2024-1717086870, CLSA-2024-1717087024, CLSA-2024-1730480495, CLSA-2024-1731345748, CLSA-2025-1739961948, CLSA-2025-1741126840, CLSA-2025-1743184619, CLSA-2025-1755512368, CLSA-2025-1762537520, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-4408, GHSA-x57x-3c65-5f3j, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-4408

## What is CVE-2023-4408?

CVE-2023-4408 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora, published on 13 Feb 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The DNS message parsing code in `named` includes a section whose computational complexity is overly high. It does not cause problems for typical DNS traffic, but crafted queries and responses may cause excessive CPU load on the affected `named` instance by exploiting this flaw. This issue affects both authoritative servers and recursive resolvers.
This issue affects BIND 9 versions 9.0.0 through 9.16.45, 9.18.0 through 9.18.21, 9.19.0 through 9.19.19, 9.9.3-S1 through 9.11.37-S1, 9.16.8-S1 through 9.16.45-S1, and 9.18.11-S1 through 9.18.21-S1.

Weakness: CWE-407 (Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-4408?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Fedoraproject Fedora, Isc Bind, Netapp Ontap.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-4408?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2023-4408 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-4408 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Fedoraproject Fedora

- [CVE-2024-4577](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4577/): PHP-CGI OS Command Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2021-39226](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-39226/): Grafana Authentication Bypass (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-5544](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-5544/): VMware ESXi and Horizon DaaS OpenSLP Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-4947](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4947/): Google Chromium V8 Type Confusion (critical 9.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-4671](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4671/): Google Chromium Visuals Use-After-Free (critical 9.6, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-4408 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-4408 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora, published on 13 Feb 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-4408 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Fedoraproject Fedora. 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-2023-4408/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-4408/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-4408
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-4408
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-4408

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-4408/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.