What is CVE-2017-3138?

CVE-2017-3138 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Isc Bind, classified under Reachable Assertion. CVSS score: 6.5/10. Published 2019-01-16.

How severe is CVE-2017-3138?

Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.5 out of 10.

Is CVE-2017-3138 known to be exploited?

10 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Vulnerability in Isc Bind

CVE-2017-3138

named contains a feature which allows operators to issue commands to a running server by communicating with the server process over a control channel, using a utility program such as rndc. A regression introduced in a recent feature change has created a situation under which some versions of named can be caused to exit with a REQUIRE assertion failure if they are sent a null command string. Affects BIND 9.9.9->9.9.9-P7, 9.9.10b1->9.9.10rc2, 9.10.4->9.10.4-P7, 9.10.5b1->9.10.5rc2, 9.11.0->9.11.0-P4, 9.11.1b1->9.11.1rc2, 9.9.9-S1->9.9.9-S9.

Published 2019-01-16 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 6.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.055 (92.7th percentile), scored 2026-10-19.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 93rd percentile — 92.7% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.055 · newest: 0.055 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Isc Bind — versions 9.9.9, 9.9.10, 9.10.4
Isc Bind 9 — versions 9.9.9->9.9.9-P7, 9.9.10b1->9.9.10rc2, 9.10.4->9.10.4-P7, 9.10.5b1->9.10.5rc2, 9.11.0->9.11.0-P4, 9.11.1b1->9.11.1rc2, 9.9.9-S1->9.9.9-S9
NetApp Data Ontap Edge
NetApp Element Software
NetApp Oncommand Balance
Debian Linux — versions 8.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-617 — Reachable Assertion

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

www.securitytracker.com/id/1038260 (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, vdb-entry)
www.securityfocus.com/bid/97657 (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, vdb-entry)
security.gentoo.org/glsa/201708-01 (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20180802-0002/ (Third Party Advisory)
www.debian.org/security/2017/dsa-3854 (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
kb.isc.org/docs/aa-01471 (Vendor Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2017-3138?: CVE-2017-3138 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Isc Bind, classified under Reachable Assertion. CVSS score: 6.5/10. Published 2019-01-16.
How severe is CVE-2017-3138?: Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.5 out of 10.
Is CVE-2017-3138 known to be exploited?: 10 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.