BIND 9 TKEY GSS-API Excessive Mem (9.16.50/9.18.48/9.20.22/9.21.21)
CVE-2026-3039 Published on May 20, 2026
BIND 9 server memory exhaustion during GSS-API TKEY negotiation
BIND servers that are configured to use TKEY-based authentication via GSS-API tokens are vulnerable to excessive memory consumption when receiving and processing maliciously-constructed packets. Typically these servers will be found in Active Directory integrated DNS deployments and/or Kerberos-secured DNS environments.
This issue affects BIND 9 versions 9.0.0 through 9.16.50, 9.18.0 through 9.18.48, 9.20.0 through 9.20.22, 9.21.0 through 9.21.21, 9.9.3-S1 through 9.16.50-S1, 9.18.11-S1 through 9.18.48-S1, and 9.20.9-S1 through 9.20.22-S1.
Vulnerability Analysis
CVE-2026-3039 can be exploited with network access, and does not require authorization privileges or user interaction. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to have no impact on confidentiality and integrity, and a high impact on availability.
Weakness Type
Missing Reference to Active Allocated Resource
The software does not properly maintain a reference to a resource that has been allocated, which prevents the resource from being reclaimed. This does not necessarily apply in languages or frameworks that automatically perform garbage collection, since the removal of all references may act as a signal that the resource is ready to be reclaimed.
Products Associated with CVE-2026-3039
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Affected Versions
ISC BIND 9:- Version 9.0.0, <= 9.16.50 is affected.
- Version 9.18.0, <= 9.18.48 is affected.
- Version 9.20.0, <= 9.20.22 is affected.
- Version 9.21.0, <= 9.21.21 is affected.
- Version 9.9.3-S1, <= 9.16.50-S1 is affected.
- Version 9.18.11-S1, <= 9.18.48-S1 is affected.
- Version 9.20.9-S1, <= 9.20.22-S1 is affected.