Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-3104

Isc Bind 9.20.0 – 9.20.21

Published
25 March 2026
Modified
15 July 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0070 50th percentile
Risk Priority 58 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-3104 is a high-severity Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime (CWE-772) vulnerability in Isc Bind. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Endpoint Denial of Service (T1499); ranked at the 50th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-15 (Development Process, Standards, and Tools) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2026-3104 is a memory leak vulnerability (CWE-772) in the BIND resolver, triggered by querying a specially crafted domain. It affects BIND 9 versions 9.20.0 through 9.20.20, 9.21.0 through 9.21.19, and 9.20.9-S1 through 9.20.20-S1. Versions 9.18.0 through 9.18.46 and 9.18.11-S1 through 9.18.46-S1 are not affected. The issue has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H), indicating high availability impact with no confidentiality or integrity effects.

An unauthenticated attacker with network access can exploit this vulnerability remotely with low complexity and no user interaction required. By repeatedly querying the malicious domain, the attacker induces a memory leak in the BIND resolver, potentially leading to denial-of-service through gradual resource exhaustion and service degradation or crash.

ISC advisories recommend upgrading to patched versions BIND 9.20.21 or 9.21.20, available at the respective download links. Additional details are provided in the ISC knowledge base article at https://kb.isc.org/docs/cve-2026-3104.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A specially crafted domain can be used to cause a memory leak in a BIND resolver simply by querying this domain. This issue affects BIND 9 versions 9.20.0 through 9.20.20, 9.21.0 through 9.21.19, and 9.20.9-S1 through 9.20.20-S1. BIND 9 versions…

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9.18.0 through 9.18.46 and 9.18.11-S1 through 9.18.46-S1 are NOT affected.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1499 Endpoint Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Endpoint Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of services to users.
T1499.003 Application Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may target resource intensive features of applications to cause a denial of service (DoS), denying availability to those applications.
T1499.002 Service Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may target the different network services provided by systems to conduct a denial of service (DoS).
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-3592Same product: Isc Bind
CVE-2026-3039Same product: Isc Bind
CVE-2026-1519Same product: Isc Bind
CVE-2026-5950Same product: Isc Bind
CVE-2026-3119Same product: Isc Bind
CVE-2026-5946Same product: Isc Bind
CVE-2026-3591Same product: Isc Bind
CVE-2026-3593Same product: Isc Bind
CVE-2026-5947Same product: Isc Bind
CVE-2023-6516Same product: Isc Bind

Affected Assets

isc
bind
9.20.0 — 9.20.21 · 9.21.0 — 9.21.20

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation can discover missing resource releases through dynamic analysis or stress testing.

Requiring documented development standards and tools can mandate explicit resource-release patterns in code.

Engineering principles applied during development can require explicit resource-release patterns that stop memory leaks from being coded.

Resource-quota allocation limits the blast radius of an unreleased-resource exhaustion condition.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

ID.AM-08 mostly match
prevents

Lifecycle management explicitly requires handling resources through end-of-life including release.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly prevent missing resource-release defects during development.

DE.CM-09 partial match
prevents

Runtime monitoring may surface resource-exhaustion symptoms but does not address release logic.

PR.IR-04 partial match
prevents

Capacity monitoring can detect exhaustion caused by unreleased resources but does not prevent the root defect.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

degrades

Explicit information-deletion requirements directly address timely release of resources after use.

finds

Security testing in development can detect unreleased memory, providing partial coverage of the weakness.

prevents

Secure-SDLC practices include resource-management reviews, yet the control covers the entire lifecycle, not just this weakness.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify explicit memory-release rules, partially mitigating the weakness.

prevents

Secure system architecture and engineering principles include resource-management guidelines that address memory leaks.

prevents

Secure-coding rules can mandate explicit resource-release patterns, but the control is broader than this single weakness.

References