Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This flaw can crash ISC BIND's named DNS service when it handles malformed BRID/HHIT records. The main business risk is DNS outage, not data theft. Affected versions are specific recent BIND 9 releases, so organizations running BIND should prioritize version checks and upgrades.
Executive priority
Treat this as a high-priority availability risk for DNS infrastructure. Prioritize internet-facing and business-critical DNS servers first, because a crash of named can interrupt name resolution and dependent services.
Technical view
CVE-2025-13878 affects ISC BIND 9 9.18.40-9.18.43, 9.20.13-9.20.17, 9.21.12-9.21.16, and listed Subscription Edition ranges. CVSS 7.5 indicates network-reachable, low-complexity, unauthenticated availability impact only. The reported failure mode is unexpected named termination from malformed BRID/HHIT records.
Likely exposure
Exposure is likely for authoritative or recursive DNS servers running the affected BIND 9 ranges and accepting network DNS traffic. Systems not running BIND, or running versions outside the named ranges, are not indicated as affected in the supplied sources.
Exploitation context
The supplied bundle does not establish active exploitation, and KEV is false. The vulnerability is a denial-of-service condition: successful triggering can terminate named and disrupt DNS availability. No confidentiality or integrity impact is indicated by the CVSS vector.
Researcher notes
The evidence supports an availability-only crash condition tied to malformed BRID/HHIT records. The bundle does not include root-cause detail, proof-of-concept status, workaround specifics, or evidence of exploitation in the wild. Avoid assuming impact beyond named termination.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade BIND 9.18 deployments to 9.18.44 or later where applicable.
- Upgrade BIND 9.20 deployments to 9.20.18 or later where applicable.
- Upgrade BIND 9.21 deployments to 9.21.17 or later where applicable.
- Apply relevant Red Hat advisory updates for Red Hat-managed BIND packages.
- For Subscription Edition builds, check ISC guidance for the applicable fixed release.
Validation and detection
- Inventory all DNS servers and record their BIND 9 versions.
- Compare versions against the affected ranges in the ISC advisory.
- Confirm upgraded systems report a fixed, non-affected release line.
- Review DNS service logs for unexpected named termination events.
- Track vendor advisories until all affected package channels are resolved.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
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CWE-1286: Exact CWE lookup
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Open ATT&CK lookupCWE-617: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2025-13878 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 7.5 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
SSVC decision data
CVSS vector scores
2 official scoresWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H3.93.6iscCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H3.93.6redhat-SADPVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
7.5HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Base CVSS 3.1 score
7.5HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Vulnerability timeline
Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.
- CVE reservedCVE Program
The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.
- ADP timelineredhat-SADP
Made public.
- ADP timelineredhat-SADP
Reported to Red Hat.
- CVE publishedCVE Program
The CVE record was published.
- CVE updatedCVE Program
The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.
ADP provider summaries
- 2026-01-21T13:45:49.972Z: Reported to Red Hat.
- 2026-01-21T00:00:00.000Z: Made public.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- CVE-2025-13878CVE reference, isc · vendor-advisory
- https://downloads.isc.org/isc/bind9/9.18.44CVE reference, isc · patch
- https://downloads.isc.org/isc/bind9/9.20.18CVE reference, isc · patch
- https://downloads.isc.org/isc/bind9/9.21.17CVE reference, isc · patch
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-13878CVE reference, redhat-SADP · vdb-entry, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHBZ#2431600CVE reference, redhat-SADP · issue-tracking, x_refsource_REDHAT
- https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2025/cve-2025-13878.jsonCVE reference, redhat-SADP · x_sadp-csaf-vex
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:6935CVE reference, redhat-SADP · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Improper Validation of Syntactic Correctness of Input
Improper Validation of Syntactic Correctness of Input represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.
Reachable Assertion
Reachable Assertion represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.