CVE-2022-38178 | Memory leaks in EdDSA DNSSEC verification code

By spoofing the target resolver with responses that have a malformed EdDSA signature, an attacker can trigger a small memory leak. It is possible to gradually erode available memory to the point where named crashes for lack of resources.

Published: 2022-09-21 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2022-38178 is rated Moderate Risk (58.1/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.18%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2022-38178

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-07-02 2.08% 2.18% +0.10%
2 2026-06-15 1.26% 2.08% +0.82%
3 2026-06-07 — 1.26% —

Full EPSS history (49 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-38178

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-38178

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-38178

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2022-38178: 1 source package rows (bind); 95 state rows across 7 repos (3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 7, open 88. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2022-38178
debian not yet assigned CVE-2022-38178 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (bind9), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2022-38178
gentoo low CVE-2022-38178: 1 GLSA(s) (202210-25), 2 atom(s) (net-dns/bind, net-dns/bind-tools); latest impact low. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2022-38178
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-38178
suse high — https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-38178/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-38178 medium priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (bind9, isc-dhcp), 14 status rows across 7 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 8, released 4, needs-triage 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-38178

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-38178

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
isc bind >= 9.9.12, <= 9.9.13 cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
isc bind >= 9.10.7, <= 9.10.8 cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
isc bind >= 9.11.3, <= 9.16.32 cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
isc bind 9.11.3 cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:9.11.3:s1:*:*:supported_preview:*:*:*
isc bind 9.11.3 cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:9.11.3:s4:*:*:supported_preview:*:*:*
isc bind 9.11.5 cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:9.11.5:s3:*:*:*:supported_preview:*:*
isc bind 9.11.5 cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:9.11.5:s3:*:*:supported_preview:*:*:*
isc bind 9.11.5 cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:9.11.5:s5:*:*:supported_preview:*:*:*
isc bind 9.11.5 cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:9.11.5:s6:*:*:supported_preview:*:*:*
isc bind 9.11.6 cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:9.11.6:s1:*:*:supported_preview:*:*:*
isc bind 9.11.7 cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:9.11.7:s1:*:*:supported_preview:*:*:*
isc bind 9.11.8 cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:9.11.8:s1:*:*:supported_preview:*:*:*
isc bind 9.11.12 cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:9.11.12:s1:*:*:supported_preview:*:*:*
isc bind 9.11.14-s1 cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:9.11.14-s1:*:*:*:preview:*:*:*
isc bind 9.11.19-s1 cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:9.11.19-s1:*:*:*:preview:*:*:*
isc bind 9.11.21 cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:9.11.21:s1:*:*:supported_preview:*:*:*
isc bind 9.11.27 cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:9.11.27:s1:*:*:supported_preview:*:*:*
isc bind 9.11.29 cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:9.11.29:s1:*:*:supported_preview:*:*:*
isc bind 9.11.35 cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:9.11.35:s1:*:*:supported_preview:*:*:*
isc bind 9.11.37 cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:9.11.37:s1:*:*:supported_preview:*:*:*
isc bind 9.16.8 cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:9.16.8:s1:*:*:supported_preview:*:*:*
isc bind 9.16.11 cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:9.16.11:s1:*:*:supported_preview:*:*:*
isc bind 9.16.13 cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:9.16.13:s1:*:*:supported_preview:*:*:*
isc bind 9.16.21 cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:9.16.21:s1:*:*:supported_preview:*:*:*
isc bind 9.16.32 cpe:2.3:a:isc:bind:9.16.32:s1:*:*:supported_preview:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 35 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:35:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 36 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:36:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 37 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:37:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp active_iq_unified_manager — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:active_iq_unified_manager:-:*:*:*:*:vmware_vsphere:*:*

References for CVE-2022-38178

URL Tags
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2022/09/21/3 Mailing List Patch Third Party Advisory
https://kb.isc.org/docs/cve-2022-38178 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/10/msg00007.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/CV4GQWBPF7Y52J2FA24U6UMHQAOXZEF7/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/MRHB6J4Z7BKH4HPEKG5D35QGRD6ANNMT/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/YZJQNUASODNVAWZV6STKG5SD6XIJ446S/
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202210-25 Third Party Advisory
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20221228-0009/ Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2022/dsa-5235 Third Party Advisory
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