Fergie's Tech Blog

Massive, Coordinated DNS Patch Released

Robert Vamosi writes on the C|Net "D3F3NS3 1N D3PTH" Blog:

A security researcher has responsibly disclosed a fundamental flaw within the Domain Name System (DNS), the addressing scheme behind the common names used on the Internet. Currently, it may be possible to guess these transaction ID values in advance and assert a malicious server as the authoritative DNS server for a popular bank or e-commerce site. The news was announced Tuesday.

Dan Kaminsky, director of penetration testing services for IO Active, found the DNS flaw earlier this year. Rather than sell the vulnerability, as some researchers have done, Kaminsky decided instead to gather the affected parties and discuss it with them first. Without disclosing any technical details, he said, "the severity is shown by the number of people who've gotten onboard with this patch."

He declined to name the flaw as that would give away details.

posted by Fergie @ 7/08/2008 05:46:00 PM