CVE-2018-5733 · cross-distro fix matrix

CVE-2018-5733: A malicious client which is allowed to send very large amounts of traffic (billions of packets) to a DHCP server can eventually overflow a 32-bit reference counter, potentially causing dhcpd to crash. Affects ISC DHCP 4.1.0 -> 4.1-ESV-R15, 4.2.0 -> 4.2.8, 4.3.0 -> 4.3.6, 4.4.0.

Affects 6 Linux releases across 6 (distro × package) combinations.

Elevated exploitation risk

FIRST EPSS puts CVE-2018-5733's probability of exploitation in the next 30 days at 20% (97th percentile of all CVEs)— well above the noise floor. Prioritize it.

EPSS:20% · 30-day exploit probability97th percentile

Fix per ecosystem

Each block below is a distro release where CVE-2018-5733 has a known fix. Run the listed command on that distro to remediate.

Debian bullseye

Source: Debian Security Tracker

isc-dhcp→ fixed in4.3.5-3.1urgency: not yet assigned
```
sudo apt-get install --only-upgrade -y isc-dhcp
```

Debian bookworm

Source: Debian Security Tracker

isc-dhcp→ fixed in4.3.5-3.1urgency: not yet assigned
```
sudo apt-get install --only-upgrade -y isc-dhcp
```

Debian trixie

Source: Debian Security Tracker

isc-dhcp→ fixed in4.3.5-3.1urgency: not yet assigned
```
sudo apt-get install --only-upgrade -y isc-dhcp
```

Alpine v3.20

Source: Alpine secdb

dhcp→ fixed in4.4.1-r0
```
apk update && apk add --upgrade dhcp
```

Alpine v3.18

Source: Alpine secdb

dhcp→ fixed in4.4.1-r0
```
apk update && apk add --upgrade dhcp
```

Alpine v3.19

Source: Alpine secdb

dhcp→ fixed in4.4.1-r0
```
apk update && apk add --upgrade dhcp
```

Are YOU affected by CVE-2018-5733?

5-second check on your actual server. Reads /etc/os-release, uname -r, and the distro's package manager; matches against this same cross-source index live.

curl https://mindsparkstack.com/scan.sh | bash

Form-based quickscan View on NVD

Continuous monitoring beats manual checking

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