Description
An issue has been found in PowerDNS Authoritative Server versions up to and including 3.4.10, 4.0.1 allowing an authorized user to crash the server by inserting a specially crafted record in a zone under their control then sending a DNS query for that record. The issue is due to an integer overflow when checking if the content of the record matches the expected size, allowing an attacker to cause a read past the buffer boundary.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| [UNKNOWN] | pdns | up to and including 3.4.10, up to and including 4.0.1 | — |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | pdns | 4.0.2-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | pdns | 4.0.2-1 | — |
| Debian 12 | pdns | 4.0.2-1 | — |
| Debian 8 | pdns | 3.4.1-4+deb8u7 | DSA-3764-1 |
| Debian 7 | pdns | 3.1-4.1+deb7u3 | DLA-798-1 |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS | pdns | No fix yet | — |
openSUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Tumbleweed | pdns | 4.5.1-1.5 | openSUSE-SU-2024:11156-1 |
| openSUSE Tumbleweed | pdns-recursor | 4.5.5-1.3 | openSUSE-SU-2024:11157-1 |
Alpine
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine v3.5 | pdns | 4.0.3-r0 | — |
Advisories 4
- DLA-798-1 pdns - security update Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
- DSA-3764-1 pdns - security update Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
- openSUSE-SU-2024:11156-1 pdns-4.5.1-1.5 on GA media SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
- openSUSE-SU-2024:11157-1 pdns-recursor-4.5.5-1.3 on GA media SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
References
- DSA-3764 vendor-advisory
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2016-2120