BlackTreeCVE Intelligence
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Full vulnerability report · 2018
CVE-2017-15094High confidence

An issue has been found in the DNSSEC parsing code of PowerDNS Recursor from 4.0.0 up to and including 4.0.6 leading to a memory leak when parsing specially crafted DNSSEC ECDSA keys

PowerDNS · PowerDNS Recursor

5.9MediumCVSS 3.0
Recommended action
Scheduled

Medium technical severity with no CISA KEV confirmation; remediate through the normal risk-based patch cycle unless local exposure raises the priority.

Patch available
R
Operational reassessment

Published severity in operational context

Open reassessment dashboard →
Published severityMediumOperational priority:Medium, unchanged from published severity.unchanged

Evidence used

  • No CISA KEV confirmation is currently recorded.
  • The selected CVSS metric records a network-reachable, unauthenticated path with no user interaction.
  • EPSS is 3.30% for the current model date.

Compensating controls

  • Validate the affected product branch and deploy the verified fixed release.
  • Restrict the affected network interface to trusted sources where business-safe.
  • Monitor vendor guidance and exploitation sources for a material change.

Verification

  1. Confirm that the asset runs PowerDNS PowerDNS Recursor and falls inside the recorded affected range.
  2. Verify the installed build against the product-specific fixed version after deployment.
  3. Validate exposure, authentication requirements and compensating controls in the actual environment.
  4. Reopen this reassessment when CVSS, KEV, EPSS, exploit evidence or remediation changes.
Mitigation target: As exposure requiresRemediation target: Within 365 days

This automated reassessment organises public evidence. It does not know asset exposure, business impact or control effectiveness and does not replace CVSS or a human risk decision.

Distribution package intelligence

Release-specific package status

Alpine, Debian findings are scoped to the named distribution, release and source package. An absent finding does not mean a package is unaffected.

7 package states
Repository candidate not checked

A published vendor fix does not prove that a matching update is enabled and installable on a particular asset. Confirm the local package candidate before scheduling remediation.

Distribution releaseSource packageVendor stateFixed versionEvidence
Alpine v3.23v3.23 · communitypdns-recursorVendor fix publishedAlpine records a security fix at this version. An absent entry does not mean the package is unaffected.4.0.7-r0Alpine Security Database ↗Source updated 11 Sep 2026
Alpine v3.22v3.22 · communitypdns-recursorVendor fix publishedAlpine records a security fix at this version. An absent entry does not mean the package is unaffected.4.0.7-r0Alpine Security Database ↗Source updated 11 Sep 2026
Alpine v3.21v3.21 · communitypdns-recursorVendor fix publishedAlpine records a security fix at this version. An absent entry does not mean the package is unaffected.4.0.7-r0Alpine Security Database ↗Source updated 19 Aug 2026
Debian trixietrixie · sourcepdns-recursorVendor fix publishedDebian records a fixed source-package version for this release.4.0.7-1Debian Security Tracker ↗Source updated 5 Oct 2026
Debian bookwormbookworm · sourcepdns-recursorVendor fix publishedDebian records a fixed source-package version for this release.4.0.7-1Debian Security Tracker ↗Source updated 5 Oct 2026
Debian forkyforky · sourcepdns-recursorVendor fix publishedDebian records a fixed source-package version for this release.4.0.7-1Debian Security Tracker ↗Source updated 5 Oct 2026
Debian sidsid · sourcepdns-recursorVendor fix publishedDebian records a fixed source-package version for this release.4.0.7-1Debian Security Tracker ↗Source updated 5 Oct 2026
Optional official sources

National CERT insights
?CERT means Computer Emergency Response Team; CSIRT is the closely related term Computer Security Incident Response Team.

Choose official national sources for this report. Each advisory shows its original language. Your selection is remembered on this device and included in shared links.

Official European source

ENISA European Vulnerability Database

Official EUVD identifiers, advisory evidence and known-exploited context. Missing fields are not treated as evidence of low risk.

1 current
ENISA EUVD identifier

EUVD-2017-6562

No EUVD known-exploited evidence

ENISA has published the identifier mapping but no EUVD description has been stored yet.

EUVD state
Present in the current official mapping
Known exploitation
Not present in the current ENISA EUVD known-exploited dataset. This is not proof of no exploitation.
ENISA score
Not supplied in the stored EUVD record
Advisory evidence
No linked advisory details stored yet
Recommended actionScheduled

Medium technical severity with no CISA KEV confirmation; remediate through the normal risk-based patch cycle unless local exposure raises the priority.

Patch available
01

What, why and how

An issue has been found in the DNSSEC parsing code of PowerDNS Recursor from 4.0.0 up to and including 4.0.6 leading to a memory leak when parsing specially crafted DNSSEC ECDSA keys. These keys are only parsed when validation is enabled by setting dnssec to a value other than off or process-no-validate (default).

What

An issue has been found in the DNSSEC parsing code of PowerDNS Recursor from 4.0.0 up to and including 4.0.6 leading to a memory leak when parsing specially crafted DNSSEC ECDSA keys. These keys are only parsed when validation is enabled by setting dnssec to a value other than off or process-no-validate (default).

Why

The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, making the memory unavailable for reallocation and reuse.

How

An attacker operating through a network path may attempt exploitation without authentication or user interaction. If successful, the issue may cause the confidentiality, integrity or availability impact described by the vendor.

What

An issue has been found in the DNSSEC parsing code of PowerDNS Recursor from 4.0.0 up to and including 4.0.6 leading to a memory leak when parsing specially crafted DNSSEC ECDSA keys. These keys are only parsed when validation is enabled by setting dnssec to a value other than off or process-no-validate (default).

Why

The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, making the memory unavailable for reallocation and reuse.

How

An attacker operating through a network path may attempt exploitation without authentication or user interaction. If successful, the issue may cause the confidentiality, integrity or availability impact described by the vendor.

02

Exploit reality and attack path

CVSS severity, EPSS forecast probability, public exploit material and CISA-confirmed exploitation are separate signals.

Observed exploitation
?Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.
No confirmed evidence

No CISA KEV match was present at the last successful refresh. This means no confirmation from that source, not proof of no exploitation.

Public PoC / exploit material
?Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.
None recorded

No exploit-tagged reference or CISA SSVC proof-of-concept state is currently recorded. Research may still exist outside the structured feeds.

Likely attack path
a network path → Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime → cause the confidentiality, integrity or availability impact described by the vendor
Attack surface
Network
Privileges required
None: unauthenticated exploitation is possible
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
High: exploitation depends on specific conditions
Security boundary
Unchanged: impact remains within the vulnerable component's security authority
Weakness
?CWE means Common Weakness Enumeration: a standard category for the underlying weakness.
CWE-401 ↗

CWE-401: Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime. The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, making the memory unavailable for reallocation and reuse.

CVSS vector
?CVSS means Common Vulnerability Scoring System. The vector records the metric values used to calculate technical severity.
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Common Vulnerability Scoring System 3.0: the compact vector below is decoded into plain language.

AVNetworkAttack vector: The vulnerable component can be reached over a network.ACHighAttack complexity: Successful exploitation depends on specific conditions outside the attacker's direct control.PRNonePrivileges required: The attacker does not need an account or existing privileges.UINoneUser interaction: No action by another user is required.SUnchangedScope: The security impact remains within the vulnerable component's authority.CNoneConfidentiality impact: No direct loss is represented by this metric.INoneIntegrity impact: No direct loss is represented by this metric.AHighAvailability impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.
Post-exploitation / living off the land
No specific living-off-the-land technique is confirmed in the structured sources. Monitor normal administration tools for activity inconsistent with the affected service's baseline.
NetworkUnauthenticatedCWE-401
A

Official authority intelligence

Only matched European and national findings are included. Language selectors and unavailable sources are omitted.

JVN iPedia · Japanese · JVNDB-2017-012226PowerDNS Recursor におけるリソース管理に関する脆弱性

PowerDNS Recursor には、リソース管理に関する脆弱性が存在します。

Official advisory ↗
03

Patch and workaround

Operational remediation based on structured source evidence.

Status
?Patch availability is based on structured fixed-version fields and authoritative update references. If no fix is verified, check the vendor advisory before making a change.
Patch available
Affected
PowerDNS Recursor: from 4.0.0 up to and including 4.0.6
Fixed
An authoritative update reference is available, but the fixed version is not recorded in the structured CVE fields. Check the linked vendor advisory for the applicable release.
Action
Review the linked authoritative reference and apply the recorded fixed release appropriate to the affected product branch.
Workaround
A mitigation or workaround reference is available from the source linked below; validate it against the affected product and version.
04

Evidence and provenance

Published 23 Jan 2018 · Last source change 16 Sept 2024, 16:48 UTC · CWE-401 · Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime

CVE recordCVE.org · 5.1
CVSS sourceNIST NVD
EPSS source
?The date BlackTree first stored a score for this CVE from the daily FIRST EPSS feed.
FIRST · tracked since 2026-09-01
European sourceENISA EUVD · EUVD-2017-6562
Product sourceCNA
Remediation sourceCVE/CNA references
CWE sourceCNA
NVD statusNVD modified after enrichment

Core structured fields are present and their contributing authorities are shown above.

Material change intelligence

What changed after publication

View recent updates ↗
  1. ENISA EUVD mappingEUVD-2017-6562 was added to the official ENISA EUVD mapping for this CVE.
    Before
    not recorded
    After
    {"euvdId":"EUVD-2017-6562"}
    ENISA EUVD ↗
  2. Vendor guidanceAuthoritative vendor guidance changed: added patch: doc.powerdns.com/powerdns-advisory-2017-07.html; added remediation: doc.powerdns.com/powerdns-advisory-2017-07.html.
    Before
    no authoritative guidance recorded
    After
    patch: doc.powerdns.com/powerdns-advisory-2017-07.html · remediation: doc.powerdns.com/powerdns-advisory-2017-07.html
    doc.powerdns.com ↗
  3. Affected versionsThe structured affected or fixed version information changed.
    Before
    from 4.0.0 up to and including 4.0.6 · Fixed: No fixed version is explicitly recorded in the structured CVE data.
    After
    from 4.0.0 up to and including 4.0.6 · Fixed: An authoritative update reference is available, but the fixed version is not recorded in the structured CVE fields. Check the linked vendor advisory for the applicable release.
    CNA ↗
  4. Remediation statusRemediation status changed from Awaiting fix to Patch available.
    Before
    Awaiting fix
    After
    Patch available
    doc.powerdns.com ↗
  5. SeveritySeverity changed from Unknown to Medium.
    Before
    Unknown
    After
    Medium
    NIST NVD ↗
  6. CVSS scoreCVSS score changed from not recorded to 5.9 (CVSS 3.0 · NIST NVD · CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).
    Before
    not recorded
    After
    5.9 (CVSS 3.0 · NIST NVD · CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)
    NIST NVD ↗
  7. Catalogue recordCVE added to the BlackTree catalogue.
    CNA ↗
Material fields only · duplicate refreshes suppressed · history retained for the configured operational retention period
CVE published
Fixed release or patch reference recorded
ENISA EUVD · EUVD-2017-6562↗CVE authority or vendor reference↗Official CVE record (CNA and ADP data)↗NVD record↗
Technical terms and abbreviations used in this report
CVE
Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures: the public identifier for one disclosed vulnerability.
CVSS
Common Vulnerability Scoring System: a technical severity framework; it is not patching priority by itself.
EPSS
Exploit Prediction Scoring System: FIRST's estimate of the probability that exploitation activity will be observed in the next 30 days; it is a forecast, not confirmation.
CWE
Common Weakness Enumeration: the standard category describing the underlying software or hardware weakness.
CNA
CVE Numbering Authority: an organisation authorised to assign and publish CVE records.
CISA ADP
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Authorized Data Publisher: structured enrichment added to a CVE record.
NVD
National Vulnerability Database: NIST's enrichment service for CVE records.
CERT / CSIRT
A computer security incident response team that publishes warnings or coordinates incident response.
PoC
Proof of concept: public material that demonstrates or helps reproduce exploitation.
CSAF
Common Security Advisory Framework: a machine-readable format for security advisories.
LoTL
Living off the land: abuse of legitimate tools or system functions during an attack.
Free version - for non-commercial use only.CVE-2017-15094 · cve.blacktree.nl