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CVE-2017-15120· NVD / CVE Program· CNA redhat

An issue has been found in the parsing of authoritative answers in PowerDNS Recursor before 4.0.8, leading to a NULL pointer dereference whe

An issue has been found in the parsing of authoritative answers in PowerDNS Recursor before 4.0.8, leading to a NULL pointer dereference when parsing a specially crafted answer containing a CNAME of a different class than IN. An unauthenticated remote attacker could cause a denial of service.

HighCVSS 7.5 · v3.0—Proof of concept Fix available

Noroxi analysis

No Noroxi analysis for this record yet

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Published
Jul 27, 2018
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
51.8% · 99th percentile
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Report tools

JSON

Action score

46

Plan

Add it to your regular patch cycle.

CVSS
30 / 40 · 7.5 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
16 / 30 · 51.8%

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
7.5
CNA · redhat
7.5
agree

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Affected systems

VendorProduct
powerdnsrecursor
debiandebian linux

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • debian debian linux8.0
  • debian debian linux9.0
  • powerdns recursorbefore 4.0.8

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (redhat). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • PowerDNS pdns-recursor

    • 4.0.8affected

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Debian:12pdns-recursorbefore 4.1.0-14.1.0-1
Debian:9pdns-recursorbefore 4.0.4-1+deb9u34.0.4-1+deb9u3

Same product

powerdns: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2018-16855An issue has been found in PowerDNS Recursor before version 4.1.8 where a remote attacker sending a DNS query can trigger an out-of-bounds m
    48Plan
  • CVE-2009-4009Buffer overflow in PowerDNS Recursor before 3.1.7.2 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (daemon crash) or possibly execute
    45Plan
  • CVE-2020-10030An issue has been found in PowerDNS Recursor 4.1.0 up to and including 4.3.0.
    42Plan
  • CVE-2014-8601PowerDNS Recursor before 3.6.2 does not limit delegation chaining, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service ("performance
    41Plan
  • CVE-2019-3807An issue has been found in PowerDNS Recursor versions 4.1.x before 4.1.9 where records in the answer section of responses received from auth
    39Monitor
  • CVE-2009-4010Unspecified vulnerability in PowerDNS Recursor before 3.1.7.2 allows remote attackers to spoof DNS data via crafted zones.
    33Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
debian:pdns-recursor4.1.0-1 · Debian:12Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

Proof of concept available

A public proof of concept or detection signature exists. Exploit knowledge is out there; don't delay patching.

Evidence

  • Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub ×1

Noroxi does not host or link to exploit code. Metasploit module names and Nuclei template ids are shown (names, not code); Exploit-DB entries and PoC repositories are given as counts only.

Public exploit evidence
SourceKindDate
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHubstars:02018-10-16

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

  1. Published
  2. First PoC+81 d
  3. TodaySep 30, 2026+2987 d
EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
none
Integrity
none
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
None
Integrity impact
None
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-476 · NULL Pointer Dereference

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

nvd-primary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records