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Vulnerability record · CVE-2016-7068 · published 11 September 2018

CVE-2016-7068: Powerdns authoritative improper input validation vulnerability

Powerdns · Authoritative

An issue has been found in PowerDNS before 3.4.11 and 4.0.2, and PowerDNS recursor before 3.7.4 and 4.0.4, allowing a remote, unauthenticated attacker to cause an abnormal CPU usage load on the PowerDNS server by sending crafted DNS queries, which might result in a partial denial of service if the system becomes overloaded. This issue is based on the fact that the PowerDNS server parses all records present in a query regardless of whether they are needed or even legitimate. A specially crafted query containing a large number of records can be used to take advantage of that behaviour.

7.5 CVSS 3.0 High EPSS 7.3% · top 5.8% CWE-20 · Improper input validationCWE-400 · Uncontrolled resource consumption
7.5CVSS 3.0 base score, v2 7.8
7.3%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
3Affected product versions listed by NVD
8References
17 Jun 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

An issue has been found in PowerDNS before 3.4.11 and 4.0.2, and PowerDNS recursor before 3.7.4 and 4.0.4, allowing a remote, unauthenticated attacker to cause an abnormal CPU usage load on the PowerDNS server by sending crafted DNS queries, which might result in a partial denial of service if the system becomes overloaded. This issue is based on the fact that the PowerDNS server parses all records present in a query regardless of whether they are needed or even legitimate. A specially crafted query containing a large number of records can be used to take advantage of that behaviour.

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

Affected products

3 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.

References

LinkTags
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2016-7068 Issue TrackingThird Party Advisory
https://doc.powerdns.com/md/security/powerdns-advisory-2016-02/ Vendor Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2017/dsa-3763 Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2017/dsa-3764 Third Party Advisory
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2016-7068 Issue TrackingThird Party Advisory
https://doc.powerdns.com/md/security/powerdns-advisory-2016-02/ Vendor Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2017/dsa-3763 Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2017/dsa-3764 Third Party Advisory

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Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2016-7068), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-27). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.