CVE-2023-22617 : A remote attacker might be able to cause infinite recursion in PowerDNS Recursor

A remote attacker might be able to cause infinite recursion in PowerDNS Recursor 4.8.0 via a DNS query that retrieves DS records for a misconfigured domain, because QName minimization is used in QM fallback mode. This is fixed in 4.8.1.

Published 2023-01-21 19:15:11

Updated 2025-04-03 15:15:43

Source MITRE

View at NVD, CVE.org

Products affected by CVE-2023-22617

Powerdns » Recursor » Version: 4.8.0
cpe:2.3:a:powerdns:recursor:4.8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Matching versions

Threat overview for CVE-2023-22617

Top countries where our scanners detected CVE-2023-22617

Top open port discovered on systems with this issue 53

IPs affected by CVE-2023-22617 27

Threat actors abusing to this issue? Yes

Find out if you^* are affected by CVE-2023-22617!

^*Directly or indirectly through your vendors, service providers and 3rd parties. Powered by attack surface intelligence from SecurityScorecard.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-22617

EPSS FAQ

0.08%

Probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days EPSS Score History

~ 21 %

Percentile, the proportion of vulnerabilities that are scored at or less

CVSS scores for CVE-2023-22617

Base Score	Base Severity	CVSS Vector	Exploitability Score	Impact Score	Score Source	First Seen
7.5	HIGH	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H	3.9	3.6	134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0	2025-04-03
Attack Vector: Network Attack Complexity: Low Privileges Required: None User Interaction: None Scope: Unchanged Confidentiality: None Integrity: None Availability: High
7.5	HIGH	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H	3.9	3.6	NIST
Attack Vector: Network Attack Complexity: Low Privileges Required: None User Interaction: None Scope: Unchanged Confidentiality: None Integrity: None Availability: High

CWE ids for CVE-2023-22617

CWE-674 Uncontrolled Recursion

The product does not properly control the amount of recursion that takes place, consuming excessive resources, such as allocated memory or the program stack.
Assigned by:
- 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 (Secondary)
- nvd@nist.gov (Primary)

References for CVE-2023-22617

https://docs.powerdns.com/recursor/changelog/4.8.html#change-4.8.1

Changelogs for 4.8.X — PowerDNS Recursor documentation
Release Notes;Vendor Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/01/20/1

oss-security - Security Advisory 2023-01 for PowerDNS Recursor 4.8.0 (CVE-2023-22617)
Mailing List;Release Notes;Third Party Advisory
https://docs.powerdns.com/recursor/security-advisories/

Security Advisories — PowerDNS Recursor documentation
Vendor Advisory