PowerDNS Recursor
CVE-2025-59029
MEDIUM
Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessUnknown attack vector
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ExploitExploit uncharacterized flaw in pdns-recursor
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ImpactUnknown impact
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
ASVS 5.0
V16 - Security Logging and Error Handling Reachable assertion handling
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| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation conditions cannot be determined from available data. No CVSS vector is provided to indicate attack vector (network, adjacent, local), complexity, or privilege requirements. No description details specify configuration prerequisites, affected features, or required deployment modes. Authentication requirements are not confirmed from available data. The only confirmed fact is that a fix exists in Alpine package 5.3.1-r1, which implies the vulnerability exists in prior versions of the Alpine pdns-recursor package. |
| Impact | Risk assessment is severely constrained by data scarcity. No CVSS vector is available, meaning attack vector, complexity, privilege requirements, and scope are all unconfirmed. No CWE is assigned, so the root cause class is unknown. EPSS places this at 0.01% exploitation probability (1st percentile), which is a strong signal for very low near-term exploitation risk. There is no CISA KEV listing and no public exploit identified. The sole confirmed data point is the existence of a vendor-issued fix in Alpine package 5.3.1-r1. Overall, available signals suggest low urgency, but the absence of technical detail means defenders cannot independently verify severity - priority should be determined once a vendor advisory with CVSS and CWE is published. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | Due to the absence of CVSS vector, CWE classification, and any technical description beyond the fix notice, a grounded exploit scenario cannot be constructed. No public exploit or proof-of-concept has been identified. Any scenario constructed here would be speculative and potentially misleading to security teams. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – May 27, 2026
PowerDNS Recursor (pdns-recursor) on Alpine Linux contains an uncharacterized vulnerability addressed in Alpine package version 5.3.1-r1. The nature, impact class, and attack surface of this vulnerability are not disclosed in available intelligence sources. With an EPSS score of 0.01% (1st percentile), exploitation probability is assessed as extremely low at this time. No active exploitation or public proof-of-concept has been identified.
RemediationAI
Upgrade the pdns-recursor Alpine Linux package to version 5.3.1-r1 or later using the standard Alpine package manager: 'apk upgrade pdns-recursor'. This is the vendor-confirmed fix per Alpine Linux security reporting. No specific workarounds are documented in available data. Because the vulnerability type is unknown, compensating controls cannot be precisely scoped - generic DNS hardening such as restricting recursor access to trusted client IP ranges (allow-from ACL) and disabling unnecessary features may reduce exposure but have not been confirmed as mitigations for this specific issue. Consult the PowerDNS upstream advisory (powerdns.com/security-advisories) and Alpine Linux security tracker for additional guidance once further details are published.
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Technical ContextAI · show details
pdns-recursor is PowerDNS's recursive DNS resolver, responsible for resolving DNS queries on behalf of clients by iterating through authoritative name servers. It is widely deployed in enterprise and ISP environments. The Alpine Linux package designation 5.3.1-r1 indicates the upstream PowerDNS Recursor version is 5.3.1 with Alpine-specific packaging revision 1. No CWE classification is available to characterize the root cause vulnerability class. No CPE strings were provided to further scope affected configurations. The vulnerability context - whether it affects DNS query processing, zone handling, cache logic, or an auxiliary component - cannot be determined from available data.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
Primary rating from Vendor (vendor:alpine) · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorVendor: vendor:alpine
Lifecycle Timeline
1DescriptionCVE.org
Alpine Linux: pdns-recursor fixed in 5.3.1-r1
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.
Affected Products (CPE)CVE.org
An issue has been found in PowerDNS Recursor versions 4.1.x before 4.1.9 where records in the answer section of response
An issue has been found in PowerDNS Recursor 4.1.0 up to and including 4.3.0. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulne
Crafted delegations or IP fragments can poison cached delegations in Recursor. [CVSS 8.2 HIGH]
An issue has been found in PowerDNS Recursor versions after 4.1.3 before 4.1.9 where Lua hooks are not properly applied
The label decompression functionality in PowerDNS Recursor 3.5.x, 3.6.x before 3.6.3, and 3.7.x before 3.7.2 and Authori
The label decompression functionality in PowerDNS Recursor before 3.6.4 and 3.7.x before 3.7.3 and Authoritative (Auth)
Remote, unauthenticated denial of service against PowerDNS Recursor allows a network-reachable attacker to consume or ex
PowerDNS Recursor can be driven into memory exhaustion by a single crafted HTTP request to its built-in internal web ser
A remote attacker might be able to cause infinite recursion in PowerDNS Recursor 4.8.0 via a DNS query that retrieves DS
In PowerDNS Authoritative Server before 4.4.3, 4.5.x before 4.5.4, and 4.6.x before 4.6.1 and PowerDNS Recursor before 4
An issue has been found in PowerDNS Recursor before 4.1.18, 4.2.x before 4.2.5, and 4.3.x before 4.3.5. Rated high sever
PowerDNS Recursor from 4.1.0 up to and including 4.3.0 does not sufficiently defend against amplification attacks. Rated
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
GitHub PoC
Exploit-DB