CVE-2017-15120

HIGH

PowerDNS Recursor < 4.0.8 - Unauthenticated Denial of Service via CNAME Parsing

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

EIP tracks 1 public exploit for CVE-2017-15120. PoCs published by shutingrz.

AI-analyzed exploit summary This PoC exploits CVE-2017-15120, a vulnerability in PowerDNS where a malformed DNS response with a CNAME record of class CH can cause a denial-of-service (DoS) condition. The script crafts a malicious DNS response to trigger the vulnerability.

Description

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.

Exploits (1)

nomisec WORKING POC
by shutingrz · poc
https://github.com/shutingrz/CVE-2017-15120_PoC

This PoC exploits CVE-2017-15120, a vulnerability in PowerDNS where a malformed DNS response with a CNAME record of class CH can cause a denial-of-service (DoS) condition. The script crafts a malicious DNS response to trigger the vulnerability.

Classification
Working Poc 90%
Attack Type
Dos
Complexity
Trivial
Reliability
Reliable
Target: PowerDNS (versions affected by CVE-2017-15120)
No auth needed
Prerequisites: Network access to a vulnerable PowerDNS server · Ability to send crafted DNS responses
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 16, 2026 Full analysis →

References (5)

Core 5
Core References
Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory x_refsource_confirm
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2017-15120
Third Party Advisory vendor-advisory x_refsource_debian
https://www.debian.org/security/2017/dsa-4063
Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory mailing-list x_refsource_mlist
http://seclists.org/oss-sec/2017/q4/382
Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry vdb-entry x_refsource_bid
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/106335

Scores

CVSS v3 7.5
EPSS 0.5179
EPSS Percentile 98.8%
Attack Vector NETWORK
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Details

CWE
CWE-476
Status published
Products (3)
debian/debian_linux 8.0
debian/debian_linux 9.0
powerdns/recursor < 4.0.8
Published Jul 27, 2018
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026