PowerDNS Recursor 3.x < 3.6.2 Recursive Referral Handling DoS

medium Nessus Plugin ID 87951

Synopsis

The remote name server is affected by a denial of service vulnerability.

Description

According to its self-reported version number, the version of the PowerDNS Recursor listening on the remote host is version 3.x prior to 3.6.2. It is, therefore, affected by a denial of service vulnerability due to the lack of limiting delegation chaining. A remote attacker can exploit this vulnerability, via a large or infinite number of referrals, to cause resource exhaustion, resulting in a denial of service condition.

Note that Nessus has not attempted to exploit this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.
Also, Nessus has not checked for the presence of the patch.

Solution

Upgrade to PowerDNS Recursor 3.6.2 or later. Alternatively, apply the patch referenced in the vendor advisory.

See Also

https://doc.powerdns.com/md/security/powerdns-advisory-2014-02/

https://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/264212/

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 87951

File Name: powerdns_recursor_3_6_2.nasl

Version: 1.5

Type: remote

Family: DNS

Published: 1/15/2016

Updated: 11/15/2018

Configuration: Enable paranoid mode

Supported Sensors: Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Low

Score: 3.6

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5

Temporal Score: 3.7

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/a:powerdns:powerdns, cpe:/a:powerdns:recursor

Required KB Items: pdns/version, pdns/version_full, pdns/version_source, pdns/type, Settings/ParanoidReport

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 12/8/2014

Vulnerability Publication Date: 12/8/2014

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2014-8601

BID: 71545

CERT: 264212