CVE-2026-33608Network attack vector

Restart-time BIND backend failure via unsanitized domain

Published Apr 22, 2026 · Updated Apr 22, 2026

Code injection in PowerDNS Authoritative Server allows remote attackers to disable the BIND backend through a crafted DNS NOTIFY request. In autosecondary mode, bindbackend2.cc accepts an incompletely sanitized domain name from a NOTIFY request and writes it into the generated BIND configuration, leaving that file syntactically invalid. The malformed configuration prevents the backend from starting after its next restart until manual recovery; affected versions are 4.9.0 through 4.9.13 and 5.0.0 through 5.0.3.

CVSS severity7.4
High
EPSS probability0.38%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
Coverage for this vulnerability

See if you're affected

Explore vulnerability checks for your environment with Hinoki.

Book a demo

Summary

What happened

Code injection in PowerDNS Authoritative Server allows remote attackers to disable the BIND backend through a crafted DNS NOTIFY request. In autosecondary mode, bindbackend2.cc accepts an incompletely sanitized domain name from a NOTIFY request and writes it into the generated BIND configuration, leaving that file syntactically invalid. The malformed configuration prevents the backend from starting after its next restart until manual recovery; affected versions are 4.9.0 through 4.9.13 and 5.0.0 through 5.0.3.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-33608
Published
Apr 22, 2026
Updated
Apr 22, 2026
Vendor
PowerDNS
Product
PowerDNS Authoritative Server
Classifications
CWE-94, T1565.001
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Apr 22, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Apr 22, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=4.9.0 <4.9.14
  2. Affected versionversion=5.0.0 <5.0.4

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

PowerDNS · PowerDNS Authoritative Serverversion=4.9.0 <4.9.14; version=5.0.0 <5.0.4

Published CVSS scores

9.8NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
7.4Open-XchangeCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-94Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')
T1565.001Stored Data Manipulation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

See the directory against your own environment.

Your stack

Check the software in your environment

Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.

Book a demo