CVE-2026-42396Network attack vector

Catalog AXFR failure via unescaped group quotes

Published May 21, 2026 · Updated May 21, 2026

Denial of service in PowerDNS Authoritative Server 4.9.0 through 4.9.14 and 5.0.0 through 5.0.4 allows remote authenticated users to break AXFR. CatalogInfo::toDNSZoneRecords wraps a raw producer group in quotes when building its TXT record instead of escaping embedded quotes. The attacker must control catalog member metadata and trigger catalog-zone transfer; the consequence is transfer failure without system compromise.

CVSS severity4.9
Medium
EPSS probability0.35%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Denial of service in PowerDNS Authoritative Server 4.9.0 through 4.9.14 and 5.0.0 through 5.0.4 allows remote authenticated users to break AXFR. CatalogInfo::toDNSZoneRecords wraps a raw producer group in quotes when building its TXT record instead of escaping embedded quotes. The attacker must control catalog member metadata and trigger catalog-zone transfer; the consequence is transfer failure without system compromise.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-42396
Published
May 21, 2026
Updated
May 21, 2026
Vendor
PowerDNS
Product
PowerDNS Authoritative Server
Classifications
CWE-94, T1499.004
Attack vector
network
Privileges
admin

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 21, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. May 21, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

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

  1. Affected versionversion=4.9.0 <4.9.15
  2. Affected versionversion=5.0.0 <5.0.5

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesadmin

What is affected?

PowerDNS · PowerDNS Authoritative Serverversion=4.9.0 <4.9.15; version=5.0.0 <5.0.5

Published CVSS scores

6.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
4.9Open-XchangeCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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
Privilegesadmin
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-94Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')
T1499.004Endpoint Denial of Service: Application or System Exploitation

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

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Your stack

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