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No exploitation reportedFix available

CVE-2016-7068

No exploitation reported by the sources we read.

  • Published2018-09-11
  • Fixed in4.0.2 · 3.4.11
  • WeaknessCWE-20 · CWE-400

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

Description

An issue has been found in PowerDNS before 3.4.11 and 4.0.2, and PowerDNS recursor before 3.7.4 and 4.0.4, allowing a remote, unauthenticated attacker to cause an abnormal CPU usage load on the PowerDNS server by sending crafted DNS queries, which might result in a partial denial of service if the system becomes overloaded. This issue is based on the fact that the PowerDNS server parses all records present in a query regardless of whether they are needed or even legitimate. A specially crafted query containing a large number of records can be used to take advantage of that behaviour.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2018-09-1113:29CVE publishedNVD

Observed activity

isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-10-23 21:37 UTC
Indicators tagged with this CVE, per day0 indicators over 7 days
Block these indicators
  • Firewall list (EDL, text): https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2016-7068?format=txt
  • CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2016-7068?format=csv
  • TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
  • The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

NVD
Powerdns authoritative
BranchAffectedFixed in
4.0≥ 4.0.0, < 4.0.24.0.2
3.4< 3.4.113.4.11
Powerdns recursor
BranchAffectedFixed in
4.0≥ 4.0.0, < 4.0.44.0.4
3.7< 3.7.43.7.4
Debian debian linux
BranchAffectedFixed in
8.0= 8.0no fix published

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Fix

  1. Update Powerdns authoritative to 4.0.2 · 3.4.11

Advisories and patches

Detection

Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Proof-of-concept repositories
none listed
PoC-in-GitHub

Sources

  • CNACVSS 3.05.3read 2026-10-23
  • NVDCVSS 3.07.5read 2026-10-23
  • NVDCVSS 2.07.8read 2026-10-23
  • CNAweakness (CWE)CWE-20read 2026-10-23
  • NVDweakness (CWE)CWE-400read 2026-10-23
  • FIRST EPSSEPSS score7.3 %2026-10-23

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Published
2018-09-11
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Modified

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2016-7068?

An issue has been found in PowerDNS before 3.4.11 and 4.0.2, and PowerDNS recursor before 3.7.4 and 4.0.4, allowing a remote, unauthenticated attacker to cause an abnormal CPU usage load on the PowerDNS server by sending crafted DNS queries, which might result in a partial denial of service if the system becomes overloaded. This issue is based on the fact that the PowerDNS server parses all records present in a query regardless of whether they are needed or even legitimate. A specially crafted query containing a large number of records can be used to take advantage of that behaviour.

Is CVE-2016-7068 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2016-7068 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 7.3% on 2026-10-23, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2016-7068?

CVE-2016-7068 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.5 (HIGH severity), with vector string CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

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