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No exploitation reportedFix available

CVE-2018-14644

No exploitation reported by the sources we read.

  • Published2018-11-09
  • WeaknessCWE-20

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 Recursor from 4.0.0 up to and including 4.1.4. A remote attacker sending a DNS query for a meta-type like OPT can lead to a zone being wrongly cached as failing DNSSEC validation. It only arises if the parent zone is signed, and all the authoritative servers for that parent zone answer with FORMERR to a query for at least one of the meta-types. As a result, subsequent queries from clients requesting DNSSEC validation will be answered with a ServFail.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2018-11-0919:29CVE publishedNVD

Versions per branch

NVD
Powerdns recursor
BranchAffectedFixed in
4.x≥ 4.0.0, ≤ 4.1.4no fix published

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

Distribution builds and vendor advisories

Packages from OSV.dev and products from the vendors' CSAF advisories.

version not verifiedVersions not verified: read as OSV.dev and the vendors publish them, not checked against each vendor's release list.

Packages

  • pdnsUbuntu:Pro:22.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 4.5.3-1ubuntu0.1~esm1
  • pdnsUbuntu:Pro:20.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 4.2.1-1ubuntu0.1~esm1and 1 other package
  • pdnsUbuntu:Pro:18.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 4.1.1-1ubuntu0.1~esm1
  • pdnsUbuntu:Pro:16.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 4.0.0~alpha2-3ubuntu0.1~esm1
  • pdns-recursorUbuntu:Pro:22.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 4.6.0-1ubuntu1+esm1
  • pdns-recursorUbuntu:Pro:18.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 4.1.1-2ubuntu0.1~esm1
  • pdns-recursorUbuntu:Pro:16.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 4.0.0~alpha2-2ubuntu0.1+esm1
  • pdns-recursorSUSE:Package Hub 15all versions · fixed in 4.1.2-bp150.2.3.1

27 more package ranges on OSV.dev

Full record on NVD

Fix

Advisories and patches

Detection

Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Proof of concept
Metasploit modules
none listed
Metasploit Framework

Sources

  • CNACVSS 3.05.3known since 2026-10-23
  • NVDCVSS 3.05.9read 2026-10-23
  • NVDCVSS 2.04.3read 2026-10-23
  • CNAweakness (CWE)CWE-20known since 2026-10-23
  • NVDweakness (CWE)CWE-20read 2026-10-23
  • FIRST EPSSEPSS score4.8 %2026-11-08
  • OSVaffected packages—
  • GitHub Advisoriesadvisory—

Identifiers

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Published
2018-11-09
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Modified
GitHub Advisory
GHSA-2268-76c3-x85m

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2018-14644?

An issue has been found in PowerDNS Recursor from 4.0.0 up to and including 4.1.4. A remote attacker sending a DNS query for a meta-type like OPT can lead to a zone being wrongly cached as failing DNSSEC validation. It only arises if the parent zone is signed, and all the authoritative servers for that parent zone answer with FORMERR to a query for at least one of the meta-types. As a result, subsequent queries from clients requesting DNSSEC validation will be answered with a ServFail.

Is CVE-2018-14644 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2018-14644 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 4.8% on 2026-11-08, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2018-14644?

CVE-2018-14644 has a CVSS v3 base score of 5.9 (MEDIUM severity), with vector string CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

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