# CVE-2015-5311: Denial of service in n/a

> Remote attackers can crash the PowerDNS Authoritative Server via crafted query packets, causing a denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.0 (`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 17 Nov 2015
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2015-5311, GHSA-hcqm-j37x-5h8w

## What is CVE-2015-5311?

CVE-2015-5311 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 17 Nov 2015. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

PowerDNS (aka pdns) Authoritative Server 3.4.4 before 3.4.7 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (assertion failure and server crash) via crafted query packets.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2015-5311?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Powerdns Authoritative.

## How do I fix CVE-2015-5311?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2015-5311 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-5311 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2020-24698](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-24698/): Use after free in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-24696](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-24696/): Race condition in n/a (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2015-5470](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-5470/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2026-42001](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-42001/): Insufficient Validation of Autoprimary SOA Queries (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2020-24697](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-24697/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2015-5311 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2015-5311 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 17 Nov 2015. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-5311 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-5311/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-5311/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-5311
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-5311
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2015-5311

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-5311/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.