CVE-2020-10030 Memory corruption in n/a
An attacker with hostname modification privileges can trigger a stack-based out-of-bounds read in PowerDNS Recursor, leading to memory disclosure or potential code execution.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2020-10030?
CVE-2020-10030 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Powerdns Recursor, published on 19 May 2020. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
An issue has been found in PowerDNS Recursor 4.1.0 up to and including 4.3.0. It allows an attacker (with enough privileges to change the system's hostname) to cause disclosure of uninitialized memory content via a stack-based out-of-bounds read. It only occurs on systems where gethostname() does not have '\0' termination of the returned string if the hostname is larger than the supplied buffer. (Linux systems are not affected because the buffer is always large enough. OpenBSD systems are not affected because the returned hostname always has '\0' termination.) Under some conditions, this issue can lead to the writing of one '\0' byte out-of-bounds on the stack, causing a denial of service or possibly arbitrary code execution.
Weakness: CWE-125
Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-10030?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Powerdns Recursor.
How do I fix CVE-2020-10030?
Upgrade to a fixed version.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2020-10030 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-10030 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Powerdns Recursor
- CVE-2009-4009 Memory corruption in n/a
- CVE-2025-59023 Crafted delegations or IP fragments can poison cached delegations in Recursor
- CVE-2025-59030 Insufficient validation of incoming notifies over TCP can lead to a denial of service in Recursor
- CVE-2023-22617 Denial of service in n/a
- CVE-2018-16855 Memory corruption in pdns-recursor
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2020-10030, GHSA-v7fw-2gqv-66rx, UBUNTU-CVE-2020-10030.