# CVE-2023-22617: Denial of service in n/a

> A remote attacker can cause a denial of service in PowerDNS Recursor via infinite recursion triggered by specific DNS queries.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 21 Jan 2023
- **Updated:** 3 Apr 2025
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2023-22617, GHSA-59qw-42jc-ww5f, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-22617, openSUSE-SU-2024:12628-1

## What is CVE-2023-22617?

CVE-2023-22617 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Powerdns Recursor, published on 21 Jan 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A remote attacker might be able to cause infinite recursion in PowerDNS Recursor 4.8.0 via a DNS query that retrieves DS records for a misconfigured domain, because QName minimization is used in QM fallback mode. This is fixed in 4.8.1.

Weakness: CWE-674 (Uncontrolled Recursion)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-22617?

It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `pdns-recursor` | openSUSE:Tumbleweed | All versions | 4.8.1-1.1 |

Products: Powerdns Recursor.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-22617?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2023-22617 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-22617 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Powerdns Recursor

- [CVE-2009-4009](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-4009/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2020-10030](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-10030/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2025-59023](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-59023/): Crafted delegations or IP fragments can poison cached delegations in Recursor (high 8.2)
- [CVE-2025-59030](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-59030/): Insufficient validation of incoming notifies over TCP can lead to a denial of service in Recursor (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2018-16855](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-16855/): Memory corruption in pdns-recursor (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-22617 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-22617 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Powerdns Recursor, published on 21 Jan 2023. 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-2023-22617 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Powerdns Recursor. 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-2023-22617/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-22617/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-22617
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-22617
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-22617

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-22617/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.