VDB-358836 · CVE-2026-33259 · WID-SEC-2026-1225

PowerDNS Recursor up to 5.2.8/5.3.5/5.4.0 use after free

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
4.4	$0-$5k	0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in PowerDNS Recursor up to 5.2.8/5.3.5/5.4.0. Impacted is an unknown function. The manipulation results in use after free. This vulnerability is identified as CVE-2026-33259. The attack can be executed remotely. There is not any exploit available. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in PowerDNS Recursor up to 5.2.8/5.3.5/5.4.0. It has been classified as problematic. Affected is some unknown functionality. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

Having many concurrent transfers of the same RPZ can lead to inconsistent RPZ data, use after free and/or a crash of the recursor. Normally concurrent transfers of the same RPZ zone can only occur with a malfunctioning RPZ provider.

The weakness was released by Haruto Kimura. The advisory is shared for download at docs.powerdns.com. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-33259 since 03/18/2026. The exploitability is told to be difficult. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. The exploitation needs additional levels of successful authentication. There are neither technical details nor an exploit publicly available.

Upgrading to version 5.2.9, 5.3.6 or 5.4.1 eliminates this vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2026-1225). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Affected

Debian Linux
SUSE openSUSE
Open Source PowerDNS

Productinfo

Type

Domain Name Software

Vendor

PowerDNS

Name

Recursor

Version

License

free

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 4.5
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 4.4

VulDB Base Score: 4.1
VulDB Temp Score: 3.9
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CNA Base Score: 5.0
CNA Vector: 🔒

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Use after free
CWE: CWE-416 / CWE-119
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔒
EPSS Percentile: 🔒

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: Recursor 5.2.9/5.3.6/5.4.1

Timelineinfo

03/18/2026 CVE reserved
04/22/2026 +34 days Advisory disclosed
04/22/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
05/03/2026 +11 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Advisory: docs.powerdns.com
Researcher: Haruto Kimura
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-33259 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-33259
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-358836
CERT Bund: WID-SEC-2026-1225 - PowerDNS: Mehrere Schwachstellen

Entryinfo

Created: 04/22/2026 13:28
Updated: 05/03/2026 20:14
Changes: 04/22/2026 13:28 (64), 05/03/2026 20:14 (7)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103