CVE-2018-10851
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedPowerDNS Authoritative Server 3.3.0 up to 4.1.4 excluding 4.1.5 and 4.0.6, and PowerDNS Recursor 3.2 up to 4.1.4 excluding 4.1.5 and 4.0.9, are vulnerable to a memory leak while parsing malformed records that can lead to remote denial of service.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidencePowerDNS Authoritative Server and Recursor contain a memory leak vulnerability when parsing malformed DNS records. An unauthenticated remote attacker can send specially crafted malformed DNS records to trigger the memory leak, leading to resource exhaustion and denial of service.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data>= 3.3, <= 4.1.4>= 3.2, <= 4.1.4CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
-
Identify if PowerDNS is runningCheck for pdns_server (Authoritative) or pdns_recursor (Recursor) processes: ps aux | grep -E 'pdns_server|pdns_recursor'Affected if No PowerDNS process is found, then the system is not affected by this CVE
-
Determine PowerDNS Authoritative versionRun 'pdns_server --version' or 'pdns_control show version' if the Authoritative Server is installedAffected if The version output is >= 3.3 and <= 4.1.4, indicating vulnerability to this CVE
-
Determine PowerDNS Recursor versionRun 'pdns_recursor --version' if the Recursor is installedAffected if The version output is >= 3.2 and <= 4.1.4, indicating vulnerability to this CVE
-
Verify network exposureCheck if the PowerDNS service is bound to a network interface: netstat -tlnp | grep -E 'pdns|53' or review firewall rules and service configuration for port 53 bindingAffected if The service is exposed to untrusted network sources, making it remotely exploitable
A system is affected if it runs PowerDNS Authoritative Server version 3.3 to 4.1.4 or Recursor version 3.2 to 4.1.4, and the service is network-accessible to trigger the memory leak via malformed DNS records.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpgrade to PowerDNS Authoritative Server 4.1.5/4.0.6 or later, and PowerDNS Recursor 4.1.5/4.0.9 or later. Alternatively, implement network-level filtering to reject malformed DNS records before they reach the servers.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-10851 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-10851 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data