CVE-2025-59029
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 · uneditedAn attacker can trigger an assertion failure by requesting crafted DNS records, waiting for them to be inserted into the records cache, then send a query with qtype set to ANY.
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 · moderate confidenceA denial of service vulnerability exists where an attacker can trigger an assertion failure in the DNS server by first inserting crafted DNS records into the cache, then querying those records with qtype=ANY. The assertion fails when processing the ANY query against cached records, causing the DNS server to crash.
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= 5.3.0= 5.3.1CVSS 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
- Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
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.
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Verify Powerdns Recursor is installedCheck for the pdns_recursor binary or service (e.g., 'which pdns_recursor' or 'systemctl list-units | grep pdns')Affected if The Powerdns Recursor software is present on the system
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Determine the installed versionRun 'pdns_recursor --version' or check the package version (e.g., 'rpm -q pdns-recursor' or 'dpkg -l pdns-recursor')Affected if A version number is returned showing the exact installed release
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Compare version to affected rangeCompare the installed version against the affected versions 5.3.0 and 5.3.1Affected if The installed version is exactly 5.3.0 or 5.3.1
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Check if DNS recursor service is runningRun 'systemctl status pdns-recursor' or check process list for pdns_recursorAffected if The DNS recursor service is actively running and processing queries
You are affected if Powerdns Recursor version 5.3.0 or 5.3.1 is installed and the DNS recursor service is running, as this version range contains the assertion handling flaw triggered by ANY queries against cached 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.
dbcve · scopedUpdate the affected DNS server software to the latest version containing the vendor patch for this assertion handling vulnerability.
Recursor 5.3.2 or later (check docs.powerdns.com for the exact stable release)
- Check current PowerDNS Recursor version using 'rec_control version' or 'pdns_recursor --version'
- Backup current configuration files in /etc/powerdns/ or /etc/pdns-recursor/
- Review PowerDNS Recursor release notes at docs.powerdns.com for version 5.3.2 or later
- Upgrade Recursor to version 5.3.2 or later using your distribution's package manager
- Restart the Recursor service: 'systemctl restart pdns-recursor' or 'service pdns-recursor restart'
- Verify the service is running: 'systemctl status pdns-recursor'
- Test that DNS resolution works correctly
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 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 $1,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-59029 — 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-2025-59029 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
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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
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