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CorednsApplication · Coredns.io

CVE-2026-33489

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-05-05
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.14.3 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
CoreDNS is a DNS server that chains plugins. In versions prior to 1.14.3, the transfer plugin can select the wrong ACL stanza when both a parent zone and a more-specific subzone are configured. The longestMatch() function in plugin/transfer/transfer.go uses a lexicographic string comparison instead of an actual longest-suffix match to select the winning zone. As a result, a permissive parent-zone transfer rule can override a restrictive subzone rule depending on zone name ordering (e.g., "example.org." > "a.example.org." lexicographically). This allows an unauthorized remote client to perform AXFR/IXFR for the subzone and retrieve its full zone contents. This issue has been fixed in version 1.14.3.

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-863

An authorization check exists but is flawed, so it passes when it should fail. Attackers probe roles and object references to find the gap. Remediation means centralising and correctly implementing the access-control logic, then testing it against every role.

General guidance for the incorrect authorization class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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
CorednsApplication
Affected:< 1.14.3

CVSS 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
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

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 · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 1.14.3 or later
Fixed in 1.14.3
Recommended fix High confidence

1.14.3

  1. 1. Identify current CoreDNS version by running `coredns -version` or checking your container/Kubernetes deployment
  2. 2. Review your current CoreDNS deployment configuration and note any custom plugins or configurations
  3. 3. Upgrade CoreDNS to version 1.14.3. For container deployments, update your image tag to `coredns/coredns:1.14.3`. For binary deployments, download the 1.14.3 release from https://github.com/coredns/coredns/releases/tag/v1.14.3
  4. 4. In non-production environments, test the upgraded CoreDNS to ensure your DNS configurations, plugins, and transfer policies work as expected
  5. 5. Deploy the upgraded CoreDNS to production
  6. 6. After upgrade, verify the fix is active by confirming the version (coredns -version should show 1.14.3)
  7. 7. Test that the transfer plugin correctly enforces ACLs for both parent zones and subzones using longest-suffix matching rather than lexicographic comparison

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,950. Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-33489 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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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