Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-33608

RCE in Powerdns Authoritative 4.9.0 – 4.9.14

Published
22 April 2026
Modified
24 April 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.4
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0038 31th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-33608 is a high-severity Code Injection (CWE-94) vulnerability in Powerdns Authoritative. Its CVSS base score is 7.4 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059); ranked at the 31th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2026-33608 affects the bind backend in PowerDNS Authoritative Server. The vulnerability enables an attacker to send a notify request that adds a new secondary domain to the backend, but simultaneously updates its configuration to an invalid state. As a result, the backend fails to run upon the next restart, requiring manual intervention to repair.

A remote network attacker with no privileges or user interaction needed can exploit this vulnerability, though it demands high attack complexity. Exploitation achieves high integrity and availability impacts by corrupting the backend configuration, leading to denial of service after restart, consistent with the CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.4 (AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H) and CWE-94.

The PowerDNS security advisory at https://docs.powerdns.com/authoritative/security-advisories/powerdns-advisory-powerdns-2026-05.html details mitigation measures and available patches.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

An attacker can send a notify request that causes a new secondary domain to be added to the bind backend, but causes said backend to update its configuration to an invalid one, leading to the backend no longer able to…

more

run on the next restart, requiring manual operation to fix it.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Execution
Adversaries may abuse command and script interpreters to execute commands, scripts, or binaries.
T1059.001 PowerShell Execution
Adversaries may abuse PowerShell commands and scripts for execution.
T1059.002 AppleScript Execution
Adversaries may abuse AppleScript for execution.
T1059.004 Unix Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse Unix shell commands and scripts for execution.
T1059.005 Visual Basic Execution
Adversaries may abuse Visual Basic (VB) for execution.
T1059.006 Python Execution
Adversaries may abuse Python commands and scripts for execution.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-42396Same product: Powerdns Authoritative
CVE-2026-42000Same product: Powerdns Authoritative
CVE-2026-33611Same product: Powerdns Authoritative
CVE-2026-42002Same product: Powerdns Authoritative
CVE-2026-33609Same product: Powerdns Authoritative
CVE-2026-41999Same product: Powerdns Authoritative
CVE-2026-42001Same product: Powerdns Authoritative
CVE-2026-33610Same product: Powerdns Authoritative
CVE-2026-33257Same product: Powerdns Authoritative
CVE-2026-33260Same product: Powerdns Authoritative

Affected Assets

powerdns
authoritative
4.9.0 — 4.9.14 · 5.0.0 — 5.0.4

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.3.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation finds code paths that accept and execute externally influenced strings.

Input validation directly stops untrusted data from being used to construct executable code without neutralization.

Least privilege limits the damage an injected code fragment can perform once executed.

Requiring documented secure development standards and tools enforces use of safe code-generation APIs and escaping.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

PR.PS-06's SDLC practices directly target injection flaws via secure coding and testing (mostly), yet as a single broad outcome it leaves many code-generation specifics unaddressed (partial).

PR.DS-10 none match
prevents

PR.DS-10 protects runtime data confidentiality/integrity but has no bearing on neutralizing externally influenced input during code generation, so neither direction shows any preventive effect.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

prevents

Banning unapproved code samples and unauthenticated web services, combined with secure-coding standards and SAST, prevents the dynamic generation or inclusion of attacker-supplied code.

none

Controls that restrict unauthorized or malicious code from being introduced via external networks or removable media limit opportunities for an attacker to inject and execute arbitrary code.

References