What is CVE-2017-15091?

CVE-2017-15091 is a high-severity vulnerability in Powerdns Authoritative, classified under Incorrect Authorization. CVSS score: 7.1/10. Published 2018-01-23.

How severe is CVE-2017-15091?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.1 out of 10.

Auth bypass in Powerdns Authoritative

CVE-2017-15091

An issue has been found in the API component of PowerDNS Authoritative 4.x up to and including 4.0.4 and 3.x up to and including 3.4.11, where some operations that have an impact on the state of the server are still allowed even though the API has been configured as read-only via the api-readonly keyword. This missing check allows an attacker with valid API credentials to flush the cache, trigger a zone transfer or send a NOTIFY.

Vulnerability class: Broken Access Control

Published 2018-01-23 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.1 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.012 (68.0th percentile), scored 2026-09-30.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 68th percentile — 68.0% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.012 · newest: 0.012 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Powerdns Authoritative
Powerdns Authoritative — versions 3.x up to and including 3.4.11, 4.x up to and including 4.0.4

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

www.securityfocus.com/bid/101982 (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, vdb-entry)
doc.powerdns.com/authoritative/security-advisories/powerdns-advisory-2017-04.ht… (Patch, Vendor Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2017-15091?: CVE-2017-15091 is a high-severity vulnerability in Powerdns Authoritative, classified under Incorrect Authorization. CVSS score: 7.1/10. Published 2018-01-23.
How severe is CVE-2017-15091?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.1 out of 10.