CVE-2023-22617 [High] | Security Vulnerability in Recursor

CVE-2023-22617 is rated High Risk (67.8/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 7.32%, 94th percentile). EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. EPSS rose +6.26% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize remediation.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-06-15	1.06%	7.32%	+6.26%
2	2026-01-25	0.83%	1.06%	+0.24%
3	2026-01-22	—	0.83%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-06-15

1.06%

7.32%

+6.26%

2026-01-25

0.83%

1.06%

+0.24%

2026-01-22

—

0.83%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
7.5	3.1	HIGH	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:N) Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:N) No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:N) Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	3.9	3.6	[email protected]
7.5	3.1	HIGH	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:N) Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:N) No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:N) Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	3.9	3.6	134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

7.5

3.1

HIGH

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

Attack vector (AV:N): Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N): No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N): Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N): Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

3.9

3.6

[email protected]

7.5

3.1

HIGH

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

Attack vector (AV:N): Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N): No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N): Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N): Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

3.9

3.6

134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-22617

vendor	priority	summary	link
`alpine`	—	CVE-2023-22617: 1 source package rows (pdns-recursor); 6 state rows across 6 repos (3.18-community, 3.19-community, 3.20-community, 3.21-community, 3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 6, open 0.	https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-22617
`debian`	unimportant	CVE-2023-22617 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (pdns-recursor), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5.	https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-22617
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2023-22617 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (pdns-recursor), 13 status rows across 13 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 5, needs-triage 4, ignored 3, released 1.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-22617

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-22617

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
powerdns	recursor	4.8.0	cpe:2.3:a:powerdns:recursor:4.8.0:::::::*

References for CVE-2023-22617

URL	Tags
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/01/20/1	Mailing List Release Notes Third Party Advisory
https://docs.powerdns.com/recursor/changelog/4.8.html#change-4.8.1	Release Notes Vendor Advisory
https://docs.powerdns.com/recursor/security-advisories/	Vendor Advisory

URL

CVE-2023-22617

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-22617

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-22617

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-22617

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-22617

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-22617

References for CVE-2023-22617