CoreDNS 1.x DoS via REWRITE plugin Nil OPT deref - <1.14.5
CVE-2026-62299 Published on July 16, 2026
CoreDNS: rewrite-plugin EDNS0 response-revert nil-pointer panic (remote DoS) when a downstream plugin returns a response with no OPT record
CoreDNS is a DNS server written in Go. Prior to 1.14.5, the CoreDNS rewrite plugin supports edns0 rewrite rules with an optional revert flag, and two response rules, edns0SetResponseRule and edns0ReplaceResponseRule[T] in plugin/rewrite/edns0.go, call res.IsEdns0() and immediately dereference the returned *dns.OPT without a nil check when a downstream plugin returns a response with no OPT record. A remote, unauthenticated client can send a single ordinary DNS query matching a rewrite edns0 <local|nsid|subnet> <set|append|replace> ... revert rule, causing ResponseReverter in plugin/rewrite/reverter.go to panic, return SERVFAIL, and degrade availability, or crash the CoreDNS process if the debug directive disables recovery. This issue is fixed in version 1.14.5.
Vulnerability Analysis
CVE-2026-62299 can be exploited with network access, and does not require authorization privileges or user interaction. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. An automatable proof of concept (POC) exploit exists. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to have no impact on confidentiality and integrity, and a small impact on availability.
Weakness Type
NULL Pointer Dereference
A NULL pointer dereference occurs when the application dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid, but is NULL, typically causing a crash or exit. NULL pointer dereference issues can occur through a number of flaws, including race conditions, and simple programming omissions.