CVE-2026-33489: Github.com/coredns/coredns CoreDNS' Transfer Stanza Selection Uses Vulnerability

{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-h8mm-c463-wjq3",
  "modified" : "2026-05-08T15:28:38Z",
  "published" : "2026-04-28T22:44:39Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-33489" ],
  "summary" : "CoreDNS' transfer stanza selection uses lexicographic compare (subzone ACL bypass)",
  "details" : "### Summary\nCoreDNS' transfer plugin can select the wrong ACL stanza when both a parent zone and a more-specific subzone are configured. A permissive parent-zone transfer rule can override a restrictive subzone rule (name-dependent), allowing an unauthorized client to perform AXFR/IXFR for the subzone and retrieve its zone contents.\n\n### Details\nIn plugin/transfer/transfer.go, stanza selection is implemented by longestMatch(), which is documented as \"longest zone match wins\", but it actually chooses the winner via a lexicographic string comparison:\n- zone := \"\" // longest zone match wins (plugin/transfer/transfer.go)\n- if z > zone { zone = z; x = xfr } (plugin/transfer/transfer.go)\n\nSo, a parent zone like example.org. can beat a child zone like a.example.org. purely due to lexicographic ordering (\"example.org.\" > \"a.example.org.\"), even though the child zone is the longer/more specific suffix match. The bypass is data-dependent (some child labels will win, some will lose), making it operationally non-intuitive.\n\n### PoC\n1. Adjust COREDNS_BIN in the PoC to point at right path (see the top-level const definitions for tunables as well)\n2. Run python3 ./acl-repro.py\n3. Expected output:\n*** Baseline (only subzone transfer rule) ***\naxfr a.example.org.: rcode=5 ancount=0 (expected REFUSED=5)\n\n*** Candidate (add permissive parent transfer rule) ***\naxfr a.example.org.: rcode=0 ancount=5 (expected NOERROR=0 with ancount>0)\n\n*** OK ***\nSubzone transfer ACL bypass reproduced: adding a permissive parent-zone stanza can override a stricter child-zone stanza due to lexicographic zone selection.\n\n### Impact\nUnauthorized zone transfer can expose full zone contents to a remote network client that was intended to be denied by a subzone-specific transfer policy.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N"
  }, {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Go",
      "name" : "github.com/coredns/coredns"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "1.14.3"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/coredns/coredns/security/advisories/GHSA-h8mm-c463-wjq3"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-33489"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/coredns/coredns"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/coredns/coredns/releases/tag/v1.14.3"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-862", "CWE-863" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2026-04-28T22:44:39Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2026-05-05T20:16:36Z"
  }
}