dnssec-tools.org DNSSEC Outage:
2017-10-11 - 2017-11-17

Updated: November 18, 2017

Overview

This page gives some details on the dnssec-tools.org DNSSEC outage from October 11 to November 17, 2017.

Timeline / DNSViz

DNSSEC Debugger

Unlike DNSViz, Verisign's DNSSEC Debugger doesn't archive results, so here's a screenshot of my web browser's output from October 11, 2017:

October 11, 2017 dnssec-tools.org DNSSEC outage

Google Public DNS: with and without DNSSEC

DNSSEC can be disabled in queries via the CD (checking disabled) bit. Let's compare DNS queries with and without DNSSEC.

With DNSSEC, DNS queries fail:

$ dig +dnssec a dnssec-tools.org. @8.8.8.8

; <<>> DiG 9.4.2-P2 <<>> +dnssec a dnssec-tools.org. @8.8.8.8
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: SERVFAIL, id: 46801
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags: do; udp: 512
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;dnssec-tools.org. IN A

;; Query time: 147 msec
;; SERVER: 8.8.8.8#53(8.8.8.8)
;; WHEN: Wed Oct 11 14:25:19 2017
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 45

You have to disable DNSSEC to make DNS queries work:

$ dig +cd a dnssec-tools.org. @8.8.8.8

; <<>> DiG 9.4.2-P2 <<>> +cd a dnssec-tools.org. @8.8.8.8
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 2917
;; flags: qr rd ra cd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;dnssec-tools.org. IN A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
dnssec-tools.org. 299 IN A 64.90.35.104

;; Query time: 39 msec
;; SERVER: 8.8.8.8#53(8.8.8.8)
;; WHEN: Wed Oct 11 14:25:19 2017
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 50

drill trace

Since DNSSEC contains so much garbage, I put the complete drill trace into its own file with the relevant portion below (emphasis added):

;; Domain: dnssec-tools.org.
[B] dnssec-tools.org. 300 IN DNSKEY 256 3 5 ;{id = 19221 (zsk), size = 1024b}
dnssec-tools.org. 300 IN DNSKEY 257 3 5 ;{id = 34816 (ksk), size = 4096b}
dnssec-tools.org. 300 IN DNSKEY 256 3 5 ;{id = 3147 (zsk), size = 1024b}
[B] dnssec-tools.org. 300 IN A 64.90.35.104
;; Error: No keys with the keytag and algorithm from the RRSIG found
;;[S] self sig OK; [B] bogus; [T] trusted

Logfile examples