.xn--qxam TLD DNSSEC Outage: 2025-09-14

Date: September 14, 2025

Overview

This page gives some details on the .xn--qxam (Greek IDN) TLD DNSSEC outage on September 14, 2025.

Timeline / DNSViz

2025-09-14 10:38:41 UTC — first personally observed DNSSEC failure
2025-09-14 10:39:15 UTC — No RRSIGs (archive.org, archive.is)
2025-09-14 10:42:39 UTC — No RRSIGs
2025-09-14 10:43:53 UTC — No RRSIGs
2025-09-14 10:47:26 UTC — last personally observed DNSSEC failure

I've also included a screenshot, given DNSViz's propensity to lose its archives. September 14, 2025 DNSSEC outage for .xn--qxam

DNSSEC Debugger

Here's a screenshot of my web browser's output from September 14:

September 14, 2025 .xn--qxam TLD DNSSEC outage

Google 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.

$ dig +dnssec ns xn--qxam. @8.8.8.8.

; <<>> dig 9.10.8-P1 <<>> +dnssec ns xn--qxam. @8.8.8.8.
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: SERVFAIL, id: 18498
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags: do; udp: 512
; EDE: 10 (RRSIGs Missing): 46 6f 72 20 78 6e 2d 2d 71 78 61 6d 2f 6e 73 ("For xn--qxam/ns")
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;xn--qxam. IN NS

;; Query time: 94 msec
;; SERVER: 8.8.8.8#53(8.8.8.8)
;; WHEN: Sun Sep 14 10:38:45 UTC 2025
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 58

You have to disable DNSSEC to make DNS queries work:

$ dig +cd ns xn--qxam. @8.8.8.8.

; <<>> dig 9.10.8-P1 <<>> +cd ns xn--qxam. @8.8.8.8.
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 54403
;; flags: qr rd ra cd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 6, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 512
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;xn--qxam. IN NS

;; ANSWER SECTION:
xn--qxam. 10800 IN NS gr-m.ics.forth.gr.
xn--qxam. 10800 IN NS gr-d.ics.forth.gr.
xn--qxam. 10800 IN NS grdns.ics.forth.gr.
xn--qxam. 10800 IN NS gr-c.ics.forth.gr.
xn--qxam. 10800 IN NS estia.ics.forth.gr.
xn--qxam. 10800 IN NS gr-at.ics.forth.gr.

;; Query time: 87 msec
;; SERVER: 8.8.8.8#53(8.8.8.8)
;; WHEN: Sun Sep 14 10:38:45 UTC 2025
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 166

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):

[T] xn--qxam. 86400 IN DS 10384 8 2 10a432dbf0112ce38a83ced26f36ce36aac7a3d37cec8d07583c01a5e9fd8ed1
;; Domain: xn--qxam.
;; No DNSKEY record found for xn--qxam.
[U] No data found for: xn--qxam. type A
;;[S] self sig OK; [B] bogus; [T] trusted; [U] unsigned

Logfile examples

[1757846321] unbound[94343:0] info: validation failure <xn--qxam. NS IN>: No DNSKEY record [misc failure] from 139.91.191.3 for key xn--qxam. while building chain of trust
[1757846435] unbound[94343:0] info: validation failure <xn--qxam. NS IN>: No DNSKEY record [misc failure] from 139.91.1.1 for key xn--qxam. while building chain of trust
[1757846587] unbound[94343:0] info: validation failure <xn--qxam. NS IN>: No DNSKEY record [misc failure] from 139.91.191.3 for key xn--qxam. while building chain of trust
[1757846655] unbound[94343:0] info: validation failure <xn--qxam. NS IN>: No DNSKEY record [misc failure] from 194.0.11.102 for key xn--qxam. while building chain of trust
[1757846751] unbound[94343:0] info: validation failure <xn--qxam. NS IN>: No DNSKEY record [misc failure] from 139.91.191.3 for key xn--qxam. while building chain of trust
[1757846846] unbound[94343:0] info: validation failure <xn--qxam. NS IN>: No DNSKEY record [misc failure] from 139.91.1.1 for key xn--qxam. while building chain of trust