Serve designated private reverse zones locally to stop query leakage

Frame this document as a source-led configuration and assurance check: Serve designated private reverse zones locally to stop query leakage. Only the official source and traced locations below supply facts. Confirm applicability before acting.

Source fact:

The official RFC 6303 — Locally Served DNS Zones from RFC Editor / Internet Engineering Task Force supports the following bounded statements:

• Unless configured otherwise, a resolver serves the designated reverse zones locally and returns authoritative name errors for names below each zone. The research record locates this support at Section 3 (Changes to Iterative Resolver Behaviour).
• Implementations must allow local serving to be disabled and should support enabling or disabling it one zone at a time. The research record locates this support at Section 3 (Changes to Iterative Resolver Behaviour), configuration control.
• The initial local-zone list covers reverse namespaces for permanently assigned special-purpose address space. The research record locates this support at Section 4 (Lists Of Zones Covered).

The source support ends with the statements listed above. Use them to examine authoritative zones, delegations, resolvers, caches, record owners, and the clients that consume the resulting answers in the applicable environment, not to imply a wider guarantee.

What the source does not establish

This RFC evidence supports only the named DNS protocol decision; it does not prove Windows implementation support or a safe production configuration. No current deployment state or change approval follows from the source alone. Validate Windows DNS roles, Active Directory-integrated data, forwarding paths, time, routing, firewalls, and registrar or registry state, and treat examples or options as conditional inputs rather than defaults.

Applicability questions

• For source statement 1 at Section 3 (Changes to Iterative Resolver Behaviour), which observable configuration, record, or test can confirm applicability here?
• For source statement 2 at Section 3 (Changes to Iterative Resolver Behaviour), configuration control, which observable configuration, record, or test can confirm applicability here?
• For source statement 3 at Section 4 (Lists Of Zones Covered), which observable configuration, record, or test can confirm applicability here?
• Within authoritative zones, delegations, resolvers, caches, record owners, and the clients that consume the resulting answers, which versions, roles, and configuration states define the review population?
• Could Windows DNS roles, Active Directory-integrated data, forwarding paths, time, routing, firewalls, and registrar or registry state invalidate the test, hide a failure, or change applicability?
• Who owns the decision, and which observation requires stopping, escalation, or rollback?

DSE recommendation:

DSE recommends using the cited source as the evidence anchor for this decision. Make the source, asset scope, owner, and expected outcome explicit in the review record. Record the source location, examined part of authoritative zones, delegations, resolvers, caches, record owners, and the clients that consume the resulting answers, observed and expected states, owner, and reason for deviation.

An implementation decision needs an owner, approved window, prechecks, observable outcome, stop authority, and rollback path. Validate Windows DNS roles, Active Directory-integrated data, forwarding paths, time, routing, firewalls, and registrar or registry state before and after the test, and store only sanitized operational evidence.

Verification and evidence

A reviewer should be able to retrace the decision from Section 3 (Changes to Iterative Resolver Behaviour); Section 3 (Changes to Iterative Resolver Behaviour), configuration control; Section 4 (Lists Of Zones Covered) through zone data, packet captures, query transcripts, delegation checks, resolver configuration, and negative-answer behavior. Record what was collected, where, when, by whom, and which system or role it represents.

Retain the starting state, authorization, execution record, outcome, deviation, and final state as one review package. Move disruptive checks to an approved test path. Reopen the decision when versions, design, dependencies, ownership, or official guidance changes.

Official references

• RFC 6303 — Locally Served DNS Zones — RFC Editor / Internet Engineering Task Force