IdeaWell

Project ideas from Hacker News discussions.

DOOM Over DNS

Original Article

Hacker News Discussion

📝 Discussion Summary (Click to expand)

3 Dominant Themes

# Theme Representative Quote
1 DNS is a storage medium, not an execution platform – many users stress that the discussion is about storing Doom in DNS records, not running it there. “DNS has an explicit mechanism for storing data.” – antonvs
2 Playful, boundary‑pushing proof‑of‑concepts – the community is fascinated by putting Doom on odd protocols (DNS, ICMP, ping‑fs, etc.) as a creative hack. “Playing Doom on Ping‑as‑Storage” – TZubiri
3 Skepticism about over‑hyping protocol abuse – several commenters warn that just because something can be done doesn’t mean it should, citing misuse, unnecessary complexity, or “abuse of trust”. “Just because you can doesn't mean you should.” – Wowfunhappy

These three themes capture the core of the discussion: a clarification of semantics, an enthusiasm for unconventional hacks, and a critical view of the hype surrounding them.

🚀 Project Ideas

DNSConfig.io – Tiny Config Distribution via DNS TXT

Summary

  • Provide a lightweight, zero‑setup service to store and retrieve small configuration blobs (JSON/YAML) in DNS TXT records for developers and CI pipelines.
  • Core value proposition: eliminate secret‑management overhead and enable shareable configs that can be version‑ed and cached globally.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Developers, DevOps engineers, CI/CD pipelines
Core Feature Client‑side resolver that fetches multiple TXT records matching a pattern and assembles them into a single config file
Tech Stack Node.js CLI, Cloudflare Workers for DNS record management, JSON schema validation
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: $0.01 per 1 k record fetches on a free tier, $9/mo for up to 1 M fetches, $0.001 per additional fetch

Notes

  • HN commenters praised “storing data in DNS” and see clear utility for config distribution without third‑party secrets managers.
  • Potential for discussion: integration with GitHub Actions and GitLab CI, plus open‑source reference implementation.

CacheFlush DNS – Edge Cache Invalidation via DNS TTL Manipulation

Summary

  • Offer a SaaS that lets developers control cache lifetimes by embedding TTL metadata in DNS TXT records, enabling instant invalidation of CDN‑served assets.
  • Core value proposition: programmatic cache clearing without hard‑coding URLs or exposing API keys.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Front‑end engineers, CDN administrators, SaaS product teams
Core Feature API to set or retrieve TTL values from DNS TXT records; automatic purge of cached resources on change
Tech Stack Python backend, FastAPI, Redis for state, Cloudflare Workers for edge execution
Difficulty High
Monetization Revenue-ready: $15/mo per domain, volume discount after 10 domains, enterprise custom pricing

Notes- Users in the thread mentioned DNS as a “file storage system” and discussed TTL usage; this product directly addresses that insight.

  • Sparks conversation about the ethical limits of DNS abuse while providing legitimate cache‑control benefits.

Deteched DNS – Real‑Time Abuse Monitoring & Sandbox for DNS‑Based Data Exfiltration#Summary

  • Build a monitoring platform that continuously scans DNS TXT records for anomalous data patterns, isolates suspicious payloads, and provides safe execution sandboxing.
  • Core value proposition: protect networks from covert DNS tunneling and data‑exfiltration while still allowing legitimate DNS storage use.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Security engineers, SOC teams, network administrators
Core Feature Passive DNS sensor farm, pattern‑recognition engine, sandboxed execution of extracted binaries for analysis
Tech Stack Go microservices, Elasticsearch for indexing, Cuckoo Sandbox for malware execution, Grafana dashboard
Difficulty High
Monetization Revenue-ready: $200/mo per monitored domain, tiered pricing for up to 5 k domains, free tier limited to 100 queries/day

Notes

  • The discussion highlighted DNS as a covert storage channel; this service directly mitigates that risk.
  • Likely to generate strong interest from security‑focused HN participants and could attract partnership inquiries with DNS providers.

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