diff --git a/acme/challenge.go b/acme/challenge.go
index 131c4f251..82e326e4d 100644
--- a/acme/challenge.go
+++ b/acme/challenge.go
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ func (ch *Challenge) ToLog() (interface{}, error) {
 // 'validated' attributes are updated.
 func (ch *Challenge) Validate(ctx context.Context, db DB, jwk *jose.JSONWebKey, payload []byte) error {
 	// If already valid or invalid then return without performing validation.
-	if ch.Status != StatusPending {
+	if ch.Status != StatusPending && ch.Status != StatusInvalid {
 		return nil
 	}
 	switch ch.Type {
@@ -402,6 +402,7 @@ func dns01Validate(ctx context.Context, ch *Challenge, db DB, jwk *jose.JSONWebK
 	vc := MustClientFromContext(ctx)
 	txtRecords, err := vc.LookupTxt(dns01ChallengeHost(domain))
 	if err != nil {
+		logrus.Warnf("error looking up TXT records for domain %s: %v", domain, err)
 		return storeError(ctx, db, ch, false, WrapError(ErrorDNSType, err,
 			"error looking up TXT records for domain %s", domain))
 	}
@@ -1611,6 +1612,7 @@ func KeyAuthorization(token string, jwk *jose.JSONWebKey) (string, error) {
 func storeError(ctx context.Context, db DB, ch *Challenge, markInvalid bool, err *Error) error {
 	ch.Error = err
 	if markInvalid {
+		logrus.Warnf("marking challenge %s as invalid: %v", ch.ID, err)
 		ch.Status = StatusInvalid
 	}
 	if err := db.UpdateChallenge(ctx, ch); err != nil {
diff --git a/acme/client.go b/acme/client.go
index 8f506ef95..57ec24778 100644
--- a/acme/client.go
+++ b/acme/client.go
@@ -3,9 +3,14 @@ package acme
 import (
 	"context"
 	"crypto/tls"
+	"fmt"
 	"net"
 	"net/http"
+	"os"
 	"time"
+
+	"github.com/miekg/dns"
+	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 )
 
 // Client is the interface used to verify ACME challenges.
@@ -72,8 +77,102 @@ func (c *client) Get(url string) (*http.Response, error) {
 	return c.http.Get(url)
 }
 
+var timeouts [5]time.Duration = [5]time.Duration{(time.Second * 1), (time.Second * 1), (time.Second * 2), (time.Second * 4), (time.Second * 2)}
+
+func ResolveWithTimeout(name, resolver string, qtype, qclass uint16) (*dns.Msg, error) {
+	client := new(dns.Client)
+	msg := &dns.Msg{
+		MsgHdr: dns.MsgHdr{
+			Id:               dns.Id(),
+			RecursionDesired: true,
+		},
+		Question: []dns.Question{{Name: dns.Fqdn(name), Qtype: qtype, Qclass: qclass}},
+	}
+	msg.AuthenticatedData = true
+	msg.SetEdns0(4096, true)
+
+	for i := 0; i < len(timeouts); i++ {
+
+		client.Timeout = timeouts[i]
+		resp, _, err := client.Exchange(msg, fmt.Sprintf("%s:53", resolver))
+		if err == nil && resp.Truncated {
+			tcpConn, _ := dns.Dial("tcp", fmt.Sprintf("%s:53", resolver))
+			resp, _, err = client.ExchangeWithConn(msg, tcpConn)
+		}
+		if err != nil {
+			if err, ok := err.(net.Error); ok && err.Timeout() {
+				logrus.Warnf("Timeout querying %s records '%s' after %v", dns.TypeToString[qtype], name, timeouts[i])
+				continue
+			}
+			return nil, err
+		}
+
+		return resp, nil
+
+	}
+	return nil, &net.DNSError{
+		Name:      name,
+		Err:       "Final timeout.",
+		IsTimeout: true,
+	}
+}
+
+func LookupTxt(name, resolver string) ([]string, error) {
+	logrus.Infof("Using custom resolver %s for lookup of %s", resolver, name)
+	resp, err := ResolveWithTimeout(name, resolver, dns.TypeTXT, dns.ClassINET)
+	if err != nil {
+		logrus.Warnf("Failed to lookup %s: %v", name, err)
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	nsData := []string{}
+	data := []string{}
+
+	// Check if TXT records are present
+	for _, answer := range resp.Answer {
+		if txt, ok := answer.(*dns.TXT); ok {
+			logrus.Infof("Resolved TXT records for %s: %s", name, txt.Txt)
+			data = append(data, txt.Txt...)
+		}
+	}
+	if len(data) > 0 {
+		return data, nil
+	}
+	resp, err = ResolveWithTimeout(name, resolver, dns.TypeCNAME, dns.ClassINET)
+	if err != nil {
+		logrus.Warnf("Failed to lookup %s: %v", name, err)
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	// Check if CNAME records are present
+	for _, answer := range resp.Answer {
+		if cname, ok := answer.(*dns.CNAME); ok {
+			logrus.Infof("Resolved CNAME records for %s: %s", name, cname.Target)
+			// Get NS records for the CNAME
+			resp, err := ResolveWithTimeout(cname.Target, resolver, dns.TypeSOA, dns.ClassINET)
+			if err != nil {
+				logrus.Warnf("Failed to lookup %s: %v", cname.Target, err)
+				continue
+			}
+			for _, answer := range resp.Ns {
+				if ns, ok := answer.(*dns.SOA); ok {
+					logrus.Infof("Resolved NS records for %s: %s", cname.Target, ns.Ns)
+					nsData = append(nsData, ns.Ns)
+				}
+			}
+			for _, ns := range nsData {
+				logrus.Infof("Resolving %s using %s", cname.Target, ns)
+				return LookupTxt(cname.Target, ns)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	return data, nil
+}
 func (c *client) LookupTxt(name string) ([]string, error) {
-	return net.LookupTXT(name)
+	resolver := os.Getenv("DNS_RESOLVER")
+	if resolver != "" {
+		return LookupTxt(name, resolver)
+	}
+	return c.LookupTxt(name)
 }
 
 func (c *client) TLSDial(network, addr string, config *tls.Config) (*tls.Conn, error) {
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 9efb7ad4f..789a7d8fd 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -179,11 +179,13 @@ require (
 	go.opentelemetry.io/otel/metric v1.29.0 // indirect
 	go.opentelemetry.io/otel/trace v1.29.0 // indirect
 	go.opentelemetry.io/proto/otlp v1.2.0 // indirect
+	golang.org/x/mod v0.20.0 // indirect
 	golang.org/x/oauth2 v0.23.0 // indirect
 	golang.org/x/sync v0.8.0 // indirect
 	golang.org/x/sys v0.25.0 // indirect
 	golang.org/x/text v0.18.0 // indirect
 	golang.org/x/time v0.6.0 // indirect
+	golang.org/x/tools v0.24.0 // indirect
 	google.golang.org/genproto v0.0.0-20240903143218-8af14fe29dc1 // indirect
 	google.golang.org/genproto/googleapis/api v0.0.0-20240903143218-8af14fe29dc1 // indirect
 	google.golang.org/genproto/googleapis/rpc v0.0.0-20240903143218-8af14fe29dc1 // indirect
@@ -195,4 +197,5 @@ replace github.com/smallstep/nosql => github.com/hm-edu/nosql v0.4.1-0.202405061
 require (
 	github.com/eclipse/paho.mqtt.golang v1.4.3
 	github.com/gorilla/websocket v1.5.0 // indirect
+	github.com/miekg/dns v1.1.61
 )
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index d7ce6f9bc..943bdd211 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -393,6 +393,8 @@ github.com/mattn/go-isatty v0.0.20 h1:xfD0iDuEKnDkl03q4limB+vH+GxLEtL/jb4xVJSWWE
 github.com/mattn/go-isatty v0.0.20/go.mod h1:W+V8PltTTMOvKvAeJH7IuucS94S2C6jfK/D7dTCTo3Y=
 github.com/mgutz/ansi v0.0.0-20200706080929-d51e80ef957d h1:5PJl274Y63IEHC+7izoQE9x6ikvDFZS2mDVS3drnohI=
 github.com/mgutz/ansi v0.0.0-20200706080929-d51e80ef957d/go.mod h1:01TrycV0kFyexm33Z7vhZRXopbI8J3TDReVlkTgMUxE=
+github.com/miekg/dns v1.1.61 h1:nLxbwF3XxhwVSm8g9Dghm9MHPaUZuqhPiGL+675ZmEs=
+github.com/miekg/dns v1.1.61/go.mod h1:mnAarhS3nWaW+NVP2wTkYVIZyHNJ098SJZUki3eykwQ=
 github.com/miekg/pkcs11 v1.0.3-0.20190429190417-a667d056470f/go.mod h1:XsNlhZGX73bx86s2hdc/FuaLm2CPZJemRLMA+WTFxgs=
 github.com/miekg/pkcs11 v1.1.1 h1:Ugu9pdy6vAYku5DEpVWVFPYnzV+bxB+iRdbuFSu7TvU=
 github.com/miekg/pkcs11 v1.1.1/go.mod h1:XsNlhZGX73bx86s2hdc/FuaLm2CPZJemRLMA+WTFxgs=
@@ -585,6 +587,8 @@ golang.org/x/mod v0.1.1-0.20191105210325-c90efee705ee/go.mod h1:QqPTAvyqsEbceGzB
 golang.org/x/mod v0.4.2/go.mod h1:s0Qsj1ACt9ePp/hMypM3fl4fZqREWJwdYDEqhRiZZUA=
 golang.org/x/mod v0.6.0-dev.0.20220419223038-86c51ed26bb4/go.mod h1:jJ57K6gSWd91VN4djpZkiMVwK6gcyfeH4XE8wZrZaV4=
 golang.org/x/mod v0.8.0/go.mod h1:iBbtSCu2XBx23ZKBPSOrRkjjQPZFPuis4dIYUhu/chs=
+golang.org/x/mod v0.20.0 h1:utOm6MM3R3dnawAiJgn0y+xvuYRsm1RKM/4giyfDgV0=
+golang.org/x/mod v0.20.0/go.mod h1:hTbmBsO62+eylJbnUtE2MGJUyE7QWk4xUqPFrRgJ+7c=
 golang.org/x/net v0.0.0-20180724234803-3673e40ba225/go.mod h1:mL1N/T3taQHkDXs73rZJwtUhF3w3ftmwwsq0BUmARs4=
 golang.org/x/net v0.0.0-20180826012351-8a410e7b638d/go.mod h1:mL1N/T3taQHkDXs73rZJwtUhF3w3ftmwwsq0BUmARs4=
 golang.org/x/net v0.0.0-20190213061140-3a22650c66bd/go.mod h1:mL1N/T3taQHkDXs73rZJwtUhF3w3ftmwwsq0BUmARs4=
@@ -686,6 +690,8 @@ golang.org/x/tools v0.0.0-20200103221440-774c71fcf114/go.mod h1:TB2adYChydJhpapK
 golang.org/x/tools v0.1.1/go.mod h1:o0xws9oXOQQZyjljx8fwUC0k7L1pTE6eaCbjGeHmOkk=
 golang.org/x/tools v0.1.12/go.mod h1:hNGJHUnrk76NpqgfD5Aqm5Crs+Hm0VOH/i9J2+nxYbc=
 golang.org/x/tools v0.6.0/go.mod h1:Xwgl3UAJ/d3gWutnCtw505GrjyAbvKui8lOU390QaIU=
+golang.org/x/tools v0.24.0 h1:J1shsA93PJUEVaUSaay7UXAyE8aimq3GW0pjlolpa24=
+golang.org/x/tools v0.24.0/go.mod h1:YhNqVBIfWHdzvTLs0d8LCuMhkKUgSUKldakyV7W/WDQ=
 golang.org/x/xerrors v0.0.0-20190410155217-1f06c39b4373/go.mod h1:I/5z698sn9Ka8TeJc9MKroUUfqBBauWjQqLJ2OPfmY0=
 golang.org/x/xerrors v0.0.0-20190513163551-3ee3066db522/go.mod h1:I/5z698sn9Ka8TeJc9MKroUUfqBBauWjQqLJ2OPfmY0=
 golang.org/x/xerrors v0.0.0-20190717185122-a985d3407aa7/go.mod h1:I/5z698sn9Ka8TeJc9MKroUUfqBBauWjQqLJ2OPfmY0=