diff --git a/dnsapi/dns_linode_v4.sh b/dnsapi/dns_linode_v4.sh
index 9504afbf7e..12682dbf1e 100755
--- a/dnsapi/dns_linode_v4.sh
+++ b/dnsapi/dns_linode_v4.sh
@@ -126,34 +126,41 @@ _Linode_API() {
 # _domain=domain.com
 # _domain_id=12345
 _get_root() {
-  domain=$1
+  full_host_str="$1"
+
   i=2
   p=1
+  while true; do
+    # loop through the received string (e.g.  _acme-challenge.sub3.sub2.sub1.domain.tld),
+    # starting from the lowest subdomain, and check if it's a hosted domain
+    h=$(printf "%s" "$full_host_str" | cut -d . -f $i-100)
+    _debug h "$h"
+    if [ -z "$h" ]; then
+      #not valid
+      return 1
+    fi
 
-  if _rest GET; then
-    response="$(echo "$response" | tr -d "\n" | tr '{' "|" | sed 's/|/&{/g' | tr "|" "\n")"
-    while true; do
-      h=$(printf "%s" "$domain" | cut -d . -f $i-100)
-      _debug h "$h"
-      if [ -z "$h" ]; then
-        #not valid
-        return 1
-      fi
-
+    _debug "Querying Linode APIv4 for hosted zone: $h"
+    if _H4="X-Filter: {\"domain\":\"$h\"}" _rest GET; then
+      _debug "Got response from API: $response"
+      response="$(echo "$response" | tr -d "\n" | tr '{' "|" | sed 's/|/&{/g' | tr "|" "\n")"
       hostedzone="$(echo "$response" | _egrep_o "\{.*\"domain\": *\"$h\".*}")"
       if [ "$hostedzone" ]; then
         _domain_id=$(printf "%s\n" "$hostedzone" | _egrep_o "\"id\": *[0-9]+" | _head_n 1 | cut -d : -f 2 | tr -d \ )
+        _debug "Found domain hosted on Linode DNS. Zone: $h, id: $_domain_id"
         if [ "$_domain_id" ]; then
-          _sub_domain=$(printf "%s" "$domain" | cut -d . -f 1-$p)
+          _sub_domain=$(printf "%s" "$full_host_str" | cut -d . -f 1-$p)
           _domain=$h
           return 0
         fi
         return 1
       fi
+
       p=$i
       i=$(_math "$i" + 1)
-    done
-  fi
+    fi
+  done
+
   return 1
 }
 
@@ -169,6 +176,7 @@ _rest() {
   export _H1="Accept: application/json"
   export _H2="Content-Type: application/json"
   export _H3="Authorization: Bearer $LINODE_V4_API_KEY"
+  export _H4 # used to query for the root domain on _get_root()
 
   if [ "$mtd" != "GET" ]; then
     # both POST and DELETE.