CVE-2026-5172
Published: May 13, 2026Last modified: May 19, 2026
Description
A buffer overflow in dnsmasq’s extract_addresses() function allows an attacker to trigger a heap out-of-bounds read and crash by exploiting a malformed DNS response, enabling extract_name() to advance the pointer past the record’s end.
Severity score breakdown
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Base score | 7.3 |
| Attack Vector | NETWORK |
| Attack complexity | LOW |
| Privileges required | NONE |
| User interaction | NONE |
| Scope | UNCHANGED |
| Confidentiality | LOW |
| Integrity impact | LOW |
| Availability impact | LOW |
| Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L |
Status
| Product | Release | Package | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpaquita Linux | 23 LTS | dnsmasq | Fixed (2.90-r1) |
| 25 LTS | dnsmasq | Fixed (2.91-r1) | |
| Stream | dnsmasq | Fixed (2.92_p2-r0) |
References
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:19158
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-5172
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2458521
- https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/519082
- https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/519093
- https://github.com/pi-hole/FTL/releases/tag/v6.6.2
- https://lists.thekelleys.org.uk/pipermail/dnsmasq-discuss/2026q2/018471.html
- https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-5172.json
- https://thekelleys.org.uk/dnsmasq/CVE/
- https://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/471747