CVE-2026-69184
Published: August 15, 2026Last modified: August 20, 2026
Description
c-ares is an asynchronous resolver library. Prior to 1.34.7, ares_dns_name_parse() enforces backward DNS compression pointers but does not bound the total pointer hops or assembled name length. A malicious DNS server can send a response containing a long descending pointer chain and many resource records whose NAME or RDATA fields refer to the chain, causing repeated decompression work that grows quadratically with message size. A single crafted response can stall the single-threaded c-ares event loop and deny DNS resolution, without causing memory corruption or information disclosure. This issue is fixed in version 1.34.7.
Severity score breakdown
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Base score | 7.5 |
| Attack Vector | NETWORK |
| Attack complexity | LOW |
| Privileges required | NONE |
| User interaction | NONE |
| Scope | UNCHANGED |
| Confidentiality | NONE |
| Integrity impact | NONE |
| Availability impact | HIGH |
| Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
Status
| Product | Release | Package | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpaquita Linux | 23 LTS | c-ares | Not affected (1.18.1-r1) |
| 25 LTS | c-ares | Fixed (1.34.8-r0) | |
| Stream | c-ares | Fixed (1.34.8-r0) | |
| Hardened Containers | 25 LTS | c-ares | Fixed (1.34.8-r0) |
| Stream | c-ares | Fixed (1.34.8-r0) |
References
- https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/commit/5c8341ba6ff3a8e4e4dfd616f8ed0418838b8b7b
- https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/commit/f1288bbc70e9a1e0a77134c2382157e52d326aea
- https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/pull/1164
- https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/pull/1210
- https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/releases/tag/v1.34.7
- https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/security/advisories/GHSA-pjmc-gx33-gc76