CVE-2026-69184
c-ares: CPU-exhaustion denial of service via unbounded DNS name compression pointer chains
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.
INFO
Published Date :
Sept. 18, 2026, 6:17 p.m.
Last Modified :
Sept. 18, 2026, 6:17 p.m.
Remotely Exploit :
Yes !
Source :
[email protected]
Affected Products
The following products are affected by CVE-2026-69184
vulnerability.
Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the
products
that
are
affected, the information is not represented in the table below.
No affected product recoded yet
CVSS Scores
| Score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability Score | Impact Score | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS 3.1 | HIGH | [email protected] |
Solution
- Update c-ares to version 1.34.7 or later.
- Ensure DNS responses are validated for length.
- Monitor DNS resolution performance.
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools
Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth
information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to
CVE-2026-69184.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration
While CVE identifies
specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or
weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-69184 is
associated with the following CWEs:
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification
(CAPEC)
stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and
approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2026-69184
weaknesses.
We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).
Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.
The following list is the news that have been mention
CVE-2026-69184 vulnerability anywhere in the article.
The following table lists the changes that have been made to the
CVE-2026-69184 vulnerability over time.
Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.
-
New CVE Received by [email protected]
Sep. 18, 2026
Action Type Old Value New Value Added 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. Added CVSS V3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Added CWE CWE-407 Added Affected New affected value received. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/69xxx/CVE-2026-69184.json">CVE-2026-69184</a> Added Reference https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/commit/5c8341ba6ff3a8e4e4dfd616f8ed0418838b8b7b Added Reference https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/commit/f1288bbc70e9a1e0a77134c2382157e52d326aea Added Reference https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/pull/1164 Added Reference https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/pull/1210 Added Reference https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/releases/tag/v1.34.7 Added Reference https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/security/advisories/GHSA-pjmc-gx33-gc76