VulnerabilityAnalyzed

CVE-2026-12969

An out-of-bounds read vulnerability exists in dnsmasq's find_soa() function in src/rfc1035.c.

MEDIUM 5.3EPSS 0.40%

Does this matter?

Lower severity and a low EPSS score (0.40%). Track it; it rarely justifies an emergency change on its own.

Description

An out-of-bounds read vulnerability exists in dnsmasq's find_soa() function in src/rfc1035.c. When parsing NS section records, extract_name() is called with extrabytes=0, failing to validate that 10 additional bytes exist for fixed-length DNS record fields. A remote attacker controlling a DNS zone can exploit this via a crafted NXDOMAIN response to cause a 10-byte heap out-of-bounds read, potentially accessing stale data from prior transactions.

CVSS 3.1: 5.3 MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
EPSS: 0.40% probability · 34th percentile
CISA KEV: Not listed
Weakness: CWE-125
Affected: redhat/enterprise linux · thekelleys/dnsmasq
Source: secalert@redhat.com

References

https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-12969Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2491663Issue Tracking, Vendor Advisory

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.