c-ares: CPU-exhaustion denial of service via unbounded DNS name compression pointer chains (CVE-2026-69184)
Published Last modified Sources: SUSE, Ubuntu, CVE.org, Msrc Update Guide, Red Hat
What is affected, what to do
A flaw was found in c-ares, an asynchronous resolver library. The 'ares_dns_name_parse()' function does not properly limit the total pointer hops or assembled name length when enforcing backward DNS compression pointers.
Update C-ares to version 1.34.7.
- Affected
- C-ares
lt *..1.34.7
- C-ares
- Fixed in
- C-ares
1.34.7
- C-ares
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Metrics
7.5
Priority
XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.
Source: Vendor (CNA), CVSS v3
7.5
CVSS v3
Severity High on the scale from 0 to 10.
Source: SUSE, Ubuntu, CVE.org, Msrc Update Guide, Red Hat
0.5 %
EPSS score
Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.
Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 41.5
Show all metrics
- Severity
- High
Priority (0–325)
The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?
Read in glossary- 77.68 Methodology
Exploit maturity
An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.
Read in glossary- no public PoC known
XIEM Effective CVSS
XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.
Read in glossary- 7.5 Methodology
CVSS v3
CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.
Read in glossary- 7.5
EPSS score
The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.
Read in glossary- 0.5 %
- Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.
EPSS percentile
The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.
Read in glossary- 41.5
- High — this CVE ranks above the median of all CVEs scored today (rank ≥ 36%).
KEV status
The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.
Read in glossary- —
- Published
- CISA assessment (SSVC)
- Exploitation: none known · automatable · Technical impact: partial
- Source: CISA Vulnrichment, as of 18 September 2026
CWE
CWE is a catalogue of typical weakness types in software and hardware — such as flawed input validation, unsafe memory handling or poor authentication. Where a CVE names a concrete vulnerability in a concrete product, a CWE describes the underlying class of defect.
Read in glossary- CWE-407
Detection rules
No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.
Classification under NIS2 and CRA
Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.
NIS2
NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.
Read in glossary- High technical severity: assess and remediate the vulnerability in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2 and document the decision.
CRA
The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.
Read in glossary- From 11.12.2027, Annex I Part II CRA requires manufacturers of affected products with digital elements to handle vulnerabilities without delay and provide security updates.
ISO/IEC 27001
ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.
Read in glossary- Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.
Description
A flaw was found in c-ares, an asynchronous resolver library. The 'ares_dns_name_parse()' function does not properly limit the total pointer hops or assembled name length when enforcing backward DNS compression pointers. A remote attacker, operating a malicious DNS server, can send a specially crafted DNS response containing a long descending pointer chain. This can lead to excessive CPU consumption, causing the single-threaded c-ares event loop to stall and resulting in a denial of service for DNS resolution.
Source: suse_csaf, Ubuntu Security Notices, cvelistv5, NVD (NIST), CVE.org (MITRE), Microsoft Security Update Guide, redhat_csaf
Affected products
The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.
| Affected versions | Fixed in | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| c-ares | c-ares |
|
|
Vendors and products
Affected operating systems
| Linux | ubuntu | c-ares | bionic |
| Linux | ubuntu | c-ares | focal |
| Linux | ubuntu | c-ares | jammy |
| Linux | ubuntu | c-ares | noble |
| Linux | ubuntu | c-ares | resolute |
| Linux | ubuntu | c-ares | xenial |
Weakness classes (CWE)
CWE-407Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity
Class
An algorithm in a product has an inefficient worst-case computational complexity that may be detrimental to system performance and can be triggered by an attacker, typically using crafted manipulations that ensure that the worst case is being reached.
Entry at MITRE CWE-407
References & sources
- github.comc-ares/c-ares/security/advisories/GHSA-pjmc-gx33-gc76x_refsource_CONFIRM
- github.comc-ares/c-ares/pull/1164x_refsource_MISC
- github.comc-ares/c-ares/pull/1210x_refsource_MISC
- github.comc-ares/c-ares/commit/5c8341ba6ff3a8e4e4dfd616f8ed0418838b8b7bx_refsource_MISC
- github.comc-ares/c-ares/commit/f1288bbc70e9a1e0a77134c2382157e52d326aeax_refsource_MISC
- github.comc-ares/c-ares/releases/tag/v1.34.7x_refsource_MISC
Changes to this CVE
Who changed this CVE and when: NVD (analysis, affected products, CVSS), the CVE publisher (CNA) and additional providers such as CISA (ADP).
Record modifiedCISA ADP
CISA assessment (SSVC): exploitation: none known, automatable: yes
Show the original change
Individual changes of this event as published by NVD Type Action Before After SSVC assessment added —{"id":"CVE-2026-69184","role":"CISA Coordinator","options":[{"exploitation":"none"},{"automatable":"yes"},{"technicalImpact":"partial"}],"version":"2.0.3","timestamp":"2026-09-18T20:13:18.897117Z"}Source identifier: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
ReceivedGitHub
CVSS V3.1: AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Weakness type: CWE-407
Description added or changed
Show 10 original changes
Individual changes of this event as published by NVD Type Action Before After Description added —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.CVSS added —AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HWeakness type (CWE) added —CWE-407Affected versions (publisher) added —New affected value received. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/69xxx/CVE-2026-69184.json">CVE-2026-69184</a>Reference added —https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/commit/5c8341ba6ff3a8e4e4dfd616f8ed0418838b8b7bReference added —https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/commit/f1288bbc70e9a1e0a77134c2382157e52d326aeaReference added —https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/pull/1164Reference added —https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/pull/1210Reference added —https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/releases/tag/v1.34.7Reference added —https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/security/advisories/GHSA-pjmc-gx33-gc76Source identifier: security-advisories@github.com
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<a href="https://intel.neosec.eu/en/cve/CVE-2026-69184"><img src="https://intel.neosec.eu/badge/cve/CVE-2026-69184.svg?lang=en" alt="CVE-2026-69184 – NEOSEC Intel" height="20"></a>