← Back to CVE Explorer

CVE-2026-123602

Full vulnerability record from the local CVENow database.

Description

The Hickory DNS recursor in all versions of hickory-recursor and in hickory-resolver 0.26.0-beta.1 before 0.26.2 (recursor feature) is vulnerable to ghost domain names attacks because it reuses child-side apex NS RRsets cached from zone NS queries for iterative resolution. By repeatedly querying a zone's NS records, an attacker keeps the stale RRset cached indefinitely, letting name servers whose delegation the parent revoked keep answering for the zone.

Severity
HIGH
CVSS score
8.2 (v4.0)
Vulnerability status
Received
Source identifier
Published
2026-11-08 02:16:54.960000
Last modified
2026-11-08 02:16:54.960000
View original CVE JSON
{
  "id": "CVE-2026-123602",
  "sourceIdentifier": "[email protected]",
  "published": "2026-11-08T02:16:54.960",
  "lastModified": "2026-11-08T02:16:54.960",
  "vulnStatus": "Received",
  "cveTags": [],
  "descriptions": [
    {
      "lang": "en",
      "value": "The Hickory DNS recursor in all versions of hickory-recursor and in hickory-resolver 0.26.0-beta.1 before 0.26.2 (recursor feature) is vulnerable to ghost domain names attacks because it reuses child-side apex NS RRsets cached from zone NS queries for iterative resolution. By repeatedly querying a zone's NS records, an attacker keeps the stale RRset cached indefinitely, letting name servers whose delegation the parent revoked keep answering for the zone."
    }
  ],
  "affected": [
    {
      "source": "[email protected]",
      "affectedData": [
        {
          "vendor": "hickory-dns",
          "product": "hickory-dns",
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "packageURL": "pkg:cargo/hickory-recursor",
          "versions": [
            {
              "version": "0",
              "lessThanOrEqual": "0.26.0-alpha.1",
              "versionType": "semver",
              "status": "affected"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "vendor": "hickory-dns",
          "product": "hickory-dns",
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "packageURL": "pkg:cargo/hickory-resolver",
          "versions": [
            {
              "version": "0.26.0-beta.1",
              "lessThan": "0.26.2",
              "versionType": "semver",
              "status": "affected"
            },
            {
              "version": "0.26.2",
              "versionType": "semver",
              "status": "unaffected"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "metrics": {
    "cvssMetricV40": [
      {
        "source": "[email protected]",
        "type": "Secondary",
        "cvssData": {
          "version": "4.0",
          "vectorString": "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X",
          "baseScore": 8.2,
          "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
          "attackVector": "NETWORK",
          "attackComplexity": "LOW",
          "attackRequirements": "PRESENT",
          "privilegesRequired": "NONE",
          "userInteraction": "NONE",
          "vulnConfidentialityImpact": "NONE",
          "vulnIntegrityImpact": "HIGH",
          "vulnAvailabilityImpact": "NONE",
          "subConfidentialityImpact": "NONE",
          "subIntegrityImpact": "NONE",
          "subAvailabilityImpact": "NONE",
          "exploitMaturity": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "confidentialityRequirement": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "integrityRequirement": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "availabilityRequirement": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedAttackVector": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedAttackComplexity": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedAttackRequirements": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedPrivilegesRequired": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedUserInteraction": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedVulnConfidentialityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedVulnIntegrityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedVulnAvailabilityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedSubConfidentialityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedSubIntegrityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedSubAvailabilityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "Safety": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "Automatable": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "Recovery": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "valueDensity": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "vulnerabilityResponseEffort": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "providerUrgency": "NOT_DEFINED"
        }
      }
    ],
    "cvssMetricV31": [
      {
        "source": "[email protected]",
        "type": "Primary",
        "cvssData": {
          "version": "3.1",
          "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N",
          "baseScore": 5.9,
          "baseSeverity": "MEDIUM",
          "attackVector": "NETWORK",
          "attackComplexity": "HIGH",
          "privilegesRequired": "NONE",
          "userInteraction": "NONE",
          "scope": "UNCHANGED",
          "confidentialityImpact": "NONE",
          "integrityImpact": "HIGH",
          "availabilityImpact": "NONE"
        },
        "exploitabilityScore": 2.2,
        "impactScore": 3.6
      }
    ]
  },
  "weaknesses": [
    {
      "source": "[email protected]",
      "type": "Primary",
      "description": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "CWE-672"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "references": [
    {
      "url": "https://github.com/hickory-dns/hickory-dns/security/advisories/GHSA-2hxp-x833-73f7",
      "source": "[email protected]"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/hickory-dns-recursor-ghost-domain-attack-via-child-side-ns-rrset-caching",
      "source": "[email protected]"
    }
  ]
}