CVE-2026-12969 | Dnsmasq: dnsmasq: out-of-bounds read in find_soa() due to missing extrabytes validation

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.

Published: 2026-06-23 Last update: 2026-06-23 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Awaiting Analysis，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2026-12969 is rated Low Risk (26.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.25%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-12969

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-24 — 0.25% —

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-12969

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.3 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.9 1.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-12969

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-12969

GHSA-wmwj-946w-3m8w · Severity: medium — An out-of-bounds read vulnerability exists in dnsmasq's find_soa() function in src/rfc1035.c....

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-12969

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2026-12969 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (dnsmasq), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): open 3, resolved 2. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-12969
suse medium — https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-12969/
ubuntu medium CVE-2026-12969 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (dnsmasq), 9 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, questing, resolute, trusty, upstream, xenial): needs-triage 9. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-12969

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-12969

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
No affected products in dataset.

References for CVE-2026-12969

cvelogic Threat Intelligence