c-ares: CPU-exhaustion denial of service via unbounded DNS name compression pointer chains (CVE-2026-69184) | HOL Guard CVE

Unknown severity · Source severity not reportedCVE-2026-69184

c-ares: CPU-exhaustion denial of service via unbounded DNS name compression pointer chains

Answer in brief

CVE-2026-69184 records a Unknown severity vulnerability in c-ares: CPU-exhaustion denial of service via unbounded DNS name compression pointer chains. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. The current feed maps c-ares/c-ares (generic). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.

Analysis pending evidence review

HOL Guard separates source facts from reviewed analysis. See the methodology.

Published Sep 18, 2026Updated Sep 18, 2026Source checked Sep 18, 2026First seen by HOL Sep 18, 2026Material review Sep 18, 2026

Upstream Advisory

Key facts

Risk: Unknown severitySource severity not reported
Exploitation: Not marked as known exploited
Affected software: 1 mapped package or product
Fix availability: Not reported

Why this deserves its current priority

A CVSS score is not reported in the current record. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. Treat this as a source-backed prioritization signal, not a statement about your environment.

Analysis status

Analysis pending evidence review

Factual feed record only; HOL analysis is not approved for indexing. Read the methodology.

Affected scope and exposure questions

The current feed maps c-ares/c-ares (generic). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.

Mapped affected packages and fixed versions
Package	Affected range	Fixed version
c-ares/c-aresgeneric	< 1.34.7	Not reported

Recommended response

Check inventory. Check lockfiles and deployed manifests for c-ares/c-ares.
Review the reported fix. Monitor this advisory for an available fix and review any installs of the affected package.

Evidence timeline and material changes

Published upstream
Sep 18, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:record
Source modified
Sep 18, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:record
First seen by HOL
Sep 18, 2026

Sources and claim methodology

Upstream source 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.

Quoted source text, attributed separately from HOL analysis.