---
id: CVE-2026-69184
title: c-ares is an asynchronous resolver library
summary: >-
  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 …
severity: high
cvss: 7.5
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'
cwe:
  - CWE-407
  - CWE-770
vendor: c-ares
product: c-ares
affected:
  - c-ares < 1.34.7
published: '2026-09-18'
updated: '2026-09-24'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-24T21:16:28.120'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-69184'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/commit/5c8341ba6ff3a8e4e4dfd616f8ed0418838b8b7b
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/commit/f1288bbc70e9a1e0a77134c2382157e52d326aea
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/pull/1164'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/pull/1210'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/releases/tag/v1.34.7'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/security/advisories/GHSA-pjmc-gx33-gc76'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: >-
      https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-69184.json
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-69184'
  - url: 'https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2538396'
  - url: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-69184'
  - url: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-69184'
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
  - csaf
  - vex
  - red-hat
epss: 0.00684
epssPercentile: 0.50449
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'yes'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2026-09-18T20:13:18.897117Z'
ingestedAt: '2026-09-18T17:46:41.539Z'
---

## Overview

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.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.

## Vendor advisories

- **Red Hat VEX** · Important · affected: Red Hat Hardened Images, Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 · no fix planned: Red Hat Hardened Images, Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 · updated 2026-09-24 · [vex](https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-69184.json)