CVE-2026-123602

Hickory DNS Recursor Ghost Domain Attack via Child-Side NS RRset Caching

Published Nov 8, 2026 CVSS 4.0 · 8.2 High EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
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.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

No advisories available
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Hickory-dns
Hickory-dns hickory-dns
Vendors & Products Hickory-dns
Hickory-dns hickory-dns
Type Values Removed Values Added
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.
Title Hickory DNS Recursor Ghost Domain Attack via Child-Side NS RRset Caching
Weaknesses CWE-672
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.9, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N'}

cvssV4_0

{'score': 8.2, 'vector': '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'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
VulnCheck
Published
Updated
Nov 9, 2026, 1:53 PM
Reserved
Nov 6, 2026, 1:00 AM
Status
Deferred
Published
Nov 8, 2026, 2:16 AM
Modified
Nov 10, 2026, 10:15 PM