CVE-2026-63387

Libevent: Off-by-one stack buffer overflow in dnsname_to_labels via crafted DNS server response

Published Aug 20, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 7 High EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
Libevent is an event notification library. Prior to 2.1.13 and 2.2.2-alpha, libevent has an off-by-one stack buffer overflow in evdns.c when dnsname_to_labels formats a name-bearing DNS record at the end of the 64 KB stack buffer allocated by evdns_server_request_format_response. The final-label check permits j plus label_len plus one to equal buf_len, after which the terminating null byte is written to buf[buf_len]. A crafted DNS server response containing PTR, CNAME, MX, NS, or SOA data can trigger the one-byte out-of-bounds write and crash or corrupt the process. This issue is fixed in versions 2.1.13 and 2.2.2-alpha.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Debian DLA Debian DLA DLA-4786-1 libevent security update
Debian DSA Debian DSA DSA-6493-1 libevent security update
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'poc', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Libevent Project
Libevent Project libevent
Vendors & Products Libevent Project
Libevent Project libevent
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description Libevent is an event notification library. Prior to 2.1.13 and 2.2.2-alpha, libevent has an off-by-one stack buffer overflow in evdns.c when dnsname_to_labels formats a name-bearing DNS record at the end of the 64 KB stack buffer allocated by evdns_server_request_format_response. The final-label check permits j plus label_len plus one to equal buf_len, after which the terminating null byte is written to buf[buf_len]. A crafted DNS server response containing PTR, CNAME, MX, NS, or SOA data can trigger the one-byte out-of-bounds write and crash or corrupt the process. This issue is fixed in versions 2.1.13 and 2.2.2-alpha.
Title Libevent: Off-by-one stack buffer overflow in dnsname_to_labels via crafted DNS server response
Weaknesses CWE-121
CWE-193
CWE-787
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 7, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
GitHub_M
Published
Updated
Aug 25, 2026, 3:12 PM
Reserved
Jul 16, 2026, 5:39 PM
Status
Awaiting Analysis
Published
Aug 20, 2026, 6:16 PM
Modified
Oct 26, 2026, 10:10 AM
Severity
Important
Public date
Aug 20, 2026, 5:53 PM