CVE-2025-62408
MediumCVSS 5.9Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk35th percentile - higher than 35% of all known CVEs
Summary
c-ares, an asynchronous resolver library, versions 1.32.3 through 1.34.5 terminate a query after maximum attempts when using read_answer() and process_answer(), which can cause a Denial of Service. This is fixed in version 1.34.6.
Risk Assessment
An attacker can cause a denial of service in applications using c-ares, making name resolution unavailable. This may disrupt services that depend on DNS.
Recommendation
Update the c-ares library to version 1.34.6 or later. Identify applications using c-ares and plan their update.
Other vulnerabilities in c-ares
See all- CVE-2017-1000381High
The `ares_parse_naptr_reply()` function in the c-ares library may read memory outside of the given input buffer if the passed DNS response packet is crafted in a specific way.
- CVE-2016-5180Critical
Heap-based buffer overflow in the ares_create_query function in c-ares 1.x before 1.12.0 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service or possibly execute arbitrary code via a hostname with an escaped trailing dot.
- CVE-2026-69186Medium
In c-ares prior to 1.34.7, ares_dns_parse() trusted attacker-controlled ANCOUNT, NSCOUNT, and ARCOUNT fields before confirming the DNS response contained enough bytes. A malicious DNS response could cause disproportionate heap allocation for a tiny message, degrading or denying name resolution.
- CVE-2026-69184High
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.
- CVE-2026-33630High
c-ares is an asynchronous resolver library. From version 1.32.3 until 1.34.7, a use-after-free / double-free vulnerability exists in query-completion handling. The same flaw is present at multiple points in the resend/finish path.
Original NVD description (English source)
c-ares is an asynchronous resolver library. Versions 1.32.3 through 1.34.5 terminate a query after maximum attempts when using read_answer() and process_answer(), which can cause a Denial of Service. This issue is fixed in version 1.34.6.
Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS

