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CVE.org (no NVD analysis yet)· CNA VulnCheck

CVE-2026-123588: Hickory DNS Recursive Resolver Denial of Service via Cached Empty Connection Pool

HighCVSS 8.7 · v4.0—No exploit Fix available

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 34/100)

  • The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.34% (FIRST EPSS).
  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • According to CISA the attack is automatable: targets can be found by mass scanning.
  • Fixed version: hickory-dns hickory-dns 0.26.2.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to hickory-dns hickory-dns 0.26.2 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

The recursive resolver in Hickory DNS (all versions of the hickory-recursor crate, and hickory-resolver 0.26.0 before 0.26.2) caches an empty connection pool when it follows a referral with no glue records and all queries for the name servers' IP addresses fail. An attacker able to spoof DNS responses can make these lookups fail, causing all subsequent queries for the affected zone to fail until the cache entry expires or is evicted.

Published
Nov 8, 2026
Updated
Nov 12, 2026
EPSS
0.3% · 28th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

34

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
34 / 40 · 8.7 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.3%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
none
Automatable
yes
Technical impact
partial

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
—
CNA · VulnCheck
8.7
NVD has not scored this yet; the score shown is the CNA’s.

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Get told when this record changes

  • Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
  • No public exploit code on record
  • A fix has been released

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Follow CVE-2026-123588

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

—

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (VulnCheck). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • hickory-dns hickory-dns

    • 0.26.2not affected
    • up to and including 0.26.0-alpha.1affected · semver
    • 0.26.0 and later · before 0.26.2affected · semver

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Debian:13rust-hickory-recursorfrom 0—
Debian:13rust-hickory-resolverfrom 0—
Debian:14rust-hickory-resolverbefore 0.26.3-10.26.3-1

Same product

hickory-dns: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2026-123587Hickory-DNS 0.26.0 before 0.26.2 DNSSEC Nonexistence Forgery via Wraparound NSEC
    35Monitor
  • CVE-2026-123608Hickory DNS hickory-proto 0.3.1 before 0.26.1 CPU Exhaustion via BinEncoder Name Compression
    34Monitor
  • CVE-2026-123607Hickory DNS NSEC3 Closest-Encloser Proof Unbounded Loop Denial of Service
    34Monitor

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2026-123585Nov 8, 2026 · Hickory DNS 0.25.0 before 0.26.2 Query Amplification via Irrelevant CNAME Records
    27Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2026-123586Nov 8, 2026 · Hickory DNS 0.25.0-alpha.3 through 0.25.2 Query Amplification via Cyclic Referrals
    34Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2026-123589Nov 8, 2026 · Hickory DNS before 0.26.2 Denial of Service via Missing DNS-over-QUIC Request Read Timeout
    27Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
hickory-dns hickory-dns0.26.2Vendor (CNA)
debian:rust-hickory-resolver0.26.3-1 · Debian:14Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

  1. Published
  2. Fix recordedsame day
  3. TodayNov 13, 2026+6 d
EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

Not on record for this CVE: patch commit or PR link · variant or chain candidate · public bounty program.

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
Integrity
Availability
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
X

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-754 · Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions

CVSS vector

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

nvd-secondary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

Change log

  1. SSVC exploitation— → none
  2. Exploit maturity— → none
  3. Fix✗ → ✓

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

Show all references (1 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records