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CVE-2026-6238

MEDIUMCVSS 6.5/10EPSS 0.31%

Last modified

CVE-2026-6238 is a medium-severity vulnerability rated 6.5/10 on the CVSS scale. The deprecated functions ns_printrrf, ns_printrr and fp_nquery in the GNU C Library version 2.0.1 to version 2.43 fail to validate the RDATA content against the RDATA length in a DNS response when processing A6, CERT, LOC, TKEY or TSIG records, which may allow an attacker to craft a DNS response, causing a target application to crash or read uninitialized memory. These functions are for application debugging only and hence not in the path of code executed by the DNS resolver. Further, they have been deprecated since version 2.34 and should not be used by any new applications. EPSS estimates a 0.31% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

Description

The deprecated functions ns_printrrf, ns_printrr and fp_nquery in the GNU C Library version 2.0.1 to version 2.43 fail to validate the RDATA content against the RDATA length in a DNS response when processing A6, CERT, LOC, TKEY or TSIG records, which may allow an attacker to craft a DNS response, causing a target application to crash or read uninitialized memory. These functions are for application debugging only and hence not in the path of code executed by the DNS resolver. Further, they have been deprecated since version 2.34 and should not be used by any new applications. Applications should consider porting away from these interfaces since they may be removed in future versions.

Metrics

CVSS 3.1
6.5/10

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:L

EPSS Probability
0.31%

23.0th percentile

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days. Learn more

Weakness Enumeration

Affected Software

VendorProductVersions
GnuGlibc>= 2.2

References

Timeline

Published
Last Modified
Status
Modified

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-6238?
The deprecated functions ns_printrrf, ns_printrr and fp_nquery in the GNU C Library version 2.0.1 to version 2.43 fail to validate the RDATA content against the RDATA length in a DNS response when processing A6, CERT, LOC, TKEY or TSIG records, which may allow an attacker to craft a DNS response, causing a target application to crash or read uninitialized memory. These functions are for application debugging only and hence not in the path of code executed by the DNS resolver. Further, they have been deprecated since version 2.34 and should not be used by any new applications. Applications should consider porting away from these interfaces since they may be removed in future versions.
How severe is CVE-2026-6238?
CVE-2026-6238 has a CVSS score of 6.5/10 (MEDIUM severity). The EPSS model estimates a 0.31% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
How do I fix CVE-2026-6238?
Check the vendor references and advisories linked above for patched versions and mitigation guidance. You can also run a Strix scan to test if your systems are affected.

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Source: NVD / NIST