CVE-2026-123601
Received Received - Intake

DNSSEC Forgery in Hickory DNS hickory-proto and hickory-net

Publication date: 2026-11-08

Last updated on: 2026-11-08

Assigner: VulnCheck

Description
Hickory DNS hickory-proto 0.25.0 through 0.26.0-alpha.1 and hickory-net 0.26.0-beta.1 before 0.26.2 invert the relational operators in the wrap-around branch of find_covering_record() in nsec3.rs, so the last NSEC3 record in a zone's hash ring covers every hash except its owner. Attackers able to inject DNS responses can replay that NSEC3 record and its RRSIG to forge DNSSEC-validated negative responses denying legitimate names.

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Meta Information

Published
2026-11-08
Last Modified
2026-11-08
Generated
2026-11-08
AI Q&A
2026-11-08
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
CVE-2026-123601
EUVD
EUVD-2026-119360

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 2 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
hickory hickory-proto From 0.25.0 (inc) to 0.26.0-alpha.1 (inc)
hickory hickory-net From 0.26.0-beta.1 (inc) to 0.26.2 (exc)

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Exploitability

CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-480 The product accidentally uses the wrong operator, which changes the logic in security-relevant ways.

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Executive Summary

This vulnerability affects Hickory DNS versions 0.25.0 through 0.26.0-alpha.1 and 0.26.0-beta.1 before 0.26.2. It involves incorrect inversion of relational operators in the find_covering_record() function in nsec3.rs. This causes the last NSEC3 record in a zone's hash ring to cover every hash except its own owner. Attackers can exploit this by injecting malicious DNS responses to forge DNSSEC-validated negative responses, denying legitimate domain names.

Impact Analysis

Attackers can exploit this flaw to forge DNSSEC-validated negative responses, potentially blocking access to legitimate websites or services. This could lead to denial of service for users relying on DNSSEC validation. Systems using vulnerable Hickory DNS versions may incorrectly validate forged DNS responses as legitimate.

Mitigation Strategies

Upgrade Hickory DNS to version 0.26.2 or later for hickory-net and ensure hickory-proto is updated to a non-vulnerable version. Review DNSSEC configurations and monitor for forged negative responses.

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