Summary
hickory-proto vulnerable to CPU exhaustion during message encoding due to O(n²) name compression
During message encoding, hickory-proto's BinEncoder stores pointers to labels that are candidates for name compression in a Vec<(usize, Vec<u8>)>. The name compression logic then searches for matches with a linear scan.
A malicious message with many records can both introduce many candidate labels, and invoke this linear scan many times. This can amplify CPU exhaustion in DoS attacks.
This is similar to CVE-2024-8508.
Reporter
Qifan Zhang, Palo Alto Networks
Impact
The application allocates resources such as memory, threads, or file descriptors based on untrusted input without enforcing a cap. Typical impact: resource exhaustion leading to denial of service.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- What is GHSA-Q2QQ-HMJ6-3WPP? GHSA-Q2QQ-HMJ6-3WPP is a medium-severity allocation of resources without limits or throttling vulnerability in hickory-proto (rust), affecting versions >= 0.3.1, <= 0.26.0. It is fixed in 0.26.1. The application allocates resources such as memory, threads, or file descriptors based on untrusted input without enforcing a cap.
- Which versions of hickory-proto are affected by GHSA-Q2QQ-HMJ6-3WPP? hickory-proto (rust) versions >= 0.3.1, <= 0.26.0 is affected.
- Is there a fix for GHSA-Q2QQ-HMJ6-3WPP? Yes. GHSA-Q2QQ-HMJ6-3WPP is fixed in 0.26.1. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is GHSA-Q2QQ-HMJ6-3WPP exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether GHSA-Q2QQ-HMJ6-3WPP is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether GHSA-Q2QQ-HMJ6-3WPP is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix GHSA-Q2QQ-HMJ6-3WPP? Upgrade
hickory-prototo 0.26.1 or later.