The Hickory DNS recursor in all versions of hickory-recursor and in hickory-resolver 0.26.0-beta.1 before 0.26.2 (recursor feature) is vulnerable to ghost domain names attacks because it reuses child-side apex NS RRsets cached from zone NS queries for iterative resolution. By repeatedly querying a zone's NS records, an attacker keeps the stale RRset cached indefinitely, letting name servers whose delegation the parent revoked keep answering for the zone.

Attack Vector Network

Attack Complexity Low

Privileges Required None

Attack Requirements Present

User Interaction None

Vulnerable System Confidentiality Impact None

Vulnerable System Integrity Impact High

Vulnerable System Availability Impact None

Subsequent System Confidentiality Impact None

Subsequent System Integrity Impact None

Subsequent System Availability Impact None

Attack Vector Network

Attack Complexity High

Privileges Required None

Scope Unchanged

Confidentiality Impact None

Integrity Impact High

Availability Impact None

User Interaction None

No CVSS v3.0

No CVSS v2

This CVE is not in the KEV list.

No EPSS score available.

Key SSVC decision points have not yet been added.

Default status is the baseline for the product, each version can override it (e.g. patched versions marked unaffected).

Vendor Product Default status Versions
hickory-dns hickory-dns unaffected
Version Status Constraints
0 affected ≤ 0.26.0-alpha.1
hickory-dns hickory-dns unaffected
Version Status Constraints
0.26.0-beta.1 affected < 0.26.2
0.26.2 unaffected —

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Project Subscriptions

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Advisories

No advisories yet.

Fixes

Solution

No solution given by the vendor.

Workaround

No workaround given by the vendor.

References
Link Providers
https://github.com/hickory-dns/hickory-dns/security/advisories/GHSA-2hxp-x833-73f7 cve-icon cve-icon
https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/hickory-dns-recursor-ghost-domain-attack-via-child-side-ns-rrset-caching cve-icon cve-icon
History

Sun, 08 Nov 2026 01:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description The Hickory DNS recursor in all versions of hickory-recursor and in hickory-resolver 0.26.0-beta.1 before 0.26.2 (recursor feature) is vulnerable to ghost domain names attacks because it reuses child-side apex NS RRsets cached from zone NS queries for iterative resolution. By repeatedly querying a zone's NS records, an attacker keeps the stale RRset cached indefinitely, letting name servers whose delegation the parent revoked keep answering for the zone.
Title Hickory DNS Recursor Ghost Domain Attack via Child-Side NS RRset Caching
Weaknesses CWE-672
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.9, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N'}

cvssV4_0

{'score': 8.2, 'vector': 'CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N'}

Projects

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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: VulnCheck

Published:

Updated: 2026-11-08T01:38:30.008Z

Reserved: 2026-11-06T01:00:16.506Z

Link: CVE-2026-123602

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-11-08T02:16:54.960

Modified: 2026-11-08T02:16:54.960

Link: CVE-2026-123602

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-11-08T03:15:08Z

Weaknesses