Zephyr's DNS resolver (subsys/net/lib/dns) parses resource records from DNS responses in dns_unpack_answer(), which validated only the fixed RR header (type, class, TTL, rdlength) and accepted any attacker-declared rdlength, including one extending past the end of the received datagram. The TXT and SRV consumers in dns_validate_record() (resolve.c) then read up to rdlength bytes (clamped only to a record-type maximum such as DNS_MAX_TEXT_SIZE, default 64, not to the packet) from the receive buffer via memcpy without their own bounds check, and pass the result to the application's resolve callback. A malicious or spoofed DNS server, an on-path attacker forging UDP DNS replies, or (with mDNS/LLMNR enabled) any LAN node can craft a truncated TXT or SRV response that causes an out-of-bounds read of adjacent receive-pool memory; the disclosed stale bytes (residual contents of prior DNS packets / uninitialized pool memory) are returned to the application as TXT/SRV record contents, an information leak, and may in some configurations cross the allocation boundary and fault, causing a denial of service. The read is bounded (~64 bytes for TXT, ~6 for SRV) and read-only (no write). The fix rejects any record whose declared rdata extends past dns_msg->msg_size at the single chokepoint in dns_unpack_answer(). Affected: v4.3.0 and v4.4.0.
Fix
Patch, vendor advisory and mitigation references on NVD 3
- https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/commit/58b46c81c6796dac4dc7391f32ba006474f94dc8 Patch
- https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/security/advisories/GHSA-3jxq-xx8g-q8j2 Exploit, Patch, Vendor Advisory
- https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/security/advisories/GHSA-3jxq-xx8g-q8j2 Exploit, Patch, Vendor Advisory
Every line above is quoted from NVD, CISA, Microsoft, the vendor's own advisory or DISA; nothing is generated.
Change history 1
- First seenCVSS 7.4 · zephyrprojectNVD modified 2026-10-15 23:17
Affected (CPE criteria) 1
cpe:2.3:o:zephyrproject:zephyr:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
References 3
- https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/commit/58b46c81c6796dac4dc7391f32ba006474f94dc8 Patch
- https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/security/advisories/GHSA-3jxq-xx8g-q8j2 Exploit, Patch, Vendor Advisory
- https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/security/advisories/GHSA-3jxq-xx8g-q8j2 Exploit, Patch, Vendor Advisory