CVE-2026-64194: Net::DNS versions through 1.55 for Perl allow Denial of Service via deep DNS compression pointer chains
NLNETLABS · Net::DNS
Vendor fix available · Affected: NLNETLABS Net::DNS · Exploitation: unlikely (under 1%)
Not in CyberSIXT coverage yet: no article names this CVE. This page shows the public record.
Higher than 52% of scored CVEs
DescriptionCVE.org
Net::DNS versions through 1.55 for Perl allow Denial of Service via deep DNS compression pointer chains. Net::DNS::DomainName::decode follows RFC 1035 compression pointers by recursing into itself with no depth limit. It is possible to construct a name which saturates the call stack (at least with larger TCP responses), leading to a potential Denial of Service. The guard `$link < $offset` prevents forward and circular chains, but still allows arbitrarily long backward chains. The per-offset cache (`$cache`) is populated at the start of each call and short-circuits only re-traverses of the same offset - the initial descent through a fresh chain still recurses at full depth. A crafted packet can chain two-byte compression pointers so that each one points two bytes earlier than the previous, producing a chain length of `offset / 2`. For the 14-bit pointer field (max offset 16383) this gives up to ~8191 recursive frames. For a TCP DNS message the limit is the 16-bit length field (~32767 frames). Perl's default C stack handles only a few thousand frames; beyond that the process receives SIGSEGV or similar, which is a denial-of-service for any application parsing untrusted DNS data. The vulnerability is triggered by `Net::DNS::Packet->new(\$wire)` i.e. any point where the library decodes a DNS message from the network.
Affected products1
From the CVE record. A product or version that is not listed is unknown, not unaffected.
- NLNETLABS · Net::DNSup to and including 1.55
On the Atlas
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CoverageNo articles yet
No CyberSIXT article names CVE-2026-64194 yet, so there is no coverage timeline, action brief or change log for it. Everything on this page comes from the public CVE record, CISA KEV, EPSS and the nuclei template index. Search the archive or see the CVEs in the news.
References
- NVD entrynvd.nist.gov
- CVE recordcve.org
- Weakness CWE-674cwe.mitre.org
- Release notesmetacpan.org
- net-dns.org/blog/#release-candidate-for-netdns-1.56net-dns.org
- Issue trackerrt.cpan.org
- openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/07/20/13openwall.com
- lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2026/08/msg00052.htmllists.debian.org