Contiki-NG DNS/mDNS Resolver Out-of-Bounds Read via Unchecked skip_name Traversal Before Transaction-ID Validation
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Adjacent network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Attack requirements
- None
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · None · Low
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA.
Summary
Contiki-NG's DNS/mDNS resolver skip_name() in os/services/resolv/resolv.c walks DNS wire-format name labels with no packet-boundary check, and the caller in newdata() invokes it in a loop iterating nquestions times from the attacker-controlled DNS header before validating the transaction ID. An attacker who sets nquestions higher than the number of complete questions present causes skip_name() to walk past the UDP packet buffer, and the returned pointer is cast to struct dns_answer * for further memory reads. On builds with RESOLV_CONF_SUPPORTS_MDNS enabled, any peer on the local segment can trigger the read unauthenticated via a multicast UDP 5353 packet with no outstanding query required; on standard DNS builds an attacker who can inject a UDP response from port 53 during an outstanding query can trigger the same read. Impact is out-of-bounds read of uip_buf and adjacent memory, disclosing memory contents or crashing the resolver.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| contiki-ng | Contiki-NG | before 04a3f0a0067d2ee87d1f297b6d0f4392d8c98ffe | 04a3f0a0067d2ee87d1f297b6d0f4392d8c98ffe | Patch available | CNA |
- Contiki-NG Vendorcontiki-ng Affected before 04a3f0a0067d2ee87d1f297b6d0f4392d8c98ffe Fixed in 04a3f0a0067d2ee87d1f297b6d0f4392d8c98ffe Patch available CNA
CPE names Threatist (inferred) · 1
Inferred from how NVD named this product before; not given by a source.
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:o:contiki-ng:contiki-ng:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | — | — | contiki-ng |
- cpe:2.3:o:contiki-ng:contiki-ng:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions — — ·contiki-ng
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Contiki-NG (Contiki-NG) Fixed in 04a3f0a0067d2ee87d1f297b6d0f4392d8c98ffe
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-5856
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-8m55-g479-xj8c
References
More contiki-ng vulnerabilities
- TI-2020-14885 An issue was discovered in Contiki through 3.0 and Contiki-NG through 4.5. CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2021-18649 An issue was discovered in Contiki-NG tinyDTLS through master branch 53a0d97. CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2020-16751 In Contiki 4.5, TCP ISNs are improperly random. CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.1
- TI-2018-16029 contiki-ng version 4 contains a Buffer Overflow vulnerability in AQL (Antelope Query… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2018-13749 An issue was discovered in the MQTT server in Contiki-NG before 4.2. CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 10.0
- TI-2023-14381 Contiki-NG has off-by-one error in Antelope DBMS CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
Sources
- CVE-2026-5856 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-5856 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-8m55-g479-xj8c · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences