Double free in c-ares
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 3 fixed, 1 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-415 and the CVSS impact.
Summary
c-ares is an asynchronous resolver library. From ver 1.32.3 until 1.34.7, a use-after-free / double-free in c-ares' query-completion handling. The same flaw — a query's callback being invoked while the query is still linked in the channel's internal lookup structures — is present at multiple points in the resend/finish path (timeout handling, response handling, and query dispatch). If the query, or for ares_getaddrinfo() the owning host_query, is freed as a side effect of that callback, it is then accessed and/or freed a second time. This vulnerability is fixed in ver 1.34.7.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- Yes
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA c-ares (c-ares) Fixed in 1.34.7
Red Hat 2 advisories
- RHSA-2026:42096 Released 2026-07-20 · Red Hat rating Importantc-ares security update
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 10) c-ares-devel-1.34.6-2.el10_2
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 10) c-ares-1.34.6-2.el10_2
- RHSA-2026:36192 Released 2026-07-07 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update
- Red Hat Hardened Images c-ares-1.34.7-1.hum1@aarch64, c-ares-1.34.7-1.hum1@src, c-ares-1.34.7-1.hum1@x86_64 +2
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Important. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 10) | Fixed | RHSA-2026:42096 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 10) | Fixed | RHSA-2026:42096 |
| Red Hat Hardened Images | Fixed | RHSA-2026:36192 |
Not affected: 5 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-33630
- 2026-11-04 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Other 5
- https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/security/advisories/GHSA-6wfj-rwm7-3542
- https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/pull/1237
- https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/commit/1fa3b86a0b8d18fe7b60f3228a01d770feb026bc
- https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/commit/d823199b688052dcdc1646f2ab4cb8c16b1c644a
- https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/releases/tag/v1.34.7
More c-ares vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-48538 c-ares: Memory-amplification denial of service via unvalidated DNS header record counts CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.3
- TI-2020-14305 Buffer overflow vulnerability in c-ares before 1_16_1 thru 1_17_0 via function… CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.9
- TI-2016-04481 Heap-based buffer overflow in the ares_create_query function in c-ares 1.x before 1.12.0… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2023-15371 0-byte UDP payload DoS in c-ares CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-48536 c-ares: CPU-exhaustion denial of service via unbounded DNS name compression pointer chains CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2017-14601 The c-ares function `ares_parse_naptr_reply()`, which is used for parsing NAPTR… CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
Sources
- CVE-2026-33630 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-33630 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- CVE-2026-33630 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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