CVE-2025-11232 Invalid characters cause assert
A remote attacker can crash the Kea DHCP server by sending specific option content when DDNS qualifying suffix is configured.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2025-11232?
CVE-2025-11232 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in ISC Kea, published on 29 Oct 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
To trigger the issue, three configuration parameters must have specific settings: "hostname-char-set" must be left at the default setting, which is "[^A-Za-z0-9.-]"; "hostname-char-replacement" must be empty (the default); and "ddns-qualifying-suffix" must *NOT* be empty (the default is empty). DDNS updates do not need to be enabled for this issue to manifest. A client that sends certain option content would then cause kea-dhcp4 to exit unexpectedly. This issue affects Kea versions 3.0.1 through 3.0.1 and 3.1.1 through 3.1.2.
Weakness: CWE-823
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-11232?
Linux distribution packages (14)
kea-doc AlmaLinux:10 | All versions | 3.0.1-2.el10_1 |
kea Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:3.0.1-2.el10_1 |
kea-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:3.0.1-2.el10_1 |
kea-debugsource Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:3.0.1-2.el10_1 |
kea-devel-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:3.0.1-2.el10_1 |
kea-doc Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:3.0.1-2.el10_1 |
kea-hooks Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:3.0.1-2.el10_1 |
kea-hooks-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:3.0.1-2.el10_1 |
kea-keama Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:3.0.1-2.el10_1 |
kea-keama-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:3.0.1-2.el10_1 |
kea-libs Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:3.0.1-2.el10_1 |
kea-libs-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:3.0.1-2.el10_1 |
kea Rocky Linux:10 | All versions | 0:3.0.1-2.el10_1 |
kea openSUSE:Tumbleweed | All versions | 3.0.2-1.1 |
How do I fix CVE-2025-11232?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2025-11232 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-11232 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as ALSA-2025:21038, GHSA-wcxf-jmjh-x27q, RHSA-2025:21038, RLSA-2025:21038, openSUSE-SU-2025:15677-1.