# CVE-2026-12969: Dnsmasq: dnsmasq: out-of-bounds read in find_soa() due to missing extrabytes validation

> A remote attacker can trigger an out-of-bounds read in dnsmasq via crafted DNS responses, potentially exposing stale memory data.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 23 Jun 2026
- **Updated:** 31 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-91164, BELL-CVE-2026-12969, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-12969, ECHO-a259-9ba0-438c, GHSA-wmwj-946w-3m8w, SUSE-SU-2026:22668-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-12969, openSUSE-SU-2026:11172-1

## What is CVE-2026-12969?

CVE-2026-12969 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Redhat Enterprise Linux, published on 23 Jun 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An out-of-bounds read vulnerability exists in dnsmasq's find_soa() function in src/rfc1035.c. When parsing NS section records, extract_name() is called with extrabytes=0, failing to validate that 10 additional bytes exist for fixed-length DNS record fields. A remote attacker controlling a DNS zone can exploit this via a crafted NXDOMAIN response to cause a 10-byte heap out-of-bounds read, potentially accessing stale data from prior transactions.

Weakness: CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-12969?

It affects 2 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `dnsmasq` | SUSE:Linux Micro 6.1 | All versions | 2.93-slfo.1.1_2.1 |
| `dnsmasq` | openSUSE:Tumbleweed | All versions | 2.93-2.1 |

Products: Redhat Enterprise Linux, Thekelleys Dnsmasq.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-12969?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-12969 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-12969 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Redhat Enterprise Linux

- [CVE-2018-14667](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-14667/): Red Hat JBoss RichFaces Framework Expression Language Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2021-20325](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-20325/): Missing fixes for CVE-2021-40438 and CVE-2021-26691 in the versions of httpd, as shipped in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.5.0, causes a securit (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2018-25011](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-25011/): Memory corruption in libwebp (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2018-25014](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-25014/): Other in libwebp (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2014-3585](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-3585/): Supply chain in redhat-upgrade-tool (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-12969 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-12969 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Redhat Enterprise Linux, published on 23 Jun 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-12969 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Redhat Enterprise Linux. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-12969/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-12969/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-12969
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-12969
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-12969

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-12969/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.