High

Netty has Insufficient Bailiwick Validation for NS Records

  • Disclosed: 08.06.2026
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 13:20

Summary

Netty's DnsResolveContext insufficiently validates the bailiwick of NS records, enabling DNS Cache Poisoning. An attacker controlling an authoritative name server for a subdomain can poison the cache for parent domains (like .co.uk).

Details

In io.netty.resolver.dns.DnsResolveContext.AuthoritativeNameServerList#add method accepts any NS record from the AUTHORITY section as long as the record's name is a suffix of the questionName.

This means if the resolver queries evil.co.uk., it will accept an NS record claiming authority over co.uk.. Subsequently, the handleWithAdditional method caches the associated A records from the ADDITIONAL section directly into the authoritativeDnsServerCache under the parent domain's key (co.uk.). This bypasses standard bailiwick rules, where a server authoritative for a subdomain should not be trusted to provide authoritative records for its parent. The poisoned cache is then used for all future resolutions under co.uk..

The io.netty.resolver.dns.DnsResolveContext.AuthoritativeNameServerList#cache method only prevents caching if the record is for the root zone (dots == 1).

Impact

DNS Cache Poisoning. Any application using Netty's DNS resolver is impacted.

Affected software

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PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Java / Kotlin (Maven) io.netty:netty-resolver-dns >= 4.2.0.Final, < 4.2.15.Final, < 4.1.135.Final 4.2.15.Final, 4.1.135.Final

References

CVSS score 8.7/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-345, CWE-346
Platform
Java / Kotlin (Maven)
Package
io.netty:netty-resolver-dns
Disclosed
08.06.2026
Updated
11.10.2026 13:20

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-5pvg-856g-cp85 - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: io.netty:netty-resolver-dns

All published vulnerabilities of this package (Java / Kotlin (Maven)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

Total entries
3
First → latest
06.2026 06.2026
Without a fix
0
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • High 2
  • Medium 1

Disclosures per year

  1. 2026: 3
  1. Netty has Insufficient Bailiwick Validation for NS Records this entry
    High · 8.7 CVE-2026-47691 >= 4.2.0.Final, < 4.2.15.Final, < 4.1.135.Final 4.2.15.Final, 4.1.135.Final
  2. High · 8.7 CVE-2026-45674 >= 4.2.0.Final, < 4.2.15.Final, < 4.1.135.Final 4.2.15.Final, 4.1.135.Final
  3. Medium · 6.8 CVE-2026-45673 >= 4.2.0.Final, < 4.2.15.Final, < 4.1.135.Final 4.2.15.Final, 4.1.135.Final

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