# CVE-2026-123602: Hickory DNS Recursor Ghost Domain Attack via Child-Side NS RRset Caching

Status: published. Published: 2026-11-08. Updated: 2026-11-08.

The Hickory DNS recursor in all versions of hickory-recursor and in hickory-resolver 0.26.0-beta.1 before 0.26.2 (recursor feature) is vulnerable to ghost domain names attacks because it reuses child-side apex NS RRsets cached from zone NS queries for iterative resolution. By repeatedly querying a zone's NS records, an attacker keeps the stale RRset cached indefinitely, letting name servers whose delegation the parent revoked keep answering for the zone.

## Remediation

No remediation reported in collected sources

## Affected products and versions

- hickory-dns / hickory-dns (hickory-recursor): ≥ 0; ≤ 0.26.0-alpha.1 (affected, semver). Source: CNA: VulnCheck
- hickory-dns / hickory-dns (hickory-resolver): ≥ 0.26.0-beta.1; < 0.26.2 (affected, semver); 0.26.2 (unaffected, semver). Source: CNA: VulnCheck

## Severity and prioritization

- CVSS 4.0: 8.2 (high); CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N; source: CNA: VulnCheck

- CVSS 3.1: 5.9 (medium); CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N; source: CNA: VulnCheck

- CISA KEV: No listing in collected sources

- EPSS: Not available

- SSVC: Not available

- Weaknesses: CWE-672

## Exploit evidence

No exploit evidence in collected sources. This is not proof of no exploitation.

## References

- https://github.com/hickory-dns/hickory-dns/security/advisories/GHSA-2hxp-x833-73f7 (CNA: VulnCheck; vendor-advisory)

- https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/hickory-dns-recursor-ghost-domain-attack-via-child-side-ns-rrset-caching (CNA: VulnCheck; third-party-advisory)

## Provenance

- CNA: VulnCheck: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-123602; retrieved 2026-11-08; source updated 2026-11-08

Revision: e050f4d76536a3814d77aa588871fa464aa5dbcb29e484adff7e6038a3655871

Canonical: https://y2.dev/cve/CVE-2026-123602

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