---
id: CVE-2026-123602
title: Hickory DNS Recursor Ghost Domain Attack via Child-Side NS RRset Caching
summary: >-
  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 …
severity: medium
cvss: 5.9
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N'
cvssSource: cna
cwe:
  - CWE-672
vendor: hickory-dns
product: hickory-dns
affected:
  - hickory-dns <= 0.26.0-alpha.1
  - hickory-dns >= 0.26.0-beta.1 < 0.26.2
published: '2026-11-08'
updated: '2026-11-08'
sourceUpdated: '2026-11-08T01:38:30.008Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-123602'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/hickory-dns/hickory-dns/security/advisories/GHSA-2hxp-x833-73f7
    label: GitHub Security Advisory (GHSA-2hxp-x833-73f7)
  - url: >-
      https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/hickory-dns-recursor-ghost-domain-attack-via-child-side-ns-rrset-caching
    label: >-
      VulnCheck Advisory: Hickory DNS Recursor Ghost Domain Attack via
      Child-Side NS RRset Caching
tags:
  - cve.org
ingestedAt: '2026-11-08T02:43:18.642Z'
---

## Overview

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.

## Affected

- `hickory-dns <= 0.26.0-alpha.1`
- `hickory-dns >= 0.26.0-beta.1 < 0.26.2`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.