Description
The nscd service in the GNU C Library 2.3.4 onwards may crash due to a
stack overflow when a malicious DNS server returns too large a response
for a DNS query, resulting in degraded DNS resolution for the system.



Exploitation of this bug needs a system that has nscd enabled and using
an untrusted DNS server for name resolution, with the compromised DNS
server being capable of processing records large enough to result in a
stack overflow in an nscd thread stack.  During experimentation, bind 9
was unable to handle large records, but that could change in future or
with a different name server.  In typical installations, nscd is
executed in an isolated context as its own user without a shell, due to
which any compromise of that service is isolated.



There is a remote possibility of nscd cache corruption if an attacker
manages to get the stack pointer into a desired point in the heap,
potentially resulting in other caches in nscd being overwritten with
corrupt data through the stack overflow, until the buggy code path
eventually results in a crash.



Finally, a crash in nscd may result in performance degradation when
resolving names, but it does not result in a denial of service.
Published: 2026-09-11
Score: 4.2 Medium
EPSS: n/a
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
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History

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 01:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description The nscd service in the GNU C Library 2.3.4 onwards may crash due to a stack overflow when a malicious DNS server returns too large a response for a DNS query, resulting in degraded DNS resolution for the system. Exploitation of this bug needs a system that has nscd enabled and using an untrusted DNS server for name resolution, with the compromised DNS server being capable of processing records large enough to result in a stack overflow in an nscd thread stack.  During experimentation, bind 9 was unable to handle large records, but that could change in future or with a different name server.  In typical installations, nscd is executed in an isolated context as its own user without a shell, due to which any compromise of that service is isolated. There is a remote possibility of nscd cache corruption if an attacker manages to get the stack pointer into a desired point in the heap, potentially resulting in other caches in nscd being overwritten with corrupt data through the stack overflow, until the buggy code path eventually results in a crash. Finally, a crash in nscd may result in performance degradation when resolving names, but it does not result in a denial of service.
Title Stack overflow in nscd due to unbounded alloca use
Weaknesses CWE-789
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 4.2, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L'}


Subscriptions

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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: glibc

Published:

Updated: 2026-09-11T01:23:01.162Z

Reserved: 2026-09-10T20:18:09.584Z

Link: CVE-2026-89092

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-09-11T02:18:35.460

Modified: 2026-09-11T02:18:35.460

Link: CVE-2026-89092

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.

Weaknesses
  • CWE-789

    Memory Allocation with Excessive Size Value