CVE-2020-25685

LOW
3.7
CVSS Score
Published: January 20, 2021 at 12:00 AM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 03:07 AM UTC
4 products affected across 4 vendorsDebian LinuxFedoraEos

Using dnsmasq by N/A?

Get instant alerts when new vulnerabilities affect dnsmasq - before attackers find them.

Real-time alertsTrack your software stackFree plan available
Severity
LOW3.7
Exploit prediction
EPSS 2%

Description

A flaw was found in dnsmasq before version 2.83. When getting a reply from a forwarded query, dnsmasq checks in forward.c:reply_query(), which is the forwarded query that matches the reply, by only using a weak hash of the query name. Due to the weak hash (CRC32 when dnsmasq is compiled without DNSSEC, SHA-1 when it is) this flaw allows an off-path attacker to find several different domains all having the same hash, substantially reducing the number of attempts they would have to perform to forge a reply and get it accepted by dnsmasq. This is in contrast with RFC5452, which specifies that the query name is one of the attributes of a query that must be used to match a reply. This flaw could be abused to perform a DNS Cache Poisoning attack. If chained with CVE-2020-25684 the attack complexity of a successful attack is reduced. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data integrity.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

4.21 ≤ v < 4.21.14m4.22 ≤ v < 4.22.9m4.23 ≤ v < 4.23.7m4.24 ≤ v < 4.24.5m4.25 ≤ v < 4.25.2f
Affected range stops below 4.21.14m, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 4.22.9m, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 4.23.7m, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 4.24.5m, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 4.25.2f, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
v < 2.832.83
Affected range stops below 2.83, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

CVSS

Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
HIGH
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
LOW
Availability
NONE
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-326

Get alerted

Stop reading CVE feeds looking for your own stack

Track the products you run and VulnTracker tells you when a new CVE affects them — with what is known about fixing it, and nothing about the rest.

Free plan, no card