Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessGain presence on local network segment
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DeliverySend DHCP leasequery to dnsmasq
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ExploitServer skips source-address check
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ExecutionReceive lease records
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ImpactHarvest IPs, MACs, hostnames for recon
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A01:2025 - Broken Access Control
ASVS 5.0
V8 - Authorization Authorization checks on every request
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Privilege Escalation The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires two specific preconditions: (1) the dnsmasq DHCP leasequery feature must be explicitly enabled by an administrator - it is off by default - and (2) it must be configured without a list of allowed source addresses, so the server performs no check on who sent the query. The attacker must also be positioned on the same local/adjacent network as the server (AV:A), limiting exploitation to on-link hosts rather than arbitrary remote attackers. No authentication or user interaction is needed once those conditions hold (PR:N/UI:N). Impact is confined to disclosure of DHCP lease metadata (assigned IPs, MAC addresses, hostnames, lease details); there is no integrity or availability impact. The off-by-default, non-standard-configuration requirement is the primary factor limiting real-world exposure. |
| Impact | All available signals point to a genuinely low-to-moderate real-world risk rather than an urgent priority. The CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N, base 4.3) describes an unauthenticated, low-complexity attack but one bounded to the adjacent/local network (AV:A, not AV:N) with only low confidentiality impact and no integrity or availability impact (C:L/I:N/A:N) - consistent with the information-disclosure nature of CWE-862 (Missing Authorization). The vuln.today decision label is 'this_month', not act_now or emergency, which aligns with a non-critical, patch-in-routine-cycle posture. No CISA KEV listing is present, so there is no confirmed active exploitation; no EPSS score was supplied in the input, so exploitation probability cannot be quantified here; and no proof-of-concept or exploit reference appears among the references (only the Red Hat advisory and Bugzilla entry), so there is no public exploit identified at time of analysis. The single most important mitigating factor is that the vulnerable behavior exists only when an administrator has explicitly enabled DHCP leasequery without listing allowed source addresses - the feature is off by default - so the exposed population is far smaller than the CPE list of Red Hat products suggests. Net assessment: a real but minor issue, appropriately rated medium, that leaks lease metadata to an on-link attacker under a non-default configuration; not a high-urgency item. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker with a foothold on the same local network segment as a dnsmasq server that has DHCP leasequery enabled without an allowed-source-address list sends a leasequery request to the server. Because the server does not verify who sent the query, it returns lease records, and the attacker harvests assigned IP addresses, MAC addresses, hostnames, and related lease metadata for network reconnaissance. No public exploit was identified at time of analysis, and the adjacent-network attack vector means the attacker must already be on the local link. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Oct 29, 2026
DHCP lease metadata disclosure in dnsmasq (CVE-2026-93010) occurs when the DHCP leasequery feature has been switched on without an allow-list of permitted query sources, letting any host on the local network pull lease records - assigned IP addresses, MAC addresses, hostnames and related lease metadata. The package is shipped across Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 through 10 and is bundled into Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4, Ceph Storage 9 and OpenStack Platform builds, but the vulnerable feature is off unless an administrator explicitly enables it. Severity is capped at a confidentiality-only leak (CVSS 4.3, adjacent-network attack vector), and no public exploit code or active exploitation has been identified at time of analysis.
RemediationAI
Vendor-tracked fixes and per-product errata status are published at https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-93010 and in Red Hat Bugzilla 2536081; no single exact fixed dnsmasq version is given in the available data, so confirm the corrected package version for each affected RHEL, OpenShift, Ceph Storage or OpenStack branch from those advisories before upgrading. Where patching cannot happen immediately, the exposure is removed by configuration: disable DHCP leasequery entirely (omit the dhcp-leasequery / --dhcp-leasequery option) at the cost of losing leasequery-based address tracking, or, if leasequery is genuinely required, configure it with an explicit list of allowed source addresses so dnsmasq enforces the sender check - this preserves functionality but requires that every legitimate leasequery consumer's address be enumerated and kept current. Both mitigations depend on restricting who can reach the server's DHCP port on the local segment, so pairing them with DHCP snooping and port-level access control on switches limits which on-link hosts can send leasequery packets at all.
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Technical ContextAI · show details
dnsmasq is a compact DNS forwarder, DHCP/DHCPv6 server and TFTP server widely deployed on embedded devices, in libvirt virtual networks and on enterprise Linux hosts. DHCP leasequery (RFC 4388) is an optional extension that lets an external agent - typically an access concentrator, BRAS or IPAM/address-tracking system - ask the DHCP server which client currently holds a given IP address or MAC address. The root cause here is CWE-862 (Missing Authorization): when leasequery is enabled but no explicit list of allowed source addresses is configured, dnsmasq performs no check on who sent the query and answers any requester on the link. This is an access-control omission rather than a memory-safety or parsing defect, so the exposure is a read-only information leak of lease data; the assessed vector CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N reflects an adjacent-network attacker needing no credentials and no user interaction, with no integrity or availability impact. The exact packet-level trigger is not described in the available sources; what is documented is the configuration precondition - leasequery enabled plus an empty source-address allow-list - and the requirement that the attacker be on the same local/adjacent network segment.
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Severity by source
AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
On-link attacker (AV:A) sends a leasequery with no authentication (PR:N) and no source check (AC:L, PR:N); impact is lease-metadata disclosure only, so C:L and I:N/A:N.
Primary rating from Vendor (redhat).
CVSS VectorVendor: redhat
DescriptionCVE.org
A flaw was found in dnsmasq. When DHCP leasequery is enabled without listing allowed source addresses, the server does not check who sent the query. A host on the local network can request DHCP lease records and learn assigned addresses, MAC addresses, hostnames, and related lease metadata. The feature is off unless an administrator turns it on.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.
Affected Products (CPE)CVE.org
Heap-based buffer overflow in dnsmasq before 2.78 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) or execut
Heap-based buffer overflow in dnsmasq before 2.78 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) or execut
In dnsmasq before 2.78, if the DNS packet size does not match the expected size, the size parameter in a memset call get
Memory leak in dnsmasq before 2.78, when the --add-mac, --add-cpe-id or --add-subnet option is specified, allows remote
Integer underflow in the add_pseudoheader function in dnsmasq before 2.78 , when the --add-mac, --add-cpe-id or --add-su
Stack-based buffer overflow in dnsmasq before 2.78 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) or execu
CRLF injection in the Dnsmasq configuration path of Oray Pugongying X5 Pro 7.6.1 lets a user who already holds administr
dnsmasq before 2.78, when configured as a relay, allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive memory information via vect
Improper bounds checking in Dnsmasq before 2.76 allows an attacker controlled DNS server to send large DNS packets that
The tcp_request function in Dnsmasq before 2.73rc4 does not properly handle the return value of the setup_reply function
Dnsmasq before 2.66test2, when used with certain libvirt configurations, replies to queries from prohibited interfaces,
Heap-based buffer overflow in dnsmasq's DHCPv6 implementation enables local attackers to execute arbitrary code with roo
EUVD-2026-112825
GHSA-2r7h-m3qh-f4cj
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Exploit-DB