Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-5172

high Nessus Plugin ID 314261

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Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

- A buffer overflow in dnsmasq's extract_addresses() function allows an attacker to trigger a heap out-of- bounds read and crash by exploiting a malformed DNS response, enabling extract_name() to advance the pointer past the record's end. (CVE-2026-5172)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 314261

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2026_5172.nasl

Version: 1.10

Type: Local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 5/11/2026

Updated: 6/11/2026

Supported Sensors: Agentless Assessment, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 4.2

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5

Temporal Score: 4.5

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-5172

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.3

Temporal Score: 6.9

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:P/RL:U/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:dnsmasq, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:dnsmasq-utils, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:dnsmasq, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:dnsmasq-utils, cpe:/o:centos:centos:8, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9

Required KB Items: Host/cpu, Host/local_checks_enabled, global_settings/vendor_unpatched, Host/OS/identifier

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 5/11/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-5172

Detections

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