CVE-2026-45409
Description
A flaw was found in the idna library, which handles Internationalized Domain Names in Python applications. A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending specially crafted, excessively long inputs to the library's encoding function. This could cause the system to consume significant resources, leading to a Denial of Service (DoS), where the affected application becomes unavailable to legitimate users. This issue stems from an incomplete fix for a previously identified vulnerability.
Statement
A flaw was found in the python-idna library. This is an incomplete fix for CVE-2024-3651. The idna.encode() function performs contextual validation checks (valid_contexto) before rejecting oversized inputs, allowing specially crafted long payloads to cause excessive CPU consumption and lead to a denial of service. The fix in version 3.14 rejects long inputs early before further processing, and version 3.15 extends this approach to alternate per-label conversion and codec functions.
Mitigation
To mitigate this denial-of-service vulnerability, applications utilizing the `idna` Python library should implement input validation to ensure that domain names do not exceed the standard 253-character length limit before being passed to the `idna.encode()` function. This operational control prevents the processing of excessively long inputs that could lead to resource exhaustion and service unavailability.
Applications that pass user-controlled data directly to `idna.encode()` without validation checks (e.g.: DNS length < 254 chars) are affected.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 5.3 | 5.3 | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Network | Network | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | Low | Low | N/A |
| Privileges Required | None | None | N/A |
| User Interaction | None | None | N/A |
| Scope | Unchanged | Unchanged | N/A |
| Confidentiality | None | None | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | None | None | N/A |
| Availability Impact | Low | Low | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory); DoS: Resource Consumption (Other)
When allocating resources without limits, an attacker could prevent other systems, applications, or processes from accessing the same type of resource. It can be easy for an attacker to consume many resources by rapidly making many requests or causing larger resources to be used than is needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
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