{
  "affected": [
    {
      "database_specific": {
        "last_known_affected_version_range": "\u003c= 4.2.15.Final"
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Maven",
        "name": "io.netty:netty-codec-dns"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "4.2.0.Final"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "4.2.16.Final"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "database_specific": {
        "last_known_affected_version_range": "\u003c= 4.1.135.Final"
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Maven",
        "name": "io.netty:netty-codec-dns"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "4.1.136.Final"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "aliases": [],
  "database_specific": {
    "cwe_ids": [
      "CWE-772"
    ],
    "github_reviewed": true,
    "github_reviewed_at": "2026-07-24T16:52:50Z",
    "nvd_published_at": null,
    "severity": "MODERATE"
  },
  "details": "### Summary\nA memory leak can be caused in Netty\u0027s DNS codec by sending malicious DNS packets containing invalid domain names. Because the leak occurs incrementally per packet, sustained malicious requests will cause a gradual Denial of Service.\n\n### Details\nInside `io.netty.handler.codec.dns.AbstractDnsRecord`, the parsed domain name string is passed to `IDN.toASCII(name)`. If the domain name contains characters that violate IDNA rules, `IDN.toASCII` throws an `IllegalArgumentException`.\n\nBecause this exception occurs inside the constructor before the `DnsRecord` instance can assign the buffer to its content field for later release, the ByteBuf whose reference count was incremented (or newly allocated) is never released, resulting in a direct memory leak.\n\nThere are several places where variants of this leak happen:\n- `io.netty.handler.codec.dns.DefaultDnsRecordDecoder#decodeRecord(java.lang.String, io.netty.handler.codec.dns.DnsRecordType, int, long, io.netty.buffer.ByteBuf, int, int)` invokes `in.retainedDuplicate()` or creates a new buffer `out` when constructing `DefaultDnsRawRecord`\n- `io.netty.handler.codec.dns.DnsCodecUtil#decompressDomainName` allocates a new `ByteBuf` and passes it to `encodeDomainName()`. If the decompressed domain name contains a null byte (`\\0`), `encodeDomainName()` throws an `IllegalArgumentException`, leaking the newly allocated buffer.\n\n### Impact\nResource Exhaustion. Any application utilizing Netty\u0027s DnsRecordDecoder (such as DnsNameResolver or custom DNS servers) is vulnerable.",
  "id": "GHSA-mfg7-5gfp-c4w3",
  "modified": "2026-07-24T16:52:50Z",
  "published": "2026-07-24T16:52:50Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/netty/netty/security/advisories/GHSA-mfg7-5gfp-c4w3"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/netty/netty/pull/17063"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/netty/netty/pull/17065"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/netty/netty/commit/5b68c61f37aa4a3045cba624cbea239655c9003b"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/netty/netty/commit/bb2ff68a1fb71cb4b0eb9a9e17b66c52aff680c6"
    },
    {
      "type": "PACKAGE",
      "url": "https://github.com/netty/netty"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/netty/netty/releases/tag/netty-4.1.136.Final"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/netty/netty/releases/tag/netty-4.2.16.Final"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    }
  ],
  "summary": "Netty: Memory Leak in DNS Record Decoder via Malformed Domain Names"
}