How severe is GHSA-q2qq-hmj6-3wpp?

No CVSS score has been assigned to GHSA-q2qq-hmj6-3wpp yet. Review the advisory details and affected package list to assess your exposure.

Which packages are affected by GHSA-q2qq-hmj6-3wpp?

GHSA-q2qq-hmj6-3wpp affects the following packages: hickory-proto (crates.io). Ecosystems affected: crates.io.

How do I fix GHSA-q2qq-hmj6-3wpp?

Update hickory-proto to 0.26.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-q2qq-hmj6-3wpp is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect GHSA-q2qq-hmj6-3wpp in my crates.io dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for hickory-proto, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate GHSA-q2qq-hmj6-3wpp if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.

How does O3 Security protect against GHSA-q2qq-hmj6-3wpp?

O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like GHSA-q2qq-hmj6-3wpp can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.

Is GHSA-q2qq-hmj6-3wpp actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for GHSA-q2qq-hmj6-3wpp yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

When was GHSA-q2qq-hmj6-3wpp published, and has it been updated?

GHSA-q2qq-hmj6-3wpp was published on May 7, 2026 and was last updated on September 10, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🦀 crates.io

Not in CISA KEV

GHSA-q2qq-hmj6-3wpp — hickory-proto

GHSA-q2qq-hmj6-3wpp is a security vulnerability in hickory-proto. A fix is available for hickory-proto — see the affected versions and patch details below.

hickory-proto vulnerable to CPU exhaustion during message encoding due to O(n²) name compression

Also known asRUSTSEC-2026-0119

Published

May 7, 2026

Updated

Sep 10, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Sep 10, 2026 · OSV.dev, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected

🦀hickory-proto

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects crates.io packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

During message encoding, hickory-proto's BinEncoder stores pointers to labels that are candidates for name compression in a Vec<(usize, Vec<u8>)>. The name compression logic then searches for matches with a linear scan.

A malicious message with many records can both introduce many candidate labels, and invoke this linear scan many times. This can amplify CPU exhaustion in DoS attacks.

This is similar to CVE-2024-8508.

Reporter

Qifan Zhang, Palo Alto Networks

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🦀crates.io	`hickory-proto`	≥ 0.3.1&&< 0.26.1	0.26.1`cargo update -p hickory-proto --precise 0.26.1`

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for hickory-proto, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update hickory-proto to 0.26.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-q2qq-hmj6-3wpp is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like GHSA-q2qq-hmj6-3wpp can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.

Tailored to GHSA-q2qq-hmj6-3wpp. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

During message encoding, `hickory-proto`'s `BinEncoder` stores pointers to labels that are candidates for name compression in a `Vec<(usize, Vec<u8>)>`. The name compression logic then searches for matches with a linear scan. A malicious message with many records can both introduce many candidate labels, and invoke this linear scan many times. This can amplify CPU exhaustion in DoS attacks. This is similar to [CVE-2024-8508](https://www.nlnetlabs.nl/downloads/unbound/CVE-2024-8508.txt). ### Reporter Qifan Zhang, Palo Alto Networks

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is GHSA-q2qq-hmj6-3wpp in your dependencies?

O3 Security finds GHSA-q2qq-hmj6-3wpp across crates.io dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works