CVE-2025-25188Public exploitNetwork attack vector

DNS record forgery via RRset-wide key trust

Published Feb 10, 2025 · Updated Feb 12, 2025

Improper DNSSEC validation in Hickory DNS before 0.24.3 and 0.25.0-alpha.1 through 0.25.0-alpha.4 allows attackers to accept forged records. The verify_dnskey_rrset path trusts an entire DNSKEY RRset after matching only one key to a trust anchor or authenticated DS record, then accepts signatures from an unrelated key. Exploitation requires attacker-influenced DNSKEY and signature data in a zone whose key or delegation is trusted, enabling forged DNS data to pass validation.

CVSS severityUnavailable
Unscored
EPSS probability0.28%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Improper DNSSEC validation in Hickory DNS before 0.24.3 and 0.25.0-alpha.1 through 0.25.0-alpha.4 allows attackers to accept forged records. The verify_dnskey_rrset path trusts an entire DNSKEY RRset after matching only one key to a trust anchor or authenticated DS record, then accepts signatures from an unrelated key. Exploitation requires attacker-influenced DNSKEY and signature data in a zone whose key or delegation is trusted, enabling forged DNS data to pass validation.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-25188
Published
Feb 10, 2025
Updated
Feb 12, 2025
Vendor
Hickory Project
Product
Hickory DNS
Classifications
CWE-345, T1565
Attack vector
network
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Feb 10, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Feb 12, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=>= 0.25.0-alpha.1, < 0.25.0-alpha.5
  2. Affected versionversion=>= 0.8.0, < 0.24.3

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Hickory Project · Hickory DNSversion=>= 0.25.0-alpha.1, < 0.25.0-alpha.5; version=>= 0.8.0, < 0.24.3

Published CVSS scores

5.7GitHub, Inc.CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-345Insufficient Verification of Data Authenticity
T1565Data Manipulation

Public exploit references

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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