CVE-2025-68468Public exploitNetwork attack vector

Daemon crash via expiring CNAME cache records

Published Jan 12, 2026 · Updated Jan 12, 2026

Reachable assertion in Avahi 0.9-rc2 and earlier allows remote attackers to crash avahi-daemon with unsolicited CNAME records. In lookup_multicast_callback in avahi-core/browse.c, cache expiry reaches an assertion that wrongly requires the browser key and multicast lookup key to match. Exploitation requires a matching record browser to be active and multicast packets to reach the host, interrupting local service discovery when the daemon aborts.

CVSS severity6.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.39%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
Coverage for this vulnerability

See if you're affected

Explore vulnerability checks for your environment with Hinoki.

Book a demo

Summary

What happened

Reachable assertion in Avahi 0.9-rc2 and earlier allows remote attackers to crash avahi-daemon with unsolicited CNAME records. In lookup_multicast_callback in avahi-core/browse.c, cache expiry reaches an assertion that wrongly requires the browser key and multicast lookup key to match. Exploitation requires a matching record browser to be active and multicast packets to reach the host, interrupting local service discovery when the daemon aborts.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-68468
Published
Jan 12, 2026
Updated
Jan 12, 2026
Vendor
Avahi
Product
Avahi
Classifications
CWE-617, T1499.004
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jan 12, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Jan 12, 2026Record 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=<= 0.9-rc2

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Avahi · Avahiversion=<= 0.9-rc2

Published CVSS scores

6.5GitHub, Inc.CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

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
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-617Reachable Assertion
T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

Public exploit references

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

Technologies

Your stack

See the directory against your own environment.

Your stack

Check the software in your environment

Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.

Book a demo