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VulnerabilityPublished

CVE-2026-42511: The BOOTP file field is written to the lease file without escaping embedded double-quotes, allowing

Source GCVE Database

0
Authoritative record:CVE-2026-42511· High 8.1

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.1 High.

Data as of 27 Oct 2026, 00:24 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
8.1High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 30 Apr 2026

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponised: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq Mirage: no evidence on record.

    No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

What to do

AI-suggested

Until a fix is released, avoid connecting to untrusted DHCP servers or use network controls to restrict DHCP server access.

Description

A vulnerability in dhclient allows a rogue DHCP server to inject arbitrary directives into the dhclient lease file by exploiting unescaped embedded double-quotes in the BOOTP file field. When dhclient re-parses the lease file, such as after a system restart, the injected directives are evaluated by dhclient-script, potentially enabling code execution as root.

References

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