Kea DHCP 3.0-3.1 Crash via default host config
CVE-2025-11232 Published on October 29, 2025
Invalid characters cause assert
To trigger the issue, three configuration parameters must have specific settings: "hostname-char-set" must be left at the default setting, which is "[^A-Za-z0-9.-]"; "hostname-char-replacement" must be empty (the default); and "ddns-qualifying-suffix" must *NOT* be empty (the default is empty). DDNS updates do not need to be enabled for this issue to manifest. A client that sends certain option content would then cause kea-dhcp4 to exit unexpectedly.
This issue affects Kea versions 3.0.1 through 3.0.1 and 3.1.1 through 3.1.2.
Vulnerability Analysis
CVE-2025-11232 is exploitable with network access, and does not require authorization privileges or user interaction. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to have no impact on confidentiality and integrity, and a high impact on availability.
Weakness Type
What is an Untrusted pointer offset Vulnerability?
The program performs pointer arithmetic on a valid pointer, but it uses an offset that can point outside of the intended range of valid memory locations for the resulting pointer.
CVE-2025-11232 has been classified to as an Untrusted pointer offset vulnerability or weakness.
Products Associated with CVE-2025-11232
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Affected Versions
ISC Kea:- Version 3.0.1, <= 3.0.1 is affected.
- Version 3.1.1, <= 3.1.2 is affected.
- Version 2.6.0, <= 2.6.4 is unaffected.
- Version 2.7.0, <= 2.7.9 is unaffected.
- Version 3.0.0, <= 3.0.0 is unaffected.
- Version 3.1.0, <= 3.1.0 is unaffected.
Exploit Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.