CVE-2026-42511
CWE-149Published: April 30, 2026· Updated: May 1, 2026
Official Description
The BOOTP file field is written to the lease file without escaping embedded double-quotes, allowing injection of arbitrary dhclient.conf directives. When the lease file is subsequently re-parsed by dhclient, e.g., after a system restart, an attacker-controlled field from the lease is passed to dhclient-script(8), which evaluates it.
A rogue DHCP server may be able to execute arbirary code as root on a system running dhclient.
Technical Analysis
CVE-2026-42511 can be exploited remotely over the network without requiring physical or adjacent access, significantly expanding the attack surface for threat actors.
The vulnerability requires no privileges and no user interaction, making it a prime target for automated exploitation campaigns and worm-like propagation.
A successful exploit results in complete confidentiality breach (data exposure), full integrity compromise (data manipulation), availability disruption (denial of service), with a CVSS base score of 8.1.
CVSS v3.1 Vector Breakdown
Affected Vendors & Products
Exploit & PoC Resources
Official Patches & Advisories
All References (1)
Quick Facts
Recommended Actions
- →Apply vendor patches immediately
- →Monitor CVE-2026-42511 in threat intel feeds
- →Review IDS/IPS signatures for exploitation attempts