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CVE Record

CVE-2026-3608: Stack overflow in Kea daemons

Sending a maliciously crafted message to the kea-ctrl-agent, kea-dhcp-ddns, kea-dhcp4, or kea-dhcp6 daemons over any configured API socket or HA listener can cause the receiving daemon to exit with a stack overflow error. This issue affects Kea versions 2.6.0 through 2.6.4 and 3.0.0 through 3.0.2.

HighCVSS 7.5Not KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysishigh

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

CVE-2026-3608 can crash ISC Kea DHCP-related daemons when they receive a maliciously crafted message through configured API sockets or HA listeners. The business impact is service availability: DHCP, DDNS, control-agent, or HA functions may stop until restarted. Affected versions are Kea 2.6.0-2.6.4 and 3.0.0-3.0.2.

Executive priority

Treat as high priority for DHCP infrastructure because successful exploitation can interrupt address assignment or related Kea services. Prioritize internet-facing, partner-reachable, or flat-network deployments first, then complete routine patching for all affected internal clusters.

Technical view

The issue is a stack overflow causing process exit in kea-ctrl-agent, kea-dhcp-ddns, kea-dhcp4, or kea-dhcp6. The CVSS 3.1 score is 7.5, AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H. Public sources identify patched release branches at 2.6.5 and 3.0.3.

Likely exposure

Organizations running ISC Kea 2.6.0-2.6.4 or 3.0.0-3.0.2 are exposed where affected daemons accept traffic through configured API sockets or HA listeners, especially from untrusted or broadly reachable networks.

Exploitation context

The supplied sources do not show CISA KEV listing or confirmed active exploitation. The vulnerability is remotely reachable per CVSS and requires no privileges or user interaction, but the documented impact is daemon crash and availability loss, not data theft or code execution.

Researcher notes

Evidence supports an availability-only denial-of-service flaw with no stated confidentiality or integrity impact. The bundle does not include proof-of-concept details, root-cause internals, or named workaround beyond upgrading and limiting listener exposure.

Mitigation direction

  • Upgrade affected Kea 2.6.x deployments to 2.6.5 or later vendor guidance.
  • Upgrade affected Kea 3.0.x deployments to 3.0.3 or later vendor guidance.
  • Restrict API socket and HA listener reachability to trusted administrative or cluster networks.
  • Monitor affected daemons and restart behavior until patched.
  • Review ISC and distribution advisories for platform-specific packages and errata.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory Kea versions and confirm whether 2.6.0-2.6.4 or 3.0.0-3.0.2 are present.
  • Identify enabled kea-ctrl-agent, kea-dhcp-ddns, kea-dhcp4, and kea-dhcp6 daemons.
  • Map configured API sockets and HA listeners to reachable networks and trust boundaries.
  • Check service logs for unexpected exits or stack overflow errors.
  • Confirm patched versions after upgrade through package or binary version reporting.
Prepared
Confidence
high
Sources
10

Public sources used

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context

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ATT&CK lookup starting points

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cwe · low confidence lookup

CWE-617: Exact CWE lookup

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cve · low confidence lookup

CVE-2026-3608 mapping review

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
High
CVSS
7.5 (3.1)
Known Exploited
No
Published

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Official CVE source material

CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5

These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.

2CVSS vectors
5Timeline events
3ADP providers
9Source links

SSVC decision data

CISA-ADPCISA Coordinator
Timestamp
Version
2.0.3
Exploitation: noneAutomatable: yesTechnical Impact: partial

CVSS vector scores

2 official scores

We collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.

ScoreVersionSeverityVectorExploitImpactSource
7.5CVSS 3.1HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H3.93.6isc
7.5CVSS 3.1HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H3.93.6redhat-SADP

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.1 score

7.5High
CVSS 3.1 vector shape for CVE-2026-3608Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Attack Vector
NetworkAdjacentLocalPhysical
Attack Complexity
LowHigh
Privileges Required
NoneLowHigh
User Interaction
NoneRequired
Scope
ChangedUnchanged
Confidentiality Impact
HighLowNone
Integrity Impact
HighLowNone
Availability Impact
HighLowNone

Vulnerability timeline

Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.

  1. CVE reservedCVE Program

    The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.

  2. ADP timelineredhat-SADP

    Made public.

  3. CVE publishedCVE Program

    The CVE record was published.

  4. ADP timelineredhat-SADP

    Reported to Red Hat.

  5. CVE updatedCVE Program

    The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.

ADP provider summaries

CISA-ADPCISA ADP Vulnrichment
other:ssvc
CVECVE Program Container
redhat-SADPKea: Kea: Denial of Service via maliciously crafted message
other:Red Hat severity ratingcvssV3_1
  • 2026-03-25T09:01:15.192Z: Reported to Red Hat.
  • 2026-03-25T08:46:48.992Z: Made public.

Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
ISCKea2.6.0, 3.0.0unaffected
Weakness

CWE details

CWE-617

CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.

CWE-617 · source CWE mapping

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