Use-after-free in c-ares - CVE-2025-31498

Vulnerability identifier: #VU107155

CSH Severity: High

CVSS v4: 8.3 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]

CVE-ID: CVE-2025-31498

CWE-ID: CWE-416

Exploitation vector: Remote access

Exploit availability: No public exploit available

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to compromise vulnerable system.

The vulnerability exists due to a use-after-free error within the read_answers() function. A remote attacker can send specially crafted ICMP UNREACHABLE packets to the application, trigger a use-after-free error and execute arbitrary code on the system.

c-ares
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP5
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing ESPOS 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing LTSS 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro for Rancher
SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for ARM 64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, little endian
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64
Anolis OS
Basesystem Module
Ubuntu
Fedora
Rapid Infrastructure Automation
IBM Cloud Pak for Watson AIOps
Netcool Operations Insight
watsonx.data
Nessus Network Monitor
IBM DataPower Gateway
IBM Cloud Pak for Multicloud Management
IBM API Connect
c-ares
libcares2-debuginfo
libcares2
c-ares-debugsource
c-ares-devel
npm
nodejs
nodejs-devel
nodejs-full-i18n
nodejs-docs
nodejs22
nodejs-packaging-bundler
nodejs-packaging
libcares2 (Ubuntu package)
IBM App Connect Enterprise

Install updates from vendor's website.

c-ares - update to 1.34.5
Rapid Infrastructure Automation - update to 1.1.5.3
Netcool Operations Insight - update to 1.6.15
watsonx.data - update to 2.3.1
IBM Cloud Pak for Watson AIOps - update to 4.10.0
Nessus Network Monitor - update to 6.5.3
IBM API Connect - update to 10.0.8.2 ifix2
IBM DataPower Gateway - addressed in versions 10.5.0.19, 10.6.0.7, 10.6.5.0
c-ares - addressed in versions 1.34.5-1.fc40, 1.34.5-1.fc41, 1.34.5-1.fc42
libcares2-debuginfo - update to 1.34.8-150000.3.29.1
libcares2 - update to 1.34.8-150000.3.29.1
c-ares-debugsource - update to 1.34.8-150000.3.29.1
c-ares-devel - update to 1.34.8-150000.3.29.1
npm - update to 10.8.2-1.20.19.1.1
nodejs - update to 20.19.1-1
nodejs-devel - update to 20.19.1-1
nodejs-full-i18n - update to 20.19.1-1
nodejs-docs - update to 20.19.1-1
nodejs22 - addressed in versions 22.15.0-2.fc40, 22.15.0-2.fc41, 22.15.0-2.fc42
nodejs-packaging-bundler - update to 2021.06-4
nodejs-packaging - update to 2021.06-4
IBM Cloud Pak for Multicloud Management - update to 2.3 Fix Pack 12
IBM App Connect Enterprise - addressed in versions 12.0.13, 12.13.0
libcares2 (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 1.33.0-1ubuntu0.1, 1.34.4-2.1ubuntu0.1

• https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/security/advisories/GHSA-6hxc-62jh-p29v

• Remote code execution in c-ares
• Fedora 41 update for c-ares
• Fedora 42 update for c-ares
• Fedora 40 update for c-ares
• Fedora 40 update for nodejs22
• Fedora 42 update for nodejs22
• Fedora 41 update for nodejs22
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 update for the nodejs:20 module
• Ubuntu update for c-ares
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 update for the nodejs:22 module
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 update for the nodejs:22 module
• Anolis OS update for nodejs:20 module
• Multiple vulnerabilities in IBM Rapid Infrastructure Automation
• Multiple vulnerabilities in IBM API Connect
• Multiple vulnerabilities in IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps
• Multiple vulnerabilities in IBM App Connect Enterprise Certified Container
• Multiple vulnerabilities in IBM Cloud Pak for Multicloud Management
• Multiple vulnerabilities in Netcool Operations Insight
• Multiple vulnerabilities in IBM DataPower Gateway
• Tenable Network Monitor update for third-party components
• IBM watsonx.data update for c-ares
• SUSE update for c-ares