Red Hat Fixes Ruby DNS Memory Exhaustion in RHEL 7 ELS

Quick Answer

Check Ruby on RHEL 7 Extended Lifecycle Support. Apply RHSA-2026:96099 from the matching entitled repository. Restart updated Ruby processes and test DNS resolution, application health and memory behavior with normal workloads.

Last verified: 2026-11-09 UTC. Recheck the authoritative advisory and supported distribution channel before changing production.

Scope And Authority

Product scope	RHEL 7 Extended Lifecycle Support; Ruby
Advisory	RHSA-2026:96099
CVE	CVE-2026-80212
Authoritative release date	November 9, 2026 at 02:52:56 UTC, from Red Hat CSAF initial_release_date.
Authority revision date	Red Hat records the substantive last-updated version at 2026-11-09T02:52:56+00:00. The CSAF generation timestamp is 2026-11-09T02:53:27+00:00; generation alone is not a material advisory revision.
Affected versions	RHEL 7 Extended Lifecycle Support: installations of the Ruby packages requiring RHSA-2026:96099. Match the full installed RPM, architecture and repository to the vendor product tree; a universal upstream version range is not stated.
Fixed version	ruby-0:2.0.0.648-40.el7_9
CVSS base score	7.5 (highest authority-stated CVSS 3.1 base score)
CVSS severity	High (CVSS); Important (Red Hat impact)
Exploitation status	Red Hat does not state exploitation in this advisory.; no exploitation claim is inferred.

Authority CVSS by Vulnerability

CVE-2026-80212	CVSS 3.1: 7.5 (High)

What Changed

Red Hat released RHSA-2026:96099 for RHEL 7 Extended Lifecycle Support, addressing uncontrolled memory growth in the resolv library when processing crafted DNS responses. The update provides the distribution packages listed below; keep the Red Hat release and support channel matched during remediation.

What To Validate Now

1. Inventory. Record distribution Ruby packages, resolv users, DNS trust boundaries and long-running Ruby services.
2. Establish applicability. RHEL 7 Extended Lifecycle Support: installations of the Ruby packages requiring RHSA-2026:96099. Match the full installed RPM, architecture and repository to the vendor product tree; a universal upstream version range is not stated.
3. Remediate. Apply RHSA-2026:96099 through the entitled Red Hat repositories. The fixed source build is ruby-0:2.0.0.648-40.el7_9. Install the matching binary packages for the supported stream and architecture.
4. Validate. Restart updated Ruby processes and test DNS resolution, application health and memory behavior with normal workloads.
5. Retain evidence. Preserve asset and owner identifiers, the applicability decision, before-and-after versions, change approval, installation output, validation results, and any exception or rollback record.

Operational Cautions

Red Hat provides no broadly suitable workaround. Match distribution package epochs and release suffixes; separately assess bundled or independently installed Ruby environments.

Evidence To Retain

• Exact product, release stream, package or application version, enabled feature, environment, and accountable owner.
• UTC timestamps, authority revision, approved change record, installer or package-manager output, and resulting version.
• Relevant logs and monitoring evidence, test results, exceptions, compensating controls, and rollback decisions.

Related TechGeeks Resources

• TechGeeks Security Notice Center
• All Security Notices

Authoritative References

• RHSA-2026:96099

Correction policy: If the authority changes affected versions, fixed versions, severity, exploitation information, mitigations, or required action, TechGeeks will update this notice and its verification date.

• Red Hat CSAF advisory and product/package matrix

Advisory facts are attributed to Red Hat Inc. The linked CSAF content is licensed under CC BY 4.0; TechGeeks operational guidance is summarized for this notice.