DnsResolver - DNS resolution with answer verification

Layer: L7 Application · Build flags: PROTOCORE_ENABLE_DNS_RESOLVER

What this example teaches

Resolving a hostname is easy; trusting the answer is the interesting part. This resolves a name to an IPv4 address and then verifies the result, rejecting suspicious answers - 0.0.0.0, loopback, broadcast, multicast - that are classic DNS-rebinding or spoof indicators. GET /resolve?host=dns.google returns the IP and whether it passed verification.

Resolve, then verify:

uint32_t ip = 0;
bool ok = protocore_dns_resolver_resolve(host, &ip);   // false on lookup failure
// ...
protocore_dns_resolver_verify(ip)                        // false for 0.0.0.0 / loopback / broadcast / multicast

protocore_dns_resolver_resolve() does the lookup; protocore_dns_resolver_verify() is the safety filter you apply before you connect anywhere with the result.

Where to resolve. The lookup is blocking. This demo runs it in the handler for clarity, but in a real app you should resolve off the request hot path (at setup or from loop()) and cache the result, so a slow DNS server cannot stall request handling.

Build and run

pio ci --board=esp32dev --project-option="framework=arduino" \
  --project-option="build_flags=-DPROTOCORE_ENABLE_DNS_RESOLVER=1" \
  --lib="." examples/L7-Application/DnsResolver/DnsResolver.ino

curl "http://<ip>/resolve?host=dns.google"   # {"ip":"8.8.8.8","verified":true}

Annotated source

The complete sketch (DnsResolver.ino), reproduced verbatim with added explanatory comments:

// Copyright (C) 2026 Douglas Quigg (dstroy0) <dquigg123@gmail.com>
// SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later
 
#define PROTOCORE_ENABLE_DNS_RESOLVER 1
 
#include "protocore.h"
#include "network_drivers/physical/physical/physical.h"
#include "network_drivers/network/dns_resolver.h"
 
static const char *SSID = "YOUR_SSID";
static const char *PASSWORD = "YOUR_PASSWORD";
 
PC server;
 
void setup()
{
    Serial.begin(115200);
    Physical.wifi->init(SSID, PASSWORD);
    while (!Physical.wifi->ready())
        delay(250);
    Serial.print("IP: ");
    uint32_t ip = Physical.link->egress_ip(); // library egress IP (network byte order), no Arduino WiFi
    Serial.printf("IP: %u.%u.%u.%u\n", (unsigned)(ip & 0xFF), (unsigned)((ip >> 8) & 0xFF),
                  (unsigned)((ip >> 16) & 0xFF), (unsigned)((ip >> 24) & 0xFF));
 
    server.on("/resolve", HttpMethod::HTTP_GET, [](uint8_t id, HttpReq *req) {
        const char *host = http_get_query(req, "host");
        if (!host)
        {
            server.send(id, 400, "application/json", "{\"error\":\"missing host\"}");
            return;
        }
        uint32_t ip = 0;
        bool ok = protocore_dns_resolver_resolve(host, &ip);
        if (!ok)
        {
            server.send(id, 502, "application/json", "{\"error\":\"resolve failed\"}");
            return;
        }
        char b[80];
        snprintf(b, sizeof(b), "{\"ip\":\"%u.%u.%u.%u\",\"verified\":%s}", (ip >> 24) & 0xFF, (ip >> 16) & 0xFF,
                 (ip >> 8) & 0xFF, ip & 0xFF, protocore_dns_resolver_verify(ip) ? "true" : "false");
        server.send(id, 200, "application/json", b);
    });
    server.begin(80);
}
 
void loop()
{
    server.handle();
}