Vulnerability in NLnet Labs Unbound (CVE-2026-42959)
Summary
Vulnerability in NLnet Labs Unbound (CVE-2026-42959). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.
Original description
The description as published by the source.
NLnet Labs Unbound up to and including version 1.25.0 has a denial of service vulnerability in the DNSSEC validator that can lead to a crash given malicious upstream replies. When Unbound constructs chase-reply messages for validation, the code uses the wrong counter to calculate write offsets for ADDITIONAL section rrsets. DNAME duplication could increase the ANSWER section count and authority filtering could decrease the AUTHORITY section count and create an uninitialized array slot. Combining these two, the validator later dereferences this uninitialized pointer, causing an immediate process crash. An adversary controlling a DNSSEC-signed domain can trigger this bug with a single query by configuring a DNAME chain with unsigned CNAMEs and a response containing unsigned AUTHORITY records alongside signed ADDITIONAL glue records. Unbound 1.25.1 contains a patch with a fix to use the proper counters to calculate the write offsets.
Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database NVD GitHub Advisory
Auto-generated summary
Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.
A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2026-42959 has been found in NLnet Labs Unbound.
Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure. CVSS score: 7.5/10.
What to do: apply the vendor's official patched release.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "NLnet Labs Unbound CVE-2026-42959" on the vendor's site.
CVE-2026-42959 (NLnet Labs Unbound) — CWE-824 / CVSS v3 7.5
Attack vector: remote (network-reachable) / unauthenticated / no user interaction
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.
A vulnerability (CWE-824) exists in NLnet Labs Unbound.
Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of NLnet Labs Unbound.
Severity: High (CVSS 7.5/10). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.
Update to the patched release per vendor advisory.
Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.
Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Audit SBOM/dependencies to find affected services.
Response actions
Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order
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1Identify exposure identify
Audit SBOM/dependencies for affected components.資産台帳・SBOM・依存マニフェストで NLnet Labs Unbound を使っているサービスとバージョンを洗い出す。
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2Post-deployment verification verify
Confirm patched version is live in productionパッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。
Fix status by distribution
Fixed packages published by each distribution for this CVE
- Alpine Linux ALPINE-CVE-2026-42959 unbound Fixed in: 1.25.1-r0
- Debian DEBIAN-CVE-2026-42959 unbound
- Ubuntu UBUNTU-CVE-2026-42959 unbound Fixed in: 1.4.22-1ubuntu4.14.04.3+esm3
References
- advisory nlnetlabs.nl
- advisory access.redhat.com
- advisory access.redhat.com
- advisory access.redhat.com
- advisory access.redhat.com
- report bugzilla.redhat.com
- web nvd.nist.gov
- web github.com
- web access.redhat.com
- web security.access.redhat.com