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OpenAdvisories
Low · 3.7 CVE-2026-44687 EUVD-2026-47668GHSA-x324-pxwv-r76h

Off-by-one error in 'harden-below-nxdomain' logic can shadow a stub/forward zone by a legitimate parent's NXDOMAIN

Published Jul 22, 2026 · Updated Jul 22, 2026 · Assigned by NLnet Labs

Description

In NLnet Labs Unbound 1.13.2 up to and including 1.25.1, stub or forward zones where the name is below an intermediate labed below a DNSSEC signed zone could be shadowed by the intermediate label's secure NXDOMAIN answer from the parent. This is caused by an off-by-one error in 'harden-below-nxdomain' logic; enabled by default. It effectively bypasses the configuration and the configured stub/forward zone is never contacted. 'harden-below-nxdomain' does an upward DNS cache walk together with a delegation point guard that does not allow NXDOMAIN synthesis above stub/forward zones. The guard tests the domain name but before stripping a label. This results in an iteration where the domain name equals the configured stub/forward zone apex that passes the guard, strips one more label, and probes the cache at the apex's immediate public parent. If that parent has a cached DNSSEC-secure NXDOMAIN, which it will for any private namespace nested two or more labels under a signed public name, the walk returns it and the configured stub/forward upstream is never contacted. This can only be triggered by the query for the intermediate label (between the stub/forward apex and the DNSSEC parent zone).

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
NLnet Labs Unbound 1.13.2 – < 1.25.2 1.25.2

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 unbound 1.25.2-1 —
Debian 13 unbound 1.26.1-0+deb13u1 —
Debian 12 unbound No fix yet —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 26.10 unbound No fix yet —
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS unbound No fix yet —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS unbound No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS unbound No fix yet —
Show 4 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS unbound No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS unbound No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS unbound No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS unbound No fix yet —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
RHEL 10 unbound +6 1.26.1-2.el10_3 RHSA-2026:97121
RHEL 9 unbound +4 1.26.1-1.el9_9 RHSA-2026:97497
Show 1 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Red Hat Hardened Images 1 unbound +7 1.25.2-0.1.hum1 RHSA-2026:43588

Rocky Linux

Errata ↗
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Rocky Linux 10 unbound +6 1.26.1-2.el10_3 RLSA-2026:97121
Rocky Linux 9 unbound +4 1.26.1-1.el9_9 RLSA-2026:97497
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES 15 SP7 unbound 1.25.2-150600.23.19.1 SUSE-SU-2026:3885-1
SLES 15 SP6 unbound 1.25.2-150600.23.19.1 SUSE-SU-2026:3885-1
SLES 15 SP5 unbound 1.25.2-150100.10.28.1 SUSE-SU-2026:3884-1
SLES 15 SP4 unbound 1.25.2-150100.10.28.1 SUSE-SU-2026:3884-1
Show 11 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES for SAP 16.0 unbound 1.25.2-160000.1.1 SUSE-SU-2026:23226-1, SUSE-SU-2026:23215-1
SLES for SAP 15 SP6 unbound 1.25.2-150600.23.19.1 SUSE-SU-2026:3885-1
SLES for SAP 15 SP5 unbound 1.25.2-150100.10.28.1 SUSE-SU-2026:3884-1
SLES for SAP 15 SP4 unbound 1.25.2-150100.10.28.1 SUSE-SU-2026:3884-1
SLES 16.0 unbound 1.25.2-160000.1.1 SUSE-SU-2026:23226-1, SUSE-SU-2026:23215-1
SLE Micro 6.2 unbound 1.25.2-160000.1.1 SUSE-SU-2026:23050-1
SLE Micro 6.1 unbound 1.25.2-slfo.1.1_1.1 SUSE-SU-2026:23349-1
SLE Micro 6.0 unbound 1.25.2-1.1 SUSE-SU-2026:23360-1
SLE Micro 5.5 unbound 1.25.2-150100.10.28.1 SUSE-SU-2026:3884-1
SLE HPC 15 SP5 unbound 1.25.2-150100.10.28.1 SUSE-SU-2026:3884-1
SLE HPC 15 SP4 unbound 1.25.2-150100.10.28.1 SUSE-SU-2026:3884-1
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
openSUSE Tumbleweed unbound 1.25.2-1.1 openSUSE-SU-2026:11380-1
openSUSE Leap 16.0 unbound 1.25.2-160000.1.1 openSUSE-SU-2026:21550-1
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Alpine v3.24 unbound 1.25.2-r0 —
Alpine v3.23 unbound 1.25.2-r0 —
Alpine v3.22 unbound 1.25.2-r0 —

Amazon Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Amazon Linux 2023 unbound +5 1.17.1-1.amzn2023.0.13 ALAS2023-2026-2033

Azure Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Azure Linux 3 unbound 1.25.2-1 —

Advisories 17

References