Skip to content
OpenAdvisories
Medium · 5.9 CVE-2026-50046 EUVD-2026-47672GHSA-fg9v-m7xf-p865

Possible heap use-after-free in an error path when a DoT forwarded query is jostled out

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

Description

In NLnet Labs Unbound 1.15.0 up to and including 1.25.1, the TLS server name used for DNS-over-TLS (DoT) forwarded queries is tied to a struct's ('serviced_query') lifetime but also referenced by another struct ('waiting_tcp'). When the owning struct is jostled out of the mesh while the DoT TCP stream is still handshaking it frees the storage behind the referenced string and if the TLS stream then errors out, it dereferences the freed pointer. The dereference is read-only and the practical impact is a daemon crash resulting in denial of service. A malicious actor that knows a DoT forwarding/stub Unbound's configuration could exploit the vulnerability by quering records in the appropriate zone while keeping Unbound uder pressure so that the jostle logic kicks in. If answers for the vulnerable zone are slow, the likelihood of jostling such queries is higher, although the timing of the jostle needs to be precise. Requirements for a vulnerable Unbound is the existence of a stub/forward zone configured for DoT together with a configured '#authname' suffix on the server identification. The connectivity to the server needs to exhibit a transient failure at the correct time in order to kick off the vulnerable error path.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
NLnet Labs Unbound 1.15.0 – < 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