CVE-2026-44687

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).

CVSS v3 3.7 LOW

3.7^/10

CVSS v3 : LOW

Vector :

Exploitability : 2.2 / Impact : 1.4

Attack Vector NETWORK

Attack Complexity HIGH

Privileges Required NONE

User Interaction NONE

Confidentiality Impact NONE

Integrity Impact NONE

Availability Impact LOW

Scope UNCHANGED

References

Link	Resource
https://www.nlnetlabs.nl/downloads/unbound/CVE-2026-44687.txt	Vendor Advisory

Configurations

Configuration 1 (hide)

cpe:2.3:a:nlnetlabs:unbound:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

History

24 Jul 2026, 13:56

Type	Values Removed	Values Added
References	~~() https://www.nlnetlabs.nl/downloads/unbound/CVE-2026-44687.txt -~~	() https://www.nlnetlabs.nl/downloads/unbound/CVE-2026-44687.txt - Vendor Advisory
CPE		cpe:2.3:a:nlnetlabs:unbound::::::::
First Time		Nlnetlabs Nlnetlabs unbound

22 Jul 2026, 14:17

Type	Values Removed	Values Added
New CVE

Information

Published : 2026-07-22 14:17

Updated : 2026-07-24 13:56

NVD link : CVE-2026-44687

Mitre link : CVE-2026-44687

CVE.ORG link : CVE-2026-44687

JSON object : View

Products Affected

nlnetlabs

unbound

CWE

CWE-193

Off-by-one Error

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