CVE-2026-42944: NLnet Labs Unbound · Numeric Truncation Error
Affects NLnet Labs UnboundSource CVE Database V5
Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.7 High : upgrade to 1.25.1 soon.
Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 11:52 UTC
- EPSS
- 0.8% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 57% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
- Patch
- Available – fixed in 1.25.1
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/U:RedExploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 20 May 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors
A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 30 Oct 2026.
What to do
Upgrade NLnet Labs Unbound to 1.25.1.
Affected software
| Product | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| NLnet LabsUnbound | Affected
| Fixed in
|
AI-suggested
A fix is available in Unbound version 1.25.1, which addresses the vulnerability by de-duplicating EDNS options and correcting the size calculation to prevent truncation. Red Hat has released updated packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 that include this fix. Users should apply these official patches promptly to remediate the vulnerability. Patch status is confirmed by vendor advisories. No additional mitigations are specifically required beyond applying the official update.
Description
NLnet Labs Unbound 1.14.0 up to and including version 1.25.0 has a vulnerability that results in heap overflow when encoding multiple NSID and/or DNS Cookie EDNS and/or EDNS Padding options in the reply packet. The relevant options ('nsid', 'answer-cookie', 'pad-responses' (default)) need to be enabled for the vulnerability to be exploited. An adversary who can query Unbound can exploit the vulnerability by attaching multiple NSID and/or DNS Cookie EDNS and/or EDNS Padding options to the query. A flaw in the size calculation of the EDNS field truncates the correct value which allows the encoder to overflow the available space when writing. Those two combined lead to a heap overflow write of Unbound controlled data and eventually a crash. Unbound 1.25.1 contains a patch with a fix to de-duplicate the EDNS options and a fix to prevent truncation of the EDNS field size calculation.
References
- nlnetlabs.nl/downloads/unbound/CVE-2026-42944.txt (opens in a new tab)
- access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-42944 (opens in a new tab)
- bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2479774 (opens in a new tab)
- security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-42944.json (opens in a new tab)
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:23231 (opens in a new tab)
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:24365 (opens in a new tab)
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:24369 (opens in a new tab)
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:19752 (opens in a new tab)