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CVE-2026-33278

Severity CVSS v4.0:
CRITICAL
Type:
CWE-416 Use After Free
Publication date:
20/05/2026
Last modified:
20/05/2026

Description

NLnet Labs Unbound 1.19.1 up to and including version 1.25.0 has a vulnerability in the DNSSEC validator that enables denial of service and possible remote code execution as a result of deep copying a data structure and erroneously overwriting a destination pointer. An adversary can exploit the vulnerability by controlling a malicious signed zone and querying a vulnerable Unbound. When DS sub-queries need to suspend validation due to NSEC3 computational budget exhaustion (introduced in Unbound 1.19.1), Unbound deep-copies response messages to preserve them across memory region teardown. A struct-assignment bug overwrites the destination's pointer with the source's pointer. After the sub-query region is freed, the resumed validator dereferences this dangling pointer, triggering a crash or potentially enabling arbitrary code execution. Unbound 1.25.1 contains a patch with a fix to preserve the correct pointer when deep copying the data structure.

Impact

Vector 4.0
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:U/U:Red CVSS v4.0 Severity and Metrics:

Base Score: 9.10 CRITICAL
Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:U/U:Red

Attack Vector (AV): Network
Attack Complexity (AC): Low
Attack Requirements (AT): None
Privileges Required (PR): None
User Interaction (UI): None
Confidentiality (VC): High
Integrity (VI): High
Availability (VA): High
Confidentiality (SC): High
Integrity (SI): High
Availability (SA): High
Provider Urgency (U): Red
Exploit Maturity (E): Unreported

Base Score 4.0
9.10
Severity 4.0
CRITICAL
Vector 3.x
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H CVSS v3.1 Severity and Metrics:

Base Score: 9.80 CRITICAL
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack Vector (AV): Network
Attack Complexity (AC): Low
Privileges Required (PR): None
User Interaction (UI): None
Scope (S): Unchanged
Confidentiality (C): High
Integrity (I): High
Availability (A): High

Base Score 3.x
9.80
Severity 3.x
CRITICAL

Vulnerable products and versions

CPE From Up to
cpe:2.3:a:nlnetlabs:unbound:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* 1.19.1 (including) 1.25.1 (excluding)

To consult the complete list of CPE names with products and versions, see this page


References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools