Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessGain on-path/spoofing position toward resolver
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DeliverySend forged NSEC with SOA bit cleared
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ExploitValidator skips RRSIG check at anchor apex
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ExecutionInsecure response accepted and cached
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ImpactTrust island downgraded to insecure
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A08:2025 - Software or Data Integrity Failures
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Integrity verification
|
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires a specific, non-default Unbound configuration: the resolver must be set up with BOTH a root trust anchor AND an additional 'trust-anchor:' entry for an island-of-security zone whose parent is provably insecure under the root chain. Given that, the attacker must deliver a forged NSEC reply with the SOA bit cleared at the trust-anchor apex, which Unbound then accepts and caches without the required RRSIG validation. Limiting factors: the vulnerable island-of-security trust-anchor configuration is uncommon rather than default; the attacker needs the ability to inject/spoof DNS responses (implying an on-path or response-spoofing capability, reflected in AC:H); and impact is confined to downgrading the affected trust island to insecure (integrity-only, no data disclosure or denial of service). Affected versions are Unbound 1.0.1 through 1.26.1. |
| Impact | All signals point to this being a genuine but LOW-priority issue, consistent with its 3.7 CVSS base score. The CVSS vector (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N) shows network reach and no privileges required, but high attack complexity and only a LOW integrity impact with no confidentiality or availability loss - the flaw lets an attacker downgrade a specific configured trust island from 'secure' to 'insecure', weakening DNSSEC protection rather than directly disclosing or destroying data. Exploitation status is 'no public exploit identified at time of analysis': the input provides no EPSS score, no CISA KEV listing, and no POC flag, so there is no evidence of active or automated exploitation. The high complexity is well justified: success requires a specific non-default Unbound configuration (an island-of-security trust-anchor under a provably-insecure parent) plus the ability to inject a forged NSEC reply with the SOA bit cleared, which typically implies an on-path/spoofing position. Net: a real, vendor-confirmed DNSSEC validation weakness, but narrow preconditions and low impact make it a patch-in-routine-maintenance item, not an emergency. Missing EPSS and the absence of KEV/POC data mean exploitation likelihood is inferred from the vector, not independently measured. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An on-path attacker (or one able to spoof DNS responses) targets an Unbound resolver that is configured with both a root trust anchor and an extra trust-anchor for an island-of-security zone whose parent is provably insecure. The attacker returns a forged NSEC record with the SOA bit cleared at the trust-anchor apex; Unbound accepts and caches it without performing the required RRSIG validation, causing it to treat the configured secure island as insecure. No public exploit code is identified at time of analysis. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Oct 21, 2026
Unbound 1.0.1 through 1.26.1 can be induced to downgrade a configured island-of-security trust anchor to insecure when a remote unauthenticated attacker injects a forged NSEC response with the SOA bit cleared. The flaw affects only resolvers configured with both a root trust anchor and an additional trust-anchor for an island whose parent is provably insecure under the root chain, and it causes the DNSSEC validator to accept and cache the NSEC without the required RRSIG validation. Impact is integrity-only (CVSS 3.7, AC:H), and no public exploit code was identified at time of analysis.
RemediationAI
No exact fixed version is specified in the supplied data; consult the NLnet Labs advisory at https://www.nlnetlabs.nl/downloads/unbound/CVE-2026-35501.txt and upgrade Unbound to the vendor-designated patched release beyond 1.26.1 as directed. Until then, the most effective mitigation is to remove the additional island-of-security trust-anchor that has a provably insecure parent under the root chain, or avoid the specific mixed trust-anchor configuration; this prevents the downgrade condition but means that island will no longer be treated as a configured trust island. Reduce response-spoofing exposure through network controls and, where operationally feasible, encrypted DNS transport to authoritative servers, accepting the associated compatibility and performance tradeoffs.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in euvd
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Technical ContextAI · show details
The issue sits in Unbound's DNSSEC validator and its handling of NSEC records at a trust anchor apex. NSEC records prove name non-existence and use the SOA bit to distinguish NXDOMAIN from NODATA, and the validator is supposed to authenticate them with RRSIG validation. CWE-354 (Improper Validation of Integrity Check Value) captures the root cause: an old allowance for client DS/NSEC queries when a trust anchor existed for that name causes the validator to accept and cache a forged NSEC with the SOA bit cleared at the trust-anchor apex without the expected RRSIG validation, making the configured island-of-security appear insecure. The CPE cpe:2.3:a:nlnet_labs:unbound:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* corresponds to Unbound 1.0.1 through 1.26.1; exploitation requires the non-default combination of a root trust anchor plus an additional island-of-security trust-anchor whose parent is provably insecure under the root chain, along with response-spoofing or on-path capability.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
AV:N and PR:N because a forged reply needs no victim-side credentials; AC:H due to the required island-of-security config plus precise NSEC-spoofing; I:L for DNSSEC downgrade with no C/A impact.
Primary rating from Vendor (NLnet Labs).
CVSS VectorVendor: NLnet Labs
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionCVE.org
When NLnet Labs Unbound 1.0.1 up to and including version 1.26.1 is configured with both a root trust anchor and an additional 'trust-anchor:' for an island-of-security zone whose parent is provably insecure under the root chain, a malicious actor with a forged NSEC reply with the SOA bit cleared can trick Unbound to treat the configured trust island as insecure. This happens because the DNSSEC validator in Unbound accepts and caches the NSEC insecure response bypassing the RRSIG validation that the validator was supposed to do. The acceptance of the NSEC record at the trust anchor apex was allowed due to and old fix for type DS and NSEC queries from clients when trust anchor for that name existed.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.
Unbound 1.6.4 through 1.9.4 contain a vulnerability in the ipsec module that can cause shell code execution after receiv
A crafted DNSKEY whose owner name is a compression pointer into its own RDATA overflows the digest buffer in the DNSSEC
Use-after-free in the DNSSEC validator of NLnet Labs Unbound resolver versions 1.19.1 through 1.25.0 allows remote attac
Remote denial of service in NLnet Labs Unbound recursive DNS resolver (versions up to and including 1.25.0) allows an at
Heap overflow denial-of-service in NLnet Labs Unbound recursive DNS resolver versions 1.14.0 through 1.25.0 allows remot
Heap-based memory corruption in NLnet Labs Unbound up to and including 1.26.0 lets a remote, unauthenticated attacker wh
Unbound before 1.9.4 accesses uninitialized memory, which allows remote attackers to trigger a crash via a crafted NOTIF
Remote denial of service in NLnet Labs Unbound 1.22.0 through 1.25.1 lets an unauthenticated client exhaust configured m
Remote denial-of-service in NLnet Labs Unbound 1.23.0 through 1.25.1 lets an attacker who controls a delegated DNS zone
Remote denial-of-service in NLnet Labs Unbound 1.9.0 through 1.25.1 allows an unauthenticated attacker to crash the recu
Heap buffer overflow in NLnet Labs Unbound 1.26.0 and earlier can be triggered when a resolver processing a large TCP-fr
Denial-of-service through algorithmic complexity attacks in NLnet Labs Unbound up to and including 1.26.0 can degrade or
EUVD-2026-107151
GHSA-mh74-9w87-h7vx
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
VulDB
Exploit-DB