CVE-2026-33278

Public on 2026-05-20
Modified on 2026-05-20
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.
Severity
Important severity
Important
See what this means
CVSS v3 Base Score
8.1
See breakdown

Affected Packages

Platform Package Release Date Advisory Status
Amazon Linux 2 - Core unbound Pending Fix
Amazon Linux 2 - Unbound1.17 Extra unbound Pending Fix
Amazon Linux 2023 unbound Pending Fix

CVSS Scores

Score Type Score Vector
Amazon Linux CVSSv3 8.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H