CVE-2026-33278 PUBLISHED

Possible arbitrary code execution during DNSSEC validation

Assigner: NLnet Labs
Reserved: 07.05.2026 Published: 20.05.2026 Updated: 20.05.2026

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.

Metrics

CVSS 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
CVSS Score: 9.1

Product Status

Vendor NLnet Labs
Product Unbound
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 1.19.1 to 1.25.1 (excl.)

Solutions

This issue is fixed starting with version 1.25.1

Credits

  • Qifan Zhang (Palo Alto Networks) finder

References

Problem Types

  • CWE-416: Use After Free CWE
  • CWE-672: Operation on a Resource after Expiration or Release CWE