CVE Tools

CVE-2026-42960

Possible cache poisoning via promiscuous records for the authority section

Published: May 20, 2026Updated: May 20, 2026 Sources: CVE List NVDCWE-349
10.0CVSSCRITICAL

Description

NLnet Labs Unbound up to and including version 1.25.0 is vulnerable to poisoning via promiscuous records for the authority section. Promiscuous RRSets that complement DNS replies in the authority section can be used to trick Unbound to cache such records. If an adversary is able to attach such records in a reply (i.e., spoofed packet, fragmentation attack) he would be able to poison Unbound's cache. A malicious actor can exploit the possible poisonous effect by injecting RRSets other than NS that are also accompanied by address records in a reply, for example MX. This could be achieved by trying to spoof a reply packet or fragmentation attacks. Unbound would then accept the relative address records in the additional section and cache them if the authority RRSet has enough trust at this point, i.e., in-zone data for the delegation point. Unbound 1.25.1 contains a patch with a fix that disregards address records from the additional section if they are not explicitly relevant only to authority NS records, mitigating the possible poison effect. This is a complement fix to CVE-2025-11411.

CVSS Vector Breakdown

AV:NAC:LPR:NUI:NS:CC:NI:HA:H
Exploitability
AV:NAttack Vector
Network
AC:LAttack Complexity
Low
PR:NPrivileges Required
None
UI:NUser Interaction
None
Scope
S:CScope
Changed
Impact
C:NConfidentiality
None
I:HIntegrity
High
A:HAvailability
High

Weaknesses

Affected Products

nlnet labsoss-projectNetworking Infrastructureaka unbound, routinator, bcder

Exploitability

Official Patch Available
Workaround Available

References

Timeline

Published
May 20, 2026
Last Updated
May 20, 2026

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