CVE-2026-41637
Description
A flaw was found in Unbound, a Domain Name System (DNS) resolver. A remote attacker can exploit this vulnerability by sending and immediately terminating DNS-over-QUIC (DoQ) queries. This improper handling of terminated queries can lead to a build-up of pending responses, causing a degradation of service for new clients and ultimately a Denial of Service (DoS).
Statement
This vulnerability is rated as Low impact. Unbound, as distributed in Red Hat products, is not typically configured with DNS-over-QUIC (DoQ) support enabled by default. Exploitation requires Unbound to be explicitly compiled with --with-libngtcp2 and have quic-port configured, in addition to an attacker bypassing default rate limits with multiple source IPs. This makes successful exploitation difficult in standard Red Hat deployments.
Mitigation
To mitigate this issue, completely disable DNS-over-QUIC (DoQ) support by removing or commenting out the quic-port directive in your Unbound configuration.
Restart the Unbound service to apply the changes and clear any lingering resource limits.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 3.7 | N/A | 3.7 |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | Network |
| Attack Complexity | High | N/A | High |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | None |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | None |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | None |
| Availability Impact | Low | N/A | Low |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory); DoS: Resource Consumption (Other)
An adversary that can cause a resource counter to become inaccurate may be able to create situations where resources are not accounted for and not released, thus causing resources to become scarce for future needs.
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
An adversary that can cause a resource counter to become inaccurate may be able to force an error that causes the product to crash or exit out of its current operation.
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