CVE-2026-44687
Description
An off-by-one error in Unbound's default harden-below-nxdomain logic can lead to a denial of service. When an intermediate label under a DNSSEC-signed zone is queried, the flaw incorrectly bypasses configured stub or forward zones, disrupting their name resolution.
Statement
Low impact. This vulnerability in Unbound's harden-below-nxdomain logic, enabled by default in Red Hat products, can lead to a denial of service. Exploitation requires a specific configuration of stub or forward zones below a DNSSEC-signed zone and a targeted query for an intermediate label, making the attack complex and limiting its overall impact.
Mitigation
Disable the harden-below-nxdomain option in the Unbound configuration to prevent the logic bypass that leads to the denial of service. Note that disabling this option may reduce the overall DNSSEC hardening provided by Unbound.
Edit /etc/unbound/unbound.conf and set the following in the server: section:
harden-below-nxdomain: no
Restart the Unbound service for the changes to take effect:
systemctl restart unbound
Warning: Restarting the Unbound service will temporarily interrupt local DNS resolution.
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: Crash, Exit, or Restart; DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory); DoS: Instability
This weakness will generally lead to undefined behavior and therefore crashes. In the case of overflows involving loop index variables, the likelihood of infinite loops is also high.
Integrity
Technical Impact: Modify Memory
If the value in question is important to data (as opposed to flow), simple data corruption has occurred. Also, if the wrap around results in other conditions such as buffer overflows, further memory corruption may occur.
Confidentiality,Availability,Access Control
Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; Bypass Protection Mechanism
This weakness can sometimes trigger buffer overflows which can be used to execute arbitrary code. This is usually outside the scope of a program's implicit security policy.
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