Packet of death for a DNSCrypt misconfigured Unbound (NLnet Labs Unbound)
At a glance
- Source
- NVD
- EPSS
- EPSS 0.25 % Β· percentile 16 ()
- State
- PUBLISHED
- Published
- Updated
- Assigner
- NLnet Labs
- NVD status
- Analyzed
Description
In NLnet Labs Unbound 1.7.0 up to and including 1.25.1, when the 'dnscrypt:' clause lists more 'dnscrypt-provider-cert:' files than there are matching 'dnscrypt-secret-key:' files, Unbound fills only the matched prefix and leaves the tail slots at the '0xdb' fill that libsodium's allocator writes into every allocation. Unbound would then iterate over the number of cert files, not the actual slots, so it walks into a slot with garbage data filled with '0xdb' bytes. Any unauthenticated client that sends one UDP datagram of β₯ 68 bytes whose first 8 bytes are '0xdb' to 'dnscrypt-port' will use that garbage entry which leads to a garbage dereference killing the server. This is a silent faulty configuration that goes unnoticed until triggered with the right client query. Unbound needs to be compiled with DNSCrypt support ('--enable-dnscrypt').
Weaknesses (CWE)
- CWE-457 β Use of Uninitialized Variable
References
Scores
| Version | Score | Vector | Scored by |
|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS 3.1 | MEDIUM 5.9 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H | NLnet Labs |
| CVSS 3.1 | MEDIUM 5.9 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H | NVD Β· sep@nlnetlabs.nl (Secondary) |
European references
- ENISA EUVD Β· EUVD-2026-47682
- GCVE Β· GCVE-0-2026-55990
Affected configurations (NVD CPE)
cpe:2.3:a:nlnetlabs:unbound:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*β₯ 1.7.0 < 1.25.2
Affected products
| Product | Versions |
|---|---|
| NLnet Labs Β· Unbound | affected 1.7.0 < 1.25.2 |
Sources
| Source | Licence |
|---|---|
| CVE List (CVEProject cvelistV5) | CVE Program Terms of Use |
| EPSS (FIRST.org) | FIRST β attribution requested |
| ENISA EUVD | ENISA β reproduction authorised, source acknowledged |
| NVD (NIST) via fkie-cad/nvd-json-data-feeds | Public domain β this product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD |