CVE-2026-44687

Off-by-one error in 'harden-below-nxdomain' logic can shadow a stub/forward zone by a legitimate parent's NXDOMAIN

CVE-2026-44687 is fixed in 12 products on 1 platform, first by DEBIAN-CVE-2026-44687, released July 28, 2026. It is not reported as exploited. Patch Radar priority: Routine.

Routine
CVSS
3.7
Low
Exploitation
None reported
No vendor assessment
CISA KEV
Not listed
Not in the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
EPSS
0.0022
12th percentile

In NLnet Labs Unbound 1.13.2 up to and including 1.25.1, stub or forward zones where the name is below an intermediate labed below a DNSSEC signed zone could be shadowed by the intermediate label's secure NXDOMAIN answer from the parent. This is caused by an off-by-one error in 'harden-below-nxdomain' logic; enabled by default. It effectively bypasses the configuration and the configured stub/forward zone is never contacted. 'harden-below-nxdomain' does an upward DNS cache walk together with a delegation point guard that does not allow NXDOMAIN synthesis above stub/forward zones. The guard tests the domain name but before stripping a label. This results in an iteration where the domain name equals the configured stub/forward zone apex that passes the guard, strips one more label, and probes the cache at the apex's immediate public parent. If that parent has a cached DNSSEC-secure NXDOMAIN, which it will for any private namespace nested two or more labels under a signed public name, the walk returns it and the configured stub/forward upstream is never contacted. This can only be triggered by the query for the intermediate label (between the stub/forward apex and the DNSSEC parent zone).

Where it's fixed

ProductFixed inFixReleased
Linux
python3-unbound · amzn 2023 1.17.1-1.amzn2023.0.13 ALAS2023-2026-2033 Aug 3, 2026
python3-unbound-debuginfo · amzn 2023 1.17.1-1.amzn2023.0.13 ALAS2023-2026-2033 Aug 3, 2026
unbound · Debian 13.5 (trixie) 1.26.1-0+deb13u1 DEBIAN-CVE-2026-44687 Jul 28, 2026
unbound · Debian 14 1.25.2-1 DEBIAN-CVE-2026-44687 Jul 28, 2026
unbound · amzn 2023 1.17.1-1.amzn2023.0.13 ALAS2023-2026-2033 Aug 3, 2026
unbound · opensuse-leap 16.0 1.25.2-160000.1.1 OPENSUSE-SU-2026:21550-1 Aug 10, 2026
unbound · sles 15.6 1.25.2-150600.23.19.1 SUSE-SU-2026:3885-1 Aug 31, 2026
unbound · sles 15.7 1.25.2-150600.23.19.1 SUSE-SU-2026:3885-1 Aug 31, 2026
unbound · sles 16.0 1.25.2-160000.1.1 SUSE-SU-2026:23226-1 Aug 10, 2026
unbound-anchor · amzn 2023 1.17.1-1.amzn2023.0.13 ALAS2023-2026-2033 Aug 3, 2026
unbound-anchor-debuginfo · amzn 2023 1.17.1-1.amzn2023.0.13 ALAS2023-2026-2033 Aug 3, 2026
unbound-debuginfo · amzn 2023 1.17.1-1.amzn2023.0.13 ALAS2023-2026-2033 Aug 3, 2026
unbound-debugsource · amzn 2023 1.17.1-1.amzn2023.0.13 ALAS2023-2026-2033 Aug 3, 2026
unbound-devel · amzn 2023 1.17.1-1.amzn2023.0.13 ALAS2023-2026-2033 Aug 3, 2026
unbound-libs · amzn 2023 1.17.1-1.amzn2023.0.13 ALAS2023-2026-2033 Aug 3, 2026
unbound-libs-debuginfo · amzn 2023 1.17.1-1.amzn2023.0.13 ALAS2023-2026-2033 Aug 3, 2026
unbound-utils · amzn 2023 1.17.1-1.amzn2023.0.13 ALAS2023-2026-2033 Aug 3, 2026
unbound-utils-debuginfo · amzn 2023 1.17.1-1.amzn2023.0.13 ALAS2023-2026-2033 Aug 3, 2026

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