'dns-error-reporting: yes' leads to stack buffer overflow
CVE-2026-55973 is fixed in 9 products on 1 platform, first by DEBIAN-CVE-2026-55973, released July 28, 2026. It is not reported as exploited. Patch Radar priority: High.
In NLnet Labs Unbound 1.23.0 up to and including 1.25.1, when 'dns-error-reporting: yes' is set, the EDNS Report-Channel option (code 18) from the last upstream response is read and uses the option's length as the length of the agent domain. When a domain name check is performed on the agent domain, the returned lenght is not used and if the agent domain is followed by garbage, those bytes are moved onto the tail of the synthetic '_er.' report query name. That query name is later used in the iterator via a subquery to send out the DNS Error Report and when Unbound tries to walk that query name during 'find_closest_of_type()', it strips labels using the query name length rather than stopping at the embedded root, walks one byte past it, and feeds the first garbage byte to 'dname_query_hash()' as a label length writing over the stack variable 'labuf'. One ordinary upstream response from a delegated zone the attacker controls is sufficient to terminate the daemon.
Where it's fixed
| Product | Fixed in | Fix | Released |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | |||
| libunbound8 · Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS (resolute) | 1.24.2-1ubuntu2.4 | libunbound8 1.24.2-1ubuntu2.4 | Sep 16, 2026 |
| python3-unbound · RHEL 9 | 0:1.24.2-3.el9_8.4 | RHSA-2026:55841 | Aug 19, 2026 |
| python3-unbound · Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS (resolute) | 1.24.2-1ubuntu2.4 | python3-unbound 1.24.2-1ubuntu2.4 | Sep 16, 2026 |
| python3-unbound · almalinux 10 | 1.24.2-7.el10_2.4 | ALSA-2026:55892 | Aug 17, 2026 |
| python3-unbound · almalinux 9 | 1.24.2-3.el9_8.4 | ALSA-2026:55841 | Aug 17, 2026 |
| python3-unbound · ol 10 | 0:1.24.2-7.el10_2.4 | ELSA-2026-55892 | Aug 17, 2026 |
| python3-unbound · ol 9 | 0:1.24.2-3.el9_8.4 | ELSA-2026-55841 | Aug 17, 2026 |
| unbound · Debian 13.5 (trixie) | 1.26.1-0+deb13u1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-55973 | Jul 28, 2026 |
| unbound · Debian 14 | 1.25.2-1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-55973 | Jul 28, 2026 |
| unbound · RHEL 10 | 1.24.2-7.el10_2.4 | RHSA-2026:55892 | Aug 18, 2026 |
| unbound · RHEL 9 | 0:1.24.2-3.el9_8.4 | RHSA-2026:55841 | Aug 19, 2026 |
| unbound · Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS (resolute) | 1.24.2-1ubuntu2.4 | unbound 1.24.2-1ubuntu2.4 | Sep 16, 2026 |
| unbound · almalinux 10 | 1.24.2-7.el10_2.4 | ALSA-2026:55892 | Aug 17, 2026 |
| unbound · almalinux 9 | 1.24.2-3.el9_8.4 | ALSA-2026:55841 | Aug 17, 2026 |
| unbound · ol 10 | 0:1.24.2-7.el10_2.4 | ELSA-2026-55892 | Aug 17, 2026 |
| unbound · ol 9 | 0:1.24.2-3.el9_8.4 | ELSA-2026-55841 | Aug 17, 2026 |
| unbound · opensuse-leap 16.0 | 1.25.2-160000.1.1 | OPENSUSE-SU-2026:21550-1 | Aug 10, 2026 |
| unbound · rocky 10 | 0:1.24.2-7.el10_2.4 | RLSA-2026:55892 | Aug 18, 2026 |
| unbound · rocky 9 | 0:1.24.2-3.el9_8.4 | RLSA-2026:55841 | Aug 18, 2026 |
| unbound · sles 16.0 | 1.25.2-160000.1.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:23226-1 | Aug 10, 2026 |
| unbound-anchor · Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS (resolute) | 1.24.2-1ubuntu2.4 | unbound-anchor 1.24.2-1ubuntu2.4 | Sep 16, 2026 |
| unbound-anchor · almalinux 10 | 1.24.2-7.el10_2.4 | ALSA-2026:55892 | Aug 17, 2026 |
| unbound-anchor · ol 10 | 0:1.24.2-7.el10_2.4 | ELSA-2026-55892 | Aug 17, 2026 |
| unbound-devel · RHEL 9 | 0:1.24.2-3.el9_8.4 | RHSA-2026:55841 | Aug 19, 2026 |
| unbound-devel · almalinux 10 | 1.24.2-7.el10_2.4 | ALSA-2026:55892 | Aug 17, 2026 |
| unbound-devel · almalinux 9 | 1.24.2-3.el9_8.4 | ALSA-2026:55841 | Aug 17, 2026 |
| unbound-devel · ol 10 | 0:1.24.2-7.el10_2.4 | ELSA-2026-55892 | Aug 17, 2026 |
| unbound-devel · ol 9 | 0:1.24.2-3.el9_8.4 | ELSA-2026-55841 | Aug 17, 2026 |
| unbound-dracut · RHEL 9 | 0:1.24.2-3.el9_8.4 | RHSA-2026:55841 | Aug 19, 2026 |
| unbound-dracut · almalinux 10 | 1.24.2-7.el10_2.4 | ALSA-2026:55892 | Aug 17, 2026 |
| unbound-dracut · almalinux 9 | 1.24.2-3.el9_8.4 | ALSA-2026:55841 | Aug 17, 2026 |
| unbound-dracut · ol 10 | 0:1.24.2-7.el10_2.4 | ELSA-2026-55892 | Aug 17, 2026 |
| unbound-dracut · ol 9 | 0:1.24.2-3.el9_8.4 | ELSA-2026-55841 | Aug 17, 2026 |
| unbound-host · Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS (resolute) | 1.24.2-1ubuntu2.4 | unbound-host 1.24.2-1ubuntu2.4 | Sep 16, 2026 |
| unbound-libs · RHEL 9 | 0:1.24.2-3.el9_8.4 | RHSA-2026:55841 | Aug 19, 2026 |
| unbound-libs · almalinux 10 | 1.24.2-7.el10_2.4 | ALSA-2026:55892 | Aug 17, 2026 |
| unbound-libs · almalinux 9 | 1.24.2-3.el9_8.4 | ALSA-2026:55841 | Aug 17, 2026 |
| unbound-libs · ol 10 | 0:1.24.2-7.el10_2.4 | ELSA-2026-55892 | Aug 17, 2026 |
| unbound-libs · ol 9 | 0:1.24.2-3.el9_8.4 | ELSA-2026-55841 | Aug 17, 2026 |
| unbound-utils · almalinux 10 | 1.24.2-7.el10_2.4 | ALSA-2026:55892 | Aug 17, 2026 |
| unbound-utils · ol 10 | 0:1.24.2-7.el10_2.4 | ELSA-2026-55892 | Aug 17, 2026 |
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