Description
In NLnet Labs Unbound 1.20.0 up to and including 1.25.1, when Unbound is configured with 'serve-expired: yes' and 'serve-expired-client-timeout > discard-timeout > 0' (contrary to the suggested values), the discard-timeout branch during the serve expired logic drops an aged client reply without performing the correct accounting for the number of reply addresses for the query. Other identical branches outside of serve expired perform the correct decrement. Since the counter is never decremented in such scenario, it can reach the maximum limit and new clients for duplicate in-flight queries are silently dropped resulting in degradation of resolution service. A malicious actor can exploit the vulnerability by querying the resolver for a client-controlled slow-on-demand authoritative zone that can drive the counter past the threshold. Shipped defaults for 'serve-expired-client-timeout: 1800' and 'discard-timeout: 1900' make the branch unreachable.
Published: 2026-07-22
Score: 5.9 Medium
EPSS: < 1% Very Low
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
AI Analysis

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Remediation

Vendor Solution

This issue is fixed starting with version 1.25.2

Tracking

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History

Thu, 30 Jul 2026 12:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

threat_severity

Low


Tue, 28 Jul 2026 20:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Nlnetlabs
Nlnetlabs unbound
Vendors & Products Nlnetlabs
Nlnetlabs unbound

Wed, 22 Jul 2026 14:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'yes', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}


Wed, 22 Jul 2026 13:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description In NLnet Labs Unbound 1.20.0 up to and including 1.25.1, when Unbound is configured with 'serve-expired: yes' and 'serve-expired-client-timeout > discard-timeout > 0' (contrary to the suggested values), the discard-timeout branch during the serve expired logic drops an aged client reply without performing the correct accounting for the number of reply addresses for the query. Other identical branches outside of serve expired perform the correct decrement. Since the counter is never decremented in such scenario, it can reach the maximum limit and new clients for duplicate in-flight queries are silently dropped resulting in degradation of resolution service. A malicious actor can exploit the vulnerability by querying the resolver for a client-controlled slow-on-demand authoritative zone that can drive the counter past the threshold. Shipped defaults for 'serve-expired-client-timeout: 1800' and 'discard-timeout: 1900' make the branch unreachable.
Title Degradation of resolution service when 'discard-timeout' and 'serve-expired-client-timeout' are combined in unusual configuration
Weaknesses CWE-772
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.9, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}


Subscriptions

Nlnetlabs Unbound
cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: NLnet Labs

Published:

Updated: 2026-07-22T13:58:09.702Z

Reserved: 2026-06-22T12:35:21.345Z

Link: CVE-2026-56444

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2026-07-22T13:57:57.751Z

cve-icon NVD

No data.

cve-icon Redhat

Severity : Low

Publid Date: 2026-07-22T13:10:34Z

Links: CVE-2026-56444 - Bugzilla

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-07-30T09:15:04Z

Weaknesses
  • CWE-772

    Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime