CVE-2026-46582: In NLnet Labs Unbound 1.6.0 up to and including 1.25.1, a replay of a wildcard rrset as another piece of data, could be briefly considered DNSSEC secure based only on the RRSIG val
In NLnet Labs Unbound 1.6.0 up to and including 1.25.1, a replay of a wildcard rrset as another piece of data, could be briefly considered DNSSEC secure based only on the RRSIG validation and stored into cache, before later validation treats it as bogus based on NSEC validation. When the resolving thread puts secure on the rrset, and another thread that is on the serve expired path then picks up the updated rrset contents with the secure status for a reply, it can be used to change a specific record, next to a wildcard that could be covered by the wildcard, into the wildcard. A malicious actor can exploit the possible poisonous effect by having any DNSSEC-singed domain (irrelevant to the victim domain) and a CNAME wrapper record that points to a record next to a wildcard (that could be covered by the wildcard). Then quering Unbound for the wildcard sibling record would seed the secure message. A later (after expiry) query for the CNAME wrapper would need to resolve the target sibling record. If the wildcard replay is injected into the response, the wildcard rrset will update the expired sibling record with a secure status before completing proper wildcard validation with NSEC records and eventually treating the CNAME wrapper answer as bogus. The updated poisoned rrset is now secure and points to the wildcard. This vulnerability is explicit for the serve expired path and needs injection of the signed wildcard rrset without the NSEC accompanying rrset.
Details
Original advisory: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-46582
Exploitation outlook
EPSS (FIRST.org) estimates each CVE’s probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — here is the CSIRTS.com read on those numbers.
- Low exploitation riskCVE-2026-465820.18% 30-day exploitation probability — currently an unlikely target, but scores change as exploit code circulates. Riskier than 8% of all scored CVEs.
Referenced CVEs
| CVE | CSIRTS overview | External |
|---|---|---|
| CVE-2026-46582 | coverage & exploitation status | NVD · CVE.org |
Same CVEs, other sources
How other CERTs, PSIRTs and databases cover the vulnerabilities in this advisory.
Recent advisories for In NLnet Labs
A cluster of recent advisories against the same product widens the attack surface — attackers routinely chain freshly published CVEs on one product, so review these together.
- mediumCVE-2026-56444: In NLnet Labs Unbound 1.20.0 up to and including 1.25.1, when Unbound is configured with 'serv…nvd · 2026-07-22
- mediumCVE-2026-56416: In NLnet Labs Unbound up to and including version 1.25.1, when the validator builds the canoni…nvd · 2026-07-22
- mediumCVE-2026-55991: In NLnet Labs Unbound 1.22.0 up to and including 1.25.1, a remote unauthenticated client can t…nvd · 2026-07-22
- mediumCVE-2026-55990: In NLnet Labs Unbound 1.7.0 up to and including 1.25.1, when the 'dnscrypt:' clause lists more…nvd · 2026-07-22
- highCVE-2026-55973: In NLnet Labs Unbound 1.23.0 up to and including 1.25.1, when 'dns-error-reporting: yes' is se…nvd · 2026-07-22
- mediumCVE-2026-55717: In NLnet Labs Unbound 1.10.0 up to and including 1.25.1, when 'serve-expired: yes' is set toge…nvd · 2026-07-22
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