Critical severity · published May 20, 2026
CVE-2026-33278
Possible arbitrary code execution during DNSSEC validation
9.8
CVSS
1.4%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
NLnet Labs Unbound 1.19.1 up to and including version 1.25.0 has a vulnerability in the DNSSEC validator that enables denial of service and possible remote code execution as a result of deep copying a data structure and erroneously overwriting a destination pointer. An adversary can exploit the vulnerability by controlling a malicious signed zone and querying a vulnerable Unbound. When DS sub-queries need to suspend validation due to NSEC3 computational budget exhaustion (introduced in Unbound 1.19.1), Unbound deep-copies response messages to preserve them across memory region teardown. A struct-assignment bug overwrites the destination's pointer with the source's pointer. After the sub-query region is freed, the resumed validator dereferences this dangling pointer, triggering a crash or potentially enabling arbitrary code execution. Unbound 1.25.1 contains a patch with a fix to preserve the correct pointer when deep copying the data structure.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)1.4% · higher than 73% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
UN
Unbound · NLnet Labs
1.19.1 before 1.25.1 · source: vendor, NVD
RH
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: CISA
RH
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: CISA
RH
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: CISA
RH
Red Hat Hardened Images · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: CISA
RH
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: CISA
Affected product
UN
Unbound
NLnet Labs
More from Unbound
10.0
CVE-2026-42960
Possible cache poisoning via promiscuous records for the authority section
9.8
CVE-2026-82717
CNAME synthesis could lead to heap corruption
9.8
CVE-2026-81642
Heap buffer overflow and possible Remote Code Execution when digesting DNSKEY
9.3
CVE-2026-50252
Possible cache poisoning attack by mapping source port population per thread
7.5
CVE-2026-97206
DNS-over-QUIC (DoQ) path-migration can lead to use-after-free on multi-threaded deployments.