High severity · published May 20, 2026
CVE-2026-40622
Another 'ghost domain names' attack variant
7.5
CVSS
0.1%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
NLnet Labs Unbound 1.16.2 up to and including version 1.25.0 has a vulnerability of the 'ghost domain names' family of attacks that could extend the ghost domain window by up to one cached TTL configured value. Similar to other 'ghost domain names' attacks, an adversary needs to control a (ghost) zone and be able to query a vulnerable Unbound. A single client NS query can cause Unbound to overwrite the cached expired parent-side referral NS rrset with the child-side apex NS rrset and essentially extend the ghost domain window by up to one cached TTL configured value ('cache-max-ttl'). In configurations where 'harden-referral-path: yes' is used (non-default configuration), no client NS query is required since Unbound implicitly performs that query. Unbound 1.25.1 contains a patch with a fix that does not allow extension of TTLs for (parent) NS records regardless of their trust.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.1% · higher than 4% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
UN
Unbound · NLnet Labs
1.16.2 before 1.25.1 · source: vendor, NVD
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
9.8
CVE-2026-33278
Possible arbitrary code execution during DNSSEC validation
9.3
CVE-2026-50252
Possible cache poisoning attack by mapping source port population per thread