Medium severity · published May 20, 2026
CVE-2026-44608
Use after free and crash under special conditions in RPZ code
5.9
CVSS
0.3%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
NLnet Labs Unbound 1.14.0 up to and including version 1.25.0 has a locking inconsistency vulnerability that when certain conditions are met (multi-threaded, RPZ XFR reload, RPZ zone with 'rpz-nsip'/'rpz-nsdname' triggers) it could result in heap use-after-free and eventual crash. An adversary can exploit the vulnerability if conditions are first met on a vulnerable Unbound, i.e., multi-threaded, an RPZ zone with 'rpz-nsip'/'rpz-nsdname' triggers and an ongoing XFR for that RPZ zone. Local RPZ files do not trigger the vulnerability. If the timing is right and an XFR happens at the same time another thread needs to read that RPZ zone, the reader may not hold the lock long enough and the thread applying the XFR may free objects that the reader is about to walk causing the use-after-free. Unbound 1.25.1 contains a patch with a fix to the locking code.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.3% · higher than 17% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
UN
Unbound · NLnet Labs
1.14.0 before 1.25.1 · source: vendor, NVD
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-44608
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-44608
Mitigation
https://www.nlnetlabs.nl/downloads/unbound/CVE-2026-44608.txt
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