Medium severity · published Jul 22, 2026
CVE-2026-50251
Attacker supplied '0.0.0.0'/'::' glue triggers defensive full-cache flush
5.3
CVSS
0.3%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
In NLnet Labs Unbound up to and including version 1.25.1, when 'unwanted-reply-threshold' is enabled (set to any value greater than zero), glue records of 0.0.0.0/::0 can short-circuit Unbound, on systems that can direct such traffic, by issuing DNS queries and receiving seemingly unwanted replies since the remote IP does not match the original source IP of 0.0.0.0/::0. This behavior keeps on looping for the glue records and pushing the counter to the configured 'unwanted-reply-threshold' that triggers a defensive cache clear. A malicious actor who controls a delegation that returns in-bailiwick glue of 0.0.0.0/::0 can drive the counter to the limit of 'unwanted-reply-threshold' to the threshold and trigger a cache clean of the message and rrset caches; at will, indefinitely, without sending a single spoofed packet. The iterator uses the 0.0.0.0/::0 glue, and a system that can route this (e.g., Linux kernel routes the datagram over loopback), Unbound's own listener answers from 127.0.0.1. Because of the mismatch of 0.0.0.0 and 127.0.0.1, in this example, Unbound accounts the reply as an unwanted (probably spoofed) answer. The counter resets to zero on every cache flush, so the attack loops forever.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Low
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
before 1.25.2 · source: vendor, NVD
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-50251
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-50251
Vendor Advisory
https://www.nlnetlabs.nl/downloads/unbound/CVE-2026-50251.txt
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
