CVE-2026-44621

Medium

Description

With NLnet Labs Unbound up to and including version 1.25.1, applications using libunbound and configured with 'unwanted-reply-threshold', could eventually be abruptly terminated if the threshold is reached and libunbound needs to call 'libworker_alloc_cleanup' since the function is absent from the function call allow list. When an application using libunbound sets 'unwanted-reply-threshold' to any non-zero value and the iterator queries an authoritative that replies with enough wrong-transaction-ID UDP datagrams to cross the threshold, the 'libworker_alloc_cleanup' will eventually be called. Since the function is absent from the function call allow list, this leads to a fatal exit of libunbound and eventual termination of the embedding application.Unbound itself is not affected since its relevant function 'worker_alloc_cleanup' is registed in the allow list and proceeds to perform the documented cache flush.

SeverityMedium
CVSS5.9
Exploit probability16. percentile0.2%
ProductNlnetlabs Unbound
PublishedJul 22, 2026
First seenJul 22, 2026
Weakness typeCWE-754CWE-754

How to fix

Update
  • nlnetlabs unbound1.25.2 or later

Affected products

ProductAffected versionsFixed in
nlnetlabs unboundv < 1.25.21.25.2

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CVE-2026-44621 · Nlnetlabs Unbound · Dark Radar