CVE-2026-55990

Medium

Description

In NLnet Labs Unbound 1.7.0 up to and including 1.25.1, when the 'dnscrypt:' clause lists more 'dnscrypt-provider-cert:' files than there are matching 'dnscrypt-secret-key:' files, Unbound fills only the matched prefix and leaves the tail slots at the '0xdb' fill that libsodium's allocator writes into every allocation. Unbound would then iterate over the number of cert files, not the actual slots, so it walks into a slot with garbage data filled with '0xdb' bytes. Any unauthenticated client that sends one UDP datagram of ≥ 68 bytes whose first 8 bytes are '0xdb' to 'dnscrypt-port' will use that garbage entry which leads to a garbage dereference killing the server. This is a silent faulty configuration that goes unnoticed until triggered with the right client query. Unbound needs to be compiled with DNSCrypt support ('--enable-dnscrypt').

SeverityMedium
CVSS5.9
Exploit probability—
ProductNlnetlabs Unbound
PublishedJul 22, 2026
First seenJul 22, 2026
Weakness typeCWE-457CWE-457

How to fix

Update
  • nlnetlabs unbound1.25.2 or later

Affected products

ProductAffected versionsFixed in
nlnetlabs unbound1.7.0 ≤ v < 1.25.21.25.2

Check your version

Choose the product and enter the version you run to see whether it falls in the affected range.

In the Intelligence 360 plan

Attack Surface Management

See the assets tied to your domains, the technologies they run and known vulnerabilities in one list.