Tampered zone serving via deferred ZONEMD verification
Published Sep 16, 2026 · Updated Sep 16, 2026
ZONEMD verification bypass in NLnet Labs Unbound 1.13.2 through 1.26.1 allows attackers to serve tampered zone data. For configured zones below a trust anchor, asynchronous DS and DNSKEY resolution lets contents be served or written before the ZONEMD check completes. The flaw requires zonemd-check: yes; with zonefile enabled, failed data persists on disk and is reloaded at startup until verification fails again.
Summary
What happened
ZONEMD verification bypass in NLnet Labs Unbound 1.13.2 through 1.26.1 allows attackers to serve tampered zone data. For configured zones below a trust anchor, asynchronous DS and DNSKEY resolution lets contents be served or written before the ZONEMD check completes. The flaw requires zonemd-check: yes; with zonefile enabled, failed data persists on disk and is reloaded at startup until verification fails again.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-77955
- Published
- Sep 16, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 16, 2026
- Vendor
- NLnet Labs
- Product
- Unbound
- Classifications
- Unavailable
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- Unavailable
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 16, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 16, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=1.13.2 <1.26.1
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Weakness, pattern, technique
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Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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