FKIE_CVE-2026-85501
Vulnerability from fkie_nvd - Published: 2026-09-16 09:17 - Updated: 2026-09-16 19:41
Severity
Summary
Novel vulnerabilities to launch algorithmic complexity attacks on DNSSEC have been researched under the term 'ReTrap'. These result in degradation of service when malicious zones are used to serve the algorithmic complexity vulnerabilities. NLnet Labs Unbound up to and including 1.26.0 is vulnerable to some of them. TagTrap, where the triple(Zone, Algo, KeyTag) matching mechanism introduces a significant attack vector when resolvers handle malicious responses containing numerous mismatched DNSKEY, RRSIG, and DS record. DelegationTrap, where constructing the chain-of-trust requires iterative validation of DNSKEY and DS records from the root zone downward. For deeply nested domains, this results in significant computational overhead. NsecTrap, where responses with excessive invalid NSEC records compel the resolver to validate each one. AdditionalTrap, where Unbound by default would try to DNSSEC validate the ADDITIONAL section as well. This can be exploited to waste validation resources by malicious users.
Impacted products
| Vendor | Product | Version |
|---|
{
"affected": [
{
"affectedData": [
{
"defaultStatus": "unaffected",
"product": "Unbound",
"vendor": "NLnet Labs",
"versions": [
{
"lessThan": "1.26.1",
"status": "affected",
"version": "0",
"versionType": "semver"
}
]
}
],
"source": "sep@nlnetlabs.nl"
}
],
"cveTags": [],
"descriptions": [
{
"lang": "en",
"value": "Novel vulnerabilities to launch algorithmic complexity attacks on DNSSEC have been researched under the term \u0027ReTrap\u0027. These result in degradation of service when malicious zones are used to serve the algorithmic complexity vulnerabilities. NLnet Labs Unbound up to and including 1.26.0 is vulnerable to some of them. TagTrap, where the triple(Zone, Algo, KeyTag) matching mechanism introduces a significant attack vector when resolvers handle malicious responses containing numerous mismatched DNSKEY, RRSIG, and DS record. DelegationTrap, where constructing the chain-of-trust requires iterative validation of DNSKEY and DS records from the root zone downward. For deeply nested domains, this results in significant computational overhead. NsecTrap, where responses with excessive invalid NSEC records compel the resolver to validate each one. AdditionalTrap, where Unbound by default would try to DNSSEC validate the ADDITIONAL section as well. This can be exploited to waste validation resources by malicious users."
}
],
"id": "CVE-2026-85501",
"lastModified": "2026-09-16T19:41:10.423",
"metrics": {
"cvssMetricV31": [
{
"cvssData": {
"attackComplexity": "LOW",
"attackVector": "NETWORK",
"availabilityImpact": "LOW",
"baseScore": 5.3,
"baseSeverity": "MEDIUM",
"confidentialityImpact": "NONE",
"integrityImpact": "NONE",
"privilegesRequired": "NONE",
"scope": "UNCHANGED",
"userInteraction": "NONE",
"vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L",
"version": "3.1"
},
"exploitabilityScore": 3.9,
"impactScore": 1.4,
"source": "sep@nlnetlabs.nl",
"type": "Secondary"
}
],
"ssvcV203": [
{
"source": "134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0",
"ssvcData": {
"id": "CVE-2026-85501",
"options": [
{
"exploitation": "none"
},
{
"automatable": "yes"
},
{
"technicalImpact": "partial"
}
],
"role": "CISA Coordinator",
"timestamp": "2026-09-16T14:10:48.623819Z",
"version": "2.0.3"
}
}
]
},
"published": "2026-09-16T09:17:06.783",
"references": [
{
"source": "sep@nlnetlabs.nl",
"url": "https://www.nlnetlabs.nl/downloads/unbound/CVE-2026-85501.txt"
}
],
"sourceIdentifier": "sep@nlnetlabs.nl",
"vulnStatus": "Awaiting Analysis",
"weaknesses": [
{
"description": [
{
"lang": "en",
"value": "CWE-770"
}
],
"source": "sep@nlnetlabs.nl",
"type": "Secondary"
}
]
}
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Experimental. This forecast is provided for visualization only and may change without notice. Do not use it for operational decisions.
Forecast uses a logistic model when the trend is rising, or an exponential decay model when the trend is falling. Fitted via linearized least squares.
Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date | Other |
|---|
Nomenclature
- Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
- Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
- Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
- Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
- Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
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The MITRE ATT&CK techniques below are AI-generated suggestions, inferred from the description of the
vulnerability by the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-classification-roberta-base
model, served locally by ML-Gateway.
They have not been verified by an analyst and are provided for guidance only.
The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.
Browse all ATT&CK techniques and the vulnerabilities related to each.
The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.
Browse all ATT&CK techniques and the vulnerabilities related to each.
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Related by attack behaviour
Vulnerabilities whose description is nearest to this one in the vector space of the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-biencoder model. This is a similarity search over the bi-encoder space (plain cosine), not a classification, and it has no measured accuracy.
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