CVE-2026-40622

CVE Details

Release Date:	2026-05-20
Impact:	Moderate	What is this?

Description

NLnet Labs Unbound 1.16.2 up to and including version 1.25.0 has a vulnerability of the 'ghost domain names' family of attacks that could extend the ghost domain window by up to one cached TTL configured value. Similar to other 'ghost domain names' attacks, an adversary needs to control a (ghost) zone and be able to query a vulnerable Unbound. A single client NS query can cause Unbound to overwrite the cached expired parent-side referral NS rrset with the child-side apex NS rrset and essentially extend the ghost domain window by up to one cached TTL configured value ('cache-max-ttl'). In configurations where 'harden-referral-path: yes' is used (non-default configuration), no client NS query is required since Unbound implicitly performs that query. Unbound 1.25.1 contains a patch with a fix that does not allow extension of TTLs for (parent) NS records regardless of their trust.

See more information about CVE-2026-40622 from MITRE CVE dictionary and NIST NVD

NOTE: The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.

CVSS v3 metrics

Base Score:	5.3
Vector String:	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
Version:	3.1
Attack Vector:	Network
Attack Complexity:	Low
Privileges Required:	None
User Interaction:	None
Scope:	Unchanged
Confidentiality Impact:	None
Integrity Impact:	Low
Availability Impact:	None

Errata information

Platform	Errata	Release Date
Oracle Linux version 8 (unbound)	ELSA-2026-37282	2026-07-09
Oracle Linux version 9 (unbound)	ELSA-2026-36777	2026-07-09