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Fencer Vulns
medium 5.3

CVE-2026-85501 json

Retrap: Novel Vulnerabilities to launch Algorithmic Complexity Attacks on DNSSEC

published 2026-09-16 53 d ago modified 2026-09-23 46 d ago also EUVD-2026-80294

cvss
5.3
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.5%
EPSS 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 41%
public exploits
0
none known

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.

Patch / fix

  • NLnet Labs Unbound 1.26.1
  • unbound Debian 13 1.26.1-0+deb13u1
  • unbound Debian 14 1.26.1-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-85501

  • unbound Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 1.13.1-1ubuntu5.17
  • unbound Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 1.19.2-1ubuntu3.12
  • unbound Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 1.24.2-1ubuntu2.4
  • unbound Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS 1.4.22-1ubuntu4.14.04.3+esm5
  • unbound Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS 1.5.8-1ubuntu1.1+esm5
  • unbound Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS 1.6.7-1ubuntu2.6+esm6
  • unbound Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS 1.9.4-2ubuntu1.11+esm3

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2026-85501

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • unbound hummingbird 1 1.26.1-1.hum1
  • unbound-libs hummingbird 1 1.26.1-1.hum1
  • unbound-munin hummingbird 1 1.26.1-1.hum1
  • unbound-utils hummingbird 1 1.26.1-1.hum1
  • unbound-anchor hummingbird 1 1.26.1-1.hum1
  • unbound-dracut hummingbird 1 1.26.1-1.hum1
  • python3-unbound hummingbird 1 1.26.1-1.hum1

red hat advisories RHSA-2026:68590

  • unbound Linux Micro 6.1 1.26.1-slfo.1.1_1.1
  • unbound SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES for SAP 15 SP4, SLES 15 SP5-LTSS +6 more 1.26.1-150100.10.31.1
  • unbound SLES for SAP 15 SP6, SLES 15 SP6-LTSS, SLE Module for Package Hub 15 SP7 +1 more 1.26.1-150600.23.24.1
  • unbound SLES 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 1.26.1-160000.1.1
  • unbound Linux Micro 6.0 1.26.1-159998.1.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:24376-1SUSE-SU-2026:4624-1SUSE-SU-2026:4620-1SUSE-SU-2026:24128-1SUSE-SU-2026:24226-1SUSE-SU-2026:24135-1

  • unbound openSUSE Leap 16.0 1.26.1-160000.1.1
  • unbound openSUSE Tumbleweed 1.26.1-1.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:22082-1openSUSE-SU-2026:11930-1

  • unbound Azure Linux 3.0 1.26.1-1

azure linux advisories AZL-101706

Azure Linux vulnerability data, Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, from https://github.com/microsoft/AzureLinuxVulnerabilityData via OSV, under the MIT licence; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. MIT

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2026-85501 updated cvss 5.3

unbound: Unbound: Denial of Service via algorithmic complexity attacks on DNSSEC

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 unbound, unbound-libs, unbound-python
    affected: workaround, no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 unbound, unbound-libs, unbound-python Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 unbound, unbound-libs, python3-unbound Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 unbound, unbound-libs, unbound-dracut, python3-unbound Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 unbound Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-8, openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9 Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5 openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9
    affected: workaround, no fix available “Fix deferred”
  • Red Hat Hardened Images unbound 1.26.1-1.hum1, unbound-libs 1.26.1-1.hum1, unbound-munin 1.26.1-1.hum1, unbound-utils 1.26.1-1.hum1, unbound-anchor 1.26.1-1.hum1, unbound-dracut 1.26.1-1.hum1, +1 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:68590

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
yes
Technical impact
partial
Assessed
53 d ago

Exploit prediction

0.48% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 41% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 5.3 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
NVD 3.1 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected products

  • NLnet Labs Unbound

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-770 Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.