CVE-2026-50251 Affecting unbound package, versions *


Severity

Recommended
low

Based on default assessment until relevant scores are available.

Threat Intelligence

EPSS
0.26% (19th percentile)

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  • Snyk IDSNYK-ECHOLATEST-UNBOUND-18234988
  • published23 Jul 2026
  • disclosed22 Jul 2026

Introduced: 22 Jul 2026

NewCVE-2026-50251  (opens in a new tab)

How to fix?

There is no fixed version for Echo:latest unbound.

NVD Description

Note: Versions mentioned in the description apply only to the upstream unbound package and not the unbound package as distributed by Echo. See How to fix? for Echo:latest relevant fixed versions and status.

In NLnet Labs Unbound up to and including version 1.25.1, when 'unwanted-reply-threshold' is enabled (set to any value greater than zero), glue records of 0.0.0.0/::0 can short-circuit Unbound, on systems that can direct such traffic, by issuing DNS queries and receiving seemingly unwanted replies since the remote IP does not match the original source IP of 0.0.0.0/::0. This behavior keeps on looping for the glue records and pushing the counter to the configured 'unwanted-reply-threshold' that triggers a defensive cache clear. A malicious actor who controls a delegation that returns in-bailiwick glue of 0.0.0.0/::0 can drive the counter to the limit of 'unwanted-reply-threshold' to the threshold and trigger a cache clean of the message and rrset caches; at will, indefinitely, without sending a single spoofed packet. The iterator uses the 0.0.0.0/::0 glue, and a system that can route this (e.g., Linux kernel routes the datagram over loopback), Unbound's own listener answers from 127.0.0.1. Because of the mismatch of 0.0.0.0 and 127.0.0.1, in this example, Unbound accounts the reply as an unwanted (probably spoofed) answer. The counter resets to zero on every cache flush, so the attack loops forever.