CVE-2026-42534
Jostle logic bypass degrades resolution performance
- Published
- Updated
- Reserved
- Assigned by
- NLnet Labs
Description
NLnet Labs Unbound up to and including version 1.25.0 has a vulnerability in the jostle logic that could defeat its purpose and degrade resolution performance. Retransmits of the same query could renew the age of slow running queries and not allow the jostle logic to see them as aged and potential targets for replacement with new queries. An adversary who can query a vulnerable Unbound and who can control a domain name server that replies slowly and/or maliciously to Unbound's queries can exploit the vulnerability and degrade the resolution performance of Unbound. When Unbound's 'num-queries-per-thread' reaches its limit, the jostle logic kicks in. When a new query comes in, half of the available queries that are also slow to resolve are candidates for replacement. The vulnerability then happens because duplicate queries that need resolution would skew the aging result by using the timestamp of the latest duplicate query instead of the original one that started the resolution effort. Cache and local data response performance remains unaffected. Coordinated attacks could raise this to a denial of resolution service. Unbound 1.25.1 contains a patch with a fix to attach an initial, non-updatable start time for incoming queries that allow the jostle logic to work as intended.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| NLnet LabsCNA (assigner) | 4.0 | Medium6.9 | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/U:Amber |
| redhat-SADPADP (enrichment) | 3.1 | High7.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Modified | 4.0 | Medium6.9 | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:Amber |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.60% · top 51% of all CVEs (6 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: partial
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 6.9.
Weakness
Affected products
- affected < 1.25.1
What to do
Solution: This issue is fixed starting with version 1.25.1
References (8)
- https://www.nlnetlabs.nl/downloads/unbound/CVE-2026-42534.txt (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisory
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-42534 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_REDHAT
- RHBZ#2480131 (opens in a new tab)issue-trackingx_refsource_REDHAT
- https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-42534.json (opens in a new tab)x_sadp-csaf-vex
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:36320 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHAT
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:37282 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHAT
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:36777 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHAT
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:24013 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHAT
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2026-42534)Record last updated .