CVE-2026-77955

Possible ZONEMD verification bypass window

MEDIUM
4.4
CVSS Score
Published: September 16, 2026 at 08:29 AM UTC
Updated: September 23, 2026 at 08:30 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorUnbound

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Severity
MEDIUM4.4
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

In NLnet Labs Unbound 1.13.2 up to and including 1.26.1, a vulnerability in ZONEMD configured zones (zonemd-check: yes) which are located below (but not at) a trust anchor allow for an attack window where (tampered with) zone contents are served (or stored to disk) prior to the ZONEMD integrity check. This is caused by the needed DS/DNSKEY asynchronous resolution that needs to happen before the ZONEMD check completes. If a zonefile is written to disk (zonefile: option) while the ZONEMD check failed, the tampered data are reloaded on startup and available until ZONEMD verification concludes again. If verification fails, the data is not served any more but still persists on disk for future reloads.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

1.13.2 ≤ v < 1.26.11.13.2
Affected range stops below 1.26.1, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

References (1)

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

4.4MEDIUMNLnet Labs
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusANALYZED
CWE
CWE-345

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