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.
CVE-2026-50251
Score 5.3 from GitHub Security Advisory published 2026-07-22. a secondary CVSS source baseline 5.3; sources differ by 0.0.
- Lower severity and no public exploit yet
A fix is available — apply it.
- CVSS v3
- 5.3
- EG Score
- 5.3(medium)
- EG Risk
- 39(Track)EG Risk 39/100SSVC: Track
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).
How it’s computedSeverity53% × 45%Exploitation0% × 40%Automatability100% × 15%Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence. - EPSS PROB
- 0%
- EPSS %ILE
- 17%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
July 22, 2026
Last Modified
July 24, 2026
Advisory Details (1)
Auto-updated Jul 22, 2026Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-50251(3)
These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.
- CVE-2026-50251Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC)Medium
Attacker supplied '0.0.0.0'/'::' glue triggers defensive full-cache flush
- GHSA-rj42-r8f9-w75jGitHub Security AdvisoriesMedium
In NLnet Labs Unbound up to and including version 1.25.1, when 'unwanted-reply-threshold' is...
- RHSA-2026:43588Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update
Patch Availability(1)
| Vendor / Ecosystem | Fixed in / Patch | Released | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| redhat | unbound-main-1.25.2-0.1.hum1 | 2026-07-22 | redhat |
Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.
Affected Packages
(5 across 5 ecosystems)
Alpine:v3.24(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| unbound | — | 1.25.2-r0 | — |
Debian:11(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| unbound | 1.13.1-1 ... 1.25.2-1 (47 versions) | — | — |
Debian:12(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| unbound | 1.17.1-2 ... 1.26.0-2 (25 versions) | — | — |
Debian:13(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| unbound | 1.22.0-2 ... 1.26.0-2 (15 versions) | — | — |
Debian:14(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| unbound | 1.22.0-2 ... 1.25.1-1 (9 versions) | 1.25.2-1 | — |
Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 19× in last 7d / 89× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
Showing the most recent 100 of 183 total refreshes for this CVE.
- 2026-09-16 07:04 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-16 07:04 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-16 07:04 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-16 05:15 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-14 03:17 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-14 03:17 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-14 03:17 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-13 16:47 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-13 02:05 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-13 02:05 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-13 02:05 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-12 00:52 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-12 00:52 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-12 00:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-11 14:53 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-10 21:38 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-10 21:38 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-10 21:38 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-10 09:35 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-09 09:17 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-09 09:17 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-09 09:17 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-08 22:01 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-07 21:42 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-07 21:42 UTCVendor advisory
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- 2026-09-07 21:42 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-07 16:01 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-06 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-05 19:35 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-05 19:35 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-05 19:35 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-04 13:56 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-04 13:56 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-04 13:56 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-04 05:06 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-02 14:12 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-01 23:41 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-01 23:41 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-01 23:41 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-01 13:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-01 04:40 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-31 02:08 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-31 02:08 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-31 02:08 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-08-30 19:17 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-30 01:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-30 00:55 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-30 00:55 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-30 00:55 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-08-28 21:41 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-27 21:10 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-27 21:10 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-27 21:10 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-08-27 14:25 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-26 19:58 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-26 19:58 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-26 19:58 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-08-26 14:46 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-25 15:43 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-25 15:43 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-25 15:43 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-08-25 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-24 14:30 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-24 14:30 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-24 14:30 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-08-23 13:14 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-23 13:14 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-23 13:14 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-08-23 00:19 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-22 12:01 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-22 12:01 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-22 12:01 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-08-21 23:49 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-21 10:44 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-21 10:44 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-21 10:44 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-08-20 22:55 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-20 09:31 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-20 09:31 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-20 09:31 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-08-19 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-19 08:18 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-19 08:18 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-19 08:18 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-08-18 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-18 07:06 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-18 07:06 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-18 07:06 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-08-17 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-17 05:49 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-17 05:49 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-17 05:49 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-08-16 14:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-16 03:53 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-16 03:53 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-16 03:53 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-08-16 02:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-15 02:40 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-15 02:40 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-15 02:40 UTCGHSA enrichment
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2026-50251?
When was CVE-2026-50251 disclosed?
Is CVE-2026-50251 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-50251?
How do I remediate CVE-2026-50251?
Dependency Blast Radius
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