Vulnerabilities

Vulnerability · CVE-2026-40622

NLnet Labs Unbound 1.16.2 up to and including version 1.25.0 has a vulnerability of the 'ghost domain names' family of attacks that could extend the ghost domain windo…

Published May 20, 2026 · catalog updated Jul 24, 2026 · the affected product

Check if you run it

No confirmed exploitation is on record for CVE-2026-40622. EPSS is 0.14%. Act only if a listed version of the affected product is installed.

Gaps on this record

  • No plain product name is stored. The page cannot tell you which product to check.
  • No version range is stored. A customer cannot check an installed version against this record.
  • No vendor fix or required action is stored. Compare the linked advisory before you change production.
Severity
Medium6.6
Known exploitation
Not in CISA/VulnCheck KEV
EPSS
0.14%
Remediation
Advisory link
Affected products
cpe nlnetlabs/unbound

NLnet Labs Unbound 1.16.2 up to and including version 1.25.0 has a vulnerability of the 'ghost domain names' family of attacks that could extend the ghost domain window by up to one cached TTL configured value. Similar to other 'ghost domain names' attacks, an adversary needs to control a (ghost) zone and be able to query a vulnerable Unbound. A single client NS query can cause Unbound to overwrite the cached expired parent-side referral NS rrset with the child-side apex NS rrset and essentially extend the ghost domain window by up to one cached TTL configured value ('cache-max-ttl'). In configurations where 'harden-referral-path: yes' is used (non-default configuration), no client NS query is required since Unbound implicitly performs that query. Unbound 1.25.1 contains a patch with a fix that does not allow extension of TTLs for (parent) NS records regardless of their trust.

Are you affected?

Enter the version you run. The result uses only the ranges stored on this record.

The check returns affected, not affected, or incomplete. It does not guess a version that is missing from the record.

  • cpe nlnetlabs/unboundversion unspecified

How to fix CVE-2026-40622

What to do

Three questions, each answered from this record only. Confirm the vendor advisory before you patch.

Should you patch?

No confirmed exploitation is on record for CVE-2026-40622. EPSS is 0.14%. Act only if a listed version of the affected product is installed.

Which versions are affected?

Affected version ranges are not on this record. Compare the installed version with the linked vendor advisory before you change production.

What should an analyst verify?

CWE-346. EPSS 0.14%. There is no CISA KEV listing. No Exploit-DB or Metasploit reference is linked. Use the source links for the original advisory.

Code

The project this record applies to. Exploit listings stay in References.

No public source repository is identified for this product.

Timeline

Detection, updates, and resolution for this record.

  1. May 20, 2026 · NIST NVD

    Detected

    NLnet Labs Unbound 1.16.2 up to and including version 1.25.0 has a vulnerability of the 'ghost domain names' family of attacks that could extend the ghost domain window by up to one cached TTL configured value. Similar to other 'ghost domain names' attacks, an adversary needs to control a (ghost) zone and be able to query a vulnerable Unbound. A single client NS query can cause Unbound to overwrit

  2. Jul 24, 2026 · NIST NVD

    Updated

    NLnet Labs Unbound 1.16.2 up to and including version 1.25.0 has a vulnerability of the 'ghost domain names' family of attacks that could extend the ghost domain window by up to one cached TTL configured value. Similar to other 'ghost domain names' attacks, an adversary needs to control a (ghost) zone and be able to query a vulnerable Unbound. A single client NS query can cause Unbound to overwrit

Sources

  • CVE.orgVulnerability recordCVE-2026-40622

    Official CVE identifier

    cve.org
  • FIRST EPSSExploitation probabilityCVE-2026-40622

    30-day exploitation probability 0.1%

    first.org
  • FreeBSD SecurityVendor advisoryCVE-2026-40622

    CVE-2026-40622 is named by FreeBSD Security.

    freebsd.org
  • NIST NVDVulnerability recordCVE-2026-40622

    NLnet Labs Unbound 1.16.2 up to and including version 1.25.0 has a vulnerability of the 'ghost domain names' family of attacks that could extend the ghost domain window by up to one cached TTL configured value. Similar to other 'ghost domain names' attacks, an adversary needs to

    nvd.nist.gov

References

Freshness

Last verified in this catalog Oct 18, 2026. Significant claims (KEV, EPSS, CVSS, affected ranges) come from the source rows above — open the original publisher for the authoritative advisory.