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CVE-2026-85501

Retrap: Novel Vulnerabilities to launch Algorithmic Complexity Attacks on DNSSEC

Description

Novel vulnerabilities to launch algorithmic complexity attacks on DNSSEC have been researched under the term 'ReTrap'. These result in degradation of service when malicious zones are used to serve the algorithmic complexity vulnerabilities. NLnet Labs Unbound up to and including 1.26.0 is vulnerable to some of them. TagTrap, where the triple(Zone, Algo, KeyTag) matching mechanism introduces a significant attack vector when resolvers handle malicious responses containing numerous mismatched DNSKEY, RRSIG, and DS record. DelegationTrap, where constructing the chain-of-trust requires iterative validation of DNSKEY and DS records from the root zone downward. For deeply nested domains, this results in significant computational overhead. NsecTrap, where responses with excessive invalid NSEC records compel the resolver to validate each one. AdditionalTrap, where Unbound by default would try to DNSSEC validate the ADDITIONAL section as well. This can be exploited to waste validation resources by malicious users.

Timeline

  1. ID reserved

    By NLnet Labs

  2. · 9 days later

    Published

Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.

Scores

CVSS scores of CVE-2026-85501, by who scored it
Scored byCVSSScoreVector
NLnet LabsCNA (assigner)3.1Medium5.3CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
NVDNVD · Analyzed3.1High7.5CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
0.48% · top 58% of all CVEs (11 Nov 2026)
CISA SSVC
Exploitation: none · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: partial
Loading the EPSS history…

The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 5.3.

Affected products

What to do

Solution: This issue is fixed starting with version 1.26.1

References

1

Sources

The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.

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Record last updated .