CVE-2026-85501
nlnetlabs unbound
Summary
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.
Published 2026-09-16 · first seen here 2026-10-10
Analysis & write-ups
No technical write-up from a research team yet. Contact Zero checks Unit 42, Google/Mandiant, Microsoft, Talos, CrowdStrike, Rapid7, watchTowr and others several times a day, plus NVD and CISA reference links.
Where it shows in your logs
Server or web application · Denial of service medium confidence
What to look for
- Service crashes or restarts lined up with bursts of traffic from a few sources
- The application's process (w3wp.exe, java, tomcat, node, php-fpm, httpd, python) starting shells or LOLBins (cmd, powershell, sh, bash, curl, wget, certutil)
- New script files in web roots (.jsp, .aspx, .php): a web shell
- Requests to unusual URLs on the application from internet IPs right before any of the above
- Outbound connections from the server to new external IPs
Data sources
Web server and WAF logs · ATT&CK DS0015 Application Log Content
- Sentinel
W3CIISLogAppServiceHTTPLogsAzureDiagnostics (Application Gateway / Front Door WAF)_Im_WebSession- Splunk
Web.Webms:iis:autoaccess_combinedWAF / proxy sourcetypes- CrowdStrike
Falcon Next-Gen SIEM: third-party web / WAF / proxy logs
Process creation · ATT&CK DS0009 Process Creation
- Sentinel
DeviceProcessEventsSecurityEvent (4688)Sysmon Event ID 1_Im_ProcessCreate- Splunk
Endpoint.ProcessesXmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/OperationalWinEventLog:Security (4688)- CrowdStrike
ProcessRollup2SyntheticProcessRollup2
File creation · ATT&CK DS0022 File Creation
- Sentinel
DeviceFileEventsSysmon Event ID 11_Im_FileEvent- Splunk
Endpoint.FilesystemSysmon Event ID 11- CrowdStrike
NewExecutableWrittenNewScriptWritten*FileWritten events
Network connections · ATT&CK DS0029 Network Connection Creation / Network Traffic Flow
- Sentinel
DeviceNetworkEventsCommonSecurityLog (firewall)_Im_NetworkSession- Splunk
Network_Traffic.All_TrafficFirewall sourcetypes (pan:traffic, fortigate_traffic, cisco:asa)- CrowdStrike
NetworkConnectIP4NetworkReceiveAcceptIP4NetworkConnectIP6
A generic baseline worked out from the product type and weakness (CWE-770), not a detection. Check table and field names against your environment. Hunt queries for Sigma, Splunk, Sentinel and CrowdStrike are coming.