Jostle logic bypass degrades resolution performance
NLnet Labs Unbound up to and including version 1.25.0 has a vulnerability in the jostle logic that could defeat its purpose and degrade resolution performance. Retransmits of the same query could renew the age of slow running queries and not allow the jostle logic to see them as aged and potential targets for replacement with new queries. An adversary who can query a vulnerable Unbound and who can control a domain name server that replies slowly and/or maliciously to Unbound's queries can exploit the vulnerability and degrade the resolution performance of Unbound. When Unbound's 'num-queries-per-thread' reaches its limit, the jostle logic kicks in. When a new query comes in, half of the available queries that are also slow to resolve are candidates for replacement. The vulnerability then happens because duplicate queries that need resolution would skew the aging result by using the timestamp of the latest duplicate query instead of the original one that started the resolution effort. Cache and local data response performance remains unaffected. Coordinated attacks could raise this to a denial of resolution service. Unbound 1.25.1 contains a patch with a fix to attach an initial, non-updatable start time for incoming queries that allow the jostle logic to work as intended.
Problem Types
| Type | CWE ID | Description |
|---|
| CWE | CWE-440 | CWE-440: Expected Behavior Violation |
Type: CWE
Description: CWE-440: Expected Behavior Violation
Metrics
| Version | Base score | Base severity | Vector |
|---|
| 4.0 | 6.9 | MEDIUM | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/U:Amber |
Version: 4.0
Base score: 6.9
Base severity: MEDIUM
Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/U:Amber
Timeline
| Event | Date |
|---|
| Issue reported by Qifan Zhang | 2026-04-28 00:00:00 |
| NLnet Labs shares patch | 2026-05-07 00:00:00 |
| Qifan Zhang verifies patch | 2026-05-08 00:00:00 |
| Fixes released with version 1.25.1 | 2026-05-20 00:00:00 |
Event: Issue reported by Qifan Zhang
Date: 2026-04-28 00:00:00
Event: NLnet Labs shares patch
Date: 2026-05-07 00:00:00
Event: Qifan Zhang verifies patch
Date: 2026-05-08 00:00:00
Event: Fixes released with version 1.25.1
Date: 2026-05-20 00:00:00