Description
A multi-vendor cache poisoning vulnerability named 'Rebirthday Attack' has been discovered in caching resolvers that support EDNS Client Subnet (ECS). Unbound is also vulnerable when compiled with ECS support, i.e., '--enable-subnet', AND configured to send ECS information along with queries to upstream name servers, i.e., at least one of the 'send-client-subnet', 'client-subnet-zone' or 'client-subnet-always-forward' options is used. Resolvers supporting ECS need to segregate outgoing queries to accommodate for different outgoing ECS information. This re-opens up resolvers to a birthday paradox attack (Rebirthday Attack) that tries to match the DNS transaction ID in order to cache non-ECS poisonous replies.
Published: 2025-07-16
Score: 8.7 High
EPSS: < 1% Very Low
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
AI Analysis

Analysis and contextual insights are available on OpenCVE Cloud.

Remediation

Vendor Solution

This issue is fixed in 1.23.1 and all later versions. Not using EDNS Client Subnet (ECS) is also a mitigation for affected versions.

Tracking

Sign in to view the affected projects.

Advisories
Source ID Title
Debian DLA Debian DLA DLA-4280-1 unbound security update
Debian DSA Debian DSA DSA-5987-1 unbound security update
EUVD EUVD EUVD-2025-21730 A multi-vendor cache poisoning vulnerability named 'Rebirthday Attack' has been discovered in caching resolvers that support EDNS Client Subnet (ECS). Unbound is also vulnerable when compiled with ECS support, i.e., '--enable-subnet', AND configured to send ECS information along with queries to upstream name servers, i.e., at least one of the 'send-client-subnet', 'client-subnet-zone' or 'client-subnet-always-forward' options is used. Resolvers supporting ECS need to segregate outgoing queries to accommodate for different outgoing ECS information. This re-opens up resolvers to a birthday paradox attack (Rebirthday Attack) that tries to match the DNS transaction ID in order to cache non-ECS poisonous replies.
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-7666-1 Unbound vulnerabilities
History

Mon, 03 Nov 2025 19:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
References

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 00:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N'}

threat_severity

Important


Wed, 16 Jul 2025 16:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'yes', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}


Wed, 16 Jul 2025 15:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description A multi-vendor cache poisoning vulnerability named 'Rebirthday Attack' has been discovered in caching resolvers that support EDNS Client Subnet (ECS). Unbound is also vulnerable when compiled with ECS support, i.e., '--enable-subnet', AND configured to send ECS information along with queries to upstream name servers, i.e., at least one of the 'send-client-subnet', 'client-subnet-zone' or 'client-subnet-always-forward' options is used. Resolvers supporting ECS need to segregate outgoing queries to accommodate for different outgoing ECS information. This re-opens up resolvers to a birthday paradox attack (Rebirthday Attack) that tries to match the DNS transaction ID in order to cache non-ECS poisonous replies.
Title Cache poisoning via the ECS-enabled Rebirthday Attack
Weaknesses CWE-349
References
Metrics cvssV4_0

{'score': 8.7, 'vector': 'CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/R:U/V:C'}


Subscriptions

No data.

cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: NLnet Labs

Published:

Updated: 2025-11-03T18:13:56.352Z

Reserved: 2025-06-11T09:08:05.767Z

Link: CVE-2025-5994

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2025-07-16T15:42:16.296Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Deferred

Published: 2025-07-16T15:15:33.490

Modified: 2026-04-15T00:35:42.020

Link: CVE-2025-5994

cve-icon Redhat

Severity : Important

Publid Date: 2025-07-16T14:38:22Z

Links: CVE-2025-5994 - Bugzilla

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.

Weaknesses