I had unbound 1.6.4 listening on the loopback interface with validation enabled. Unexpectedly, for a DNSSEC signed zone with no MX records, the NODATA response from unbound has AD=0:
$ dig +nosplit +dnssec +ad -t mx pat.dedyn.io @127.0.0.1 ; <<>> DiG 9.11.1-P3 <<>> +nosplit +dnssec +ad -t mx pat.dedyn.io @127.0.0.1 ;; global options: +cmd ;; Got answer: ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 46584 ;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 4, ADDITIONAL: 1 ;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION: ; EDNS: version: 0, flags: do; udp: 8192 ;; QUESTION SECTION: ;pat.dedyn.io. IN MX ;; AUTHORITY SECTION: pat.dedyn.io. 60 IN SOA ns1.desec.io. hostmaster.desec.io. 2017084887 10800 3600 604800 60 pat.dedyn.io. 60 IN RRSIG SOA 8 3 60 20170907000000 20170817000000 16713 pat.dedyn.io. ICHfyC1jcmI7hk/qcvs1mHU+DXgiAHp56tHZ0DrBIlg8Qrzj9MI8stHcWT6J7mf4e+3PMN+p34RvFokGAMqeHQ2qN4QSe1yX+Evj5RCI6Gx125ae/S0xCSnUuz4tfcmuorn+Ljk//2a8j2q+w6awrCqdoAMaVAdIMmHmmuHKhpQ= 3645142tqk02bkonalf8lhipr7bs92k2.pat.dedyn.io. 60 IN NSEC3 1 0 300 D7E2042737B912B9 4O4UISQPPPTC260I5BQ6R816IC02HFI5 A NS SOA RRSIG DNSKEY NSEC3PARAM 3645142tqk02bkonalf8lhipr7bs92k2.pat.dedyn.io. 60 IN RRSIG NSEC3 8 4 60 20170907000000 20170817000000 16713 pat.dedyn.io. ZkcJecwn698jOHCFN+Fn6Z3qGTZuIzVo0W25cLG6NB0DCnMdVhmD2FpWvaIT8OVWIyMSxdbC99T4pvSkdZakZWRfeJNeomwrWvbYGkGNgo/3uoQRfvm5WgTHjmoYP9QopEKpra5L2Dm8l4fQagp+BBos48QNlKeABqTkiufLEts= ;; Query time: 46 msec ;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1) ;; WHEN: Thu Aug 24 10:26:18 EDT 2017 ;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 530 Both DNSViz and Google's public resolvers report the NODATA as secure (AD=1): http://dnsviz.net/d/pat.dedyn.io/dnssec/?rr=15&a=all&ds=all&doe=on&ta=.&tk= $ dig +nosplit +dnssec +ad -t mx pat.dedyn.io @8.8.4.4 ; <<>> DiG 9.11.1-P3 <<>> +nosplit +dnssec +ad -t mx pat.dedyn.io @8.8.4.4 ;; global options: +cmd ;; Got answer: ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 5148 ;; flags: qr rd ra ad; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 4, ADDITIONAL: 1 ;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION: ; EDNS: version: 0, flags: do; udp: 512 ;; QUESTION SECTION: ;pat.dedyn.io. IN MX ;; AUTHORITY SECTION: pat.dedyn.io. 59 IN SOA ns1.desec.io. hostmaster.desec.io. 2017084887 10800 3600 604800 60 pat.dedyn.io. 59 IN RRSIG SOA 8 3 60 20170907000000 20170817000000 16713 pat.dedyn.io. ICHfyC1jcmI7hk/qcvs1mHU+DXgiAHp56tHZ0DrBIlg8Qrzj9MI8stHcWT6J7mf4e+3PMN+p34RvFokGAMqeHQ2qN4QSe1yX+Evj5RCI6Gx125ae/S0xCSnUuz4tfcmuorn+Ljk//2a8j2q+w6awrCqdoAMaVAdIMmHmmuHKhpQ= 3645142tqk02bkonalf8lhipr7bs92k2.pat.dedyn.io. 59 IN NSEC3 1 0 300 D7E2042737B912B9 4O4UISQPPPTC260I5BQ6R816IC02HFI5 A NS SOA RRSIG DNSKEY NSEC3PARAM 3645142tqk02bkonalf8lhipr7bs92k2.pat.dedyn.io. 59 IN RRSIG NSEC3 8 4 60 20170907000000 20170817000000 16713 pat.dedyn.io. ZkcJecwn698jOHCFN+Fn6Z3qGTZuIzVo0W25cLG6NB0DCnMdVhmD2FpWvaIT8OVWIyMSxdbC99T4pvSkdZakZWRfeJNeomwrWvbYGkGNgo/3uoQRfvm5WgTHjmoYP9QopEKpra5L2Dm8l4fQagp+BBos48QNlKeABqTkiufLEts= ;; Query time: 212 msec ;; SERVER: 8.8.4.4#53(8.8.4.4) ;; WHEN: Thu Aug 24 10:24:59 EDT 2017 ;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 530 I just upgraded to 1.6.5 and retried, and get the same results. I see one interesting thing about this domain: * The DS records are published with digests 1, 2, 3 and 4, which includes GOST(3). I build unbound without GOST support. (The GOST code in OpenSSL is not well maintained, and I prefer to avoid it). Does anyone know why unbound is returning "AD=0"? Is it a feature or a bug? Somewhat verbose output from "unbound-host" below... -- Viktor. $ /usr/local/sbin/unbound-host -f /usr/local/etc/unbound/root.key -v -t mx -d pat.dedyn.io [1503585549] libunbound[42583:0] notice: init module 0: validator [1503585549] libunbound[42583:0] notice: init module 1: iterator [1503585549] libunbound[42583:0] info: resolving pat.dedyn.io. MX IN [1503585549] libunbound[42583:0] info: priming . IN NS [1503585549] libunbound[42583:0] info: response for . NS IN [1503585549] libunbound[42583:0] info: reply from <.> 202.12.27.33#53 [1503585549] libunbound[42583:0] info: query response was ANSWER [1503585549] libunbound[42583:0] info: priming successful for . NS IN [1503585549] libunbound[42583:0] info: response for pat.dedyn.io. MX IN [1503585549] libunbound[42583:0] info: reply from <.> 2001:500:200::b#53 [1503585549] libunbound[42583:0] info: query response was REFERRAL [1503585549] libunbound[42583:0] info: response for pat.dedyn.io. MX IN [1503585549] libunbound[42583:0] info: reply from <io.> 2a01:8840:9f::17#53 [1503585549] libunbound[42583:0] info: query response was REFERRAL [1503585549] libunbound[42583:0] info: response for pat.dedyn.io. MX IN [1503585549] libunbound[42583:0] info: reply from <dedyn.io.> 2a01:4f8:c17:bb2:deec::2#53 [1503585549] libunbound[42583:0] info: query response was nodata ANSWER [1503585549] libunbound[42583:0] info: prime trust anchor [1503585549] libunbound[42583:0] info: resolving . DNSKEY IN [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: response for . DNSKEY IN [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: reply from <.> 2001:500:9f::42#53 [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: query response was ANSWER [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: validate keys with anchor(DS): sec_status_secure [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: Successfully primed trust anchor . DNSKEY IN [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: validated DS io. DS IN [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: resolving io. DNSKEY IN [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: response for io. DNSKEY IN [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: reply from <io.> 74.116.179.1#53 [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: query response was ANSWER [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: validated DNSKEY io. DNSKEY IN [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: validated DS dedyn.io. DS IN [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: resolving dedyn.io. DNSKEY IN [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: response for dedyn.io. DNSKEY IN [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: reply from <dedyn.io.> 78.46.205.75#53 [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: query response was ANSWER [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: validated DNSKEY dedyn.io. DNSKEY IN [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: resolving pat.dedyn.io. DS IN [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: response for pat.dedyn.io. DS IN [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: reply from <dedyn.io.> 78.46.205.75#53 [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: query response was ANSWER [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: validated DS pat.dedyn.io. DS IN [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: resolving pat.dedyn.io. DNSKEY IN [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: response for pat.dedyn.io. DNSKEY IN [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: reply from <dedyn.io.> 52.3.44.26#53 [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: query response was ANSWER [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: validated DNSKEY pat.dedyn.io. DNSKEY IN [1503585550] libunbound[42583:0] info: validate(nodata): sec_status_insecure pat.dedyn.io has no mail handler record (insecure)