CVE-2026-96888 Named may terminate unexpectedly when a redirect zone is used with strict QNAME minimization

High 7.5 Published Updated
Exploited in the wild
Not known
Fix
Available

What is CVE-2026-96888?

CVE-2026-96888 is a high-severity vulnerability in ISC BIND 9, published on 21 Oct 2026.

Official description

A BIND resolver that is configured with both a "redirect" zone and "qname-minimization strict" may abort with an assertion failure while processing the redirect. This issue affects BIND 9 versions 9.16.0 through 9.18.50, 9.20.0 through 9.20.29, 9.21.0 through 9.21.26, 9.16.8-S1 through 9.18.50-S1, and 9.20.9-S1 through 9.20.29-S1.

Weakness: CWE-617, CWE-476

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-96888?

How do I fix CVE-2026-96888?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

Is CVE-2026-96888 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-96888 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Sources

Also known as ALPINE-CVE-2026-96888, AZL-111512, BELL-CVE-2026-96888, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-96888, ECHO-8d93-0bc0-8346, GHSA-4x52-cj5p-p824 and 2 more.

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