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


- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 21 Oct 2026
- **Updated:** 21 Oct 2026
- **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, MINI-hp52-279j-2wg5, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-96888

## 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 (Reachable Assertion), CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## 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.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-96888 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-96888 is a high-severity vulnerability in ISC BIND 9, published on 21 Oct 2026. 
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-96888 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: ISC BIND 9. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-96888/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-96888/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-96888
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-96888
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-96888

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-96888/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.