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

Severity: high (CVSS 7.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.5% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-10-21 · updated 2026-10-26
Weakness: CWE-476

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.

Affected products

ISC BIND: from 9.16.0 through 9.18.50; from 9.20.0 through 9.20.29; from 9.21.0 through 9.21.26; from 9.16.8-S1 through 9.18.50-S1; from 9.20.9-S1 through 9.20.29-S1

References

https://downloads.isc.org/isc/bind9/9.20.30
https://downloads.isc.org/isc/bind9/9.21.27
https://kb.isc.org/docs/cve-2026-96888

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