Reachable assertion in ISC BIND - CVE-2026-96888
Published: October 21, 2026
Vulnerability identifier: #VU156716
CSH Severity: Medium
CVSS v4: 8.7 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-96888
CWE-ID: CWE-617
Exploitation vector: Remote access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vulnerability details
The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to cause a denial of service by triggering unexpected termination of named.
The vulnerability exists due to a reachable assertion in the ISC BIND resolver when processing redirects with both a redirect zone and strict QNAME minimization configured. A remote attacker can send DNS queries that trigger the assertion failure to cause named to abort and exit, resulting in a denial of service.
Affected software
ISC BIND
How to mitigate CVE-2026-96888
Install security update from vendor's website.
ISC BIND - addressed in versions 9.20.30, 9.20.30-s1, 9.21.27