diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index ad7b586591..2798122996 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -45,7 +45,12 @@
 
 5616.	[placeholder]
 
-5615.	[placeholder]
+5615.	[security]	Insufficient IXFR checks could result in named serving a
+			zone without an SOA record at the apex, leading to a
+			RUNTIME_CHECK assertion failure when the zone was
+			subsequently refreshed. This has been fixed by adding an
+			owner name check for all SOA records which are included
+			in a zone transfer. (CVE-2021-25214) [GL #2467]
 
 5614.	[bug]		Ensure all resources are properly cleaned up when a call
 			to gss_accept_sec_context() fails. [GL #2620]
diff --git a/doc/notes/notes-current.rst b/doc/notes/notes-current.rst
index 23f122f192..b559bccf92 100644
--- a/doc/notes/notes-current.rst
+++ b/doc/notes/notes-current.rst
@@ -14,7 +14,11 @@ Notes for BIND 9.17.12
 Security Fixes
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
-- None.
+- A malformed incoming IXFR transfer could trigger an assertion failure
+  in ``named``, causing it to quit abnormally. (CVE-2021-25214)
+
+  ISC would like to thank Greg Kuechle of SaskTel for bringing this
+  vulnerability to our attention. [GL #2467]
 
 Known Issues
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~
diff --git a/lib/dns/rbtdb.c b/lib/dns/rbtdb.c
index f9c93416ed..0e4872d1bc 100644
--- a/lib/dns/rbtdb.c
+++ b/lib/dns/rbtdb.c
@@ -6798,6 +6798,13 @@ addrdataset(dns_db_t *db, dns_dbnode_t *node, dns_dbversion_t *version,
 	INSIST(rbtversion == NULL || rbtversion->rbtdb == rbtdb);
 
 	if (rbtdb->common.methods == &zone_methods) {
+		/*
+		 * SOA records are only allowed at top of zone.
+		 */
+		if (rdataset->type == dns_rdatatype_soa &&
+		    node != rbtdb->origin_node) {
+			return (DNS_R_NOTZONETOP);
+		}
 		RWLOCK(&rbtdb->tree_lock, isc_rwlocktype_read);
 		REQUIRE(((rbtnode->nsec == DNS_RBT_NSEC_NSEC3 &&
 			  (rdataset->type == dns_rdatatype_nsec3 ||
diff --git a/lib/dns/xfrin.c b/lib/dns/xfrin.c
index 5a950ae0eb..044acc09c3 100644
--- a/lib/dns/xfrin.c
+++ b/lib/dns/xfrin.c
@@ -498,6 +498,20 @@ xfr_rr(dns_xfrin_ctx_t *xfr, dns_name_t *name, uint32_t ttl,
 		FAIL(DNS_R_FORMERR);
 	}
 
+	/*
+	 * Immediately reject the entire transfer if the RR that is currently
+	 * being processed is an SOA record that is not placed at the zone
+	 * apex.
+	 */
+	if (rdata->type == dns_rdatatype_soa &&
+	    !dns_name_equal(&xfr->name, name)) {
+		char namebuf[DNS_NAME_FORMATSIZE];
+		dns_name_format(name, namebuf, sizeof(namebuf));
+		xfrin_log(xfr, ISC_LOG_DEBUG(3), "SOA name mismatch: '%s'",
+			  namebuf);
+		FAIL(DNS_R_NOTZONETOP);
+	}
+
 redo:
 	switch (xfr->state) {
 	case XFRST_SOAQUERY:
diff --git a/lib/dns/zone.c b/lib/dns/zone.c
index 24d5849f61..00e6dd2f4e 100644
--- a/lib/dns/zone.c
+++ b/lib/dns/zone.c
@@ -17156,9 +17156,16 @@ again:
 			if (soacount != 1) {
 				dns_zone_log(zone, ISC_LOG_ERROR,
 					     "transferred zone "
-					     "has %d SOA record%s",
-					     soacount,
-					     (soacount != 0) ? "s" : "");
+					     "has %d SOA records",
+					     soacount);
+				if (DNS_ZONE_FLAG(zone, DNS_ZONEFLG_HAVETIMERS))
+				{
+					zone->refresh = DNS_ZONE_DEFAULTREFRESH;
+					zone->retry = DNS_ZONE_DEFAULTRETRY;
+				}
+				DNS_ZONE_CLRFLAG(zone, DNS_ZONEFLG_HAVETIMERS);
+				zone_unload(zone);
+				goto next_master;
 			}
 			if (nscount == 0) {
 				dns_zone_log(zone, ISC_LOG_ERROR,