Node.js 26.9.0 was published on 16 September 2026 as a Current release. The release page credits Antoine du Hamel (@aduh95). Node.js 24.21.0 remains the latest LTS release, while 26.9.0 is the latest release in the Current line.

The crypto module gains a generic MAC API and can discover ciphers and hashes through OpenSSL providers. The update also fixes multi-prime RSA JWK handling, adds ECDH key-pair caching, and improves FIPS support with strict mode and a diagnostics channel. Additional fixes cover PKCS8 and SPKI exports, RSA-PSS salt handling, CCM error reporting, X509Certificate state, and uninitialized memory in Hmac.digest().

The ffi module is now enabled by default. Node.js also adds the node:bench module and its command-line support, including runners, reporters, diagnostic APIs, and benchmark planning events. The perf_hooks module gains Histogram meanCI and CBOR export and import for exchanging histograms. Experimental APIs cover DTLS and Web Workers. The virtual file system can work with both CJS and ESM module loaders, and embedders can supply builtin code caches without a snapshot.

The release contains further work in fs, HTTP, HTTP/2, streams, permissions, QUIC, SQLite, SEA, workers, and the Node-API. Examples include recursive file-copy improvements, deeper glob controls, HTTP/2 deadlock fixes, proxy header limits, stream interoperability fixes, permission handling for URLs and Uint8Array values, and virtual file system support for native addons. The stream changes also improve Web Streams adapters and cleanup behavior. A use-after-free issue in CleanupHookThunkRun was fixed in the runtime.

Build and dependency updates add shared Perfetto, Highway, and Abseil configuration flags. V8 GDB and LLDB plugin support is enabled, and the V8 sandbox is enabled for shared-cage builds. The bundled dependencies include simdjson 4.6.11 and zlib 1.3.2.1-motley-285e94b, along with several V8 backports. Documentation, TypeScript typings, Web Platform Tests, and benchmark coverage were updated with the new APIs.

Downloads include Windows 64-bit and ARM64 installers and binaries, a macOS installer plus Intel and Apple Silicon binaries, and Linux binaries for x64, ARMv8, PPC LE, and s390x. An AIX PPC64 build and the source archive are also available. The release directory provides PGP-signed SHA256 SHASUMS and documentation for version 26.9.0.