diff --git a/doc/Changelog b/doc/Changelog
index 818302ce7..04373cbc5 100644
--- a/doc/Changelog
+++ b/doc/Changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+4 September 2026: Wouter
+	- Fix to make rpz_config leave the rpz with correct set up
+	  on failure. The struct is not half configured on exit.
+	  Thanks to Qifan Zhang, Palo Alto Networks, for the report.
+
 3 September 2026: Wouter
 	- Fix to match NSEC3 hash length to the NSEC3 algorithm,
 	  this stops negative cache overdeletion. It also contrains
diff --git a/services/rpz.c b/services/rpz.c
index 1a23e52a0..64921396d 100644
--- a/services/rpz.c
+++ b/services/rpz.c
@@ -507,12 +507,22 @@ static int
 rpz_apply_cfg_elements(struct rpz* r, struct config_auth* p)
 {
 	if(p->rpz_taglist && p->rpz_taglistlen) {
-		r->taglistlen = p->rpz_taglistlen;
-		r->taglist = memdup(p->rpz_taglist, r->taglistlen);
-		if(!r->taglist) {
+		uint8_t* taglist = memdup(p->rpz_taglist, p->rpz_taglistlen);
+		if(!taglist) {
 			log_err("malloc failure on RPZ taglist alloc");
 			return 0;
 		}
+		if(r->taglist)
+			free(r->taglist);
+		r->taglist = taglist;
+		r->taglistlen = p->rpz_taglistlen;
+	} else {
+		/* free taglist, if any */
+		if(r->taglist) {
+			free(r->taglist);
+			r->taglist = NULL;
+			r->taglistlen = 0;
+		}
 	}
 
 	if(p->rpz_action_override) {
@@ -524,6 +534,8 @@ rpz_apply_cfg_elements(struct rpz* r, struct config_auth* p)
 	if(r->action_override == RPZ_CNAME_OVERRIDE_ACTION) {
 		uint8_t nm[LDNS_MAX_DOMAINLEN+1];
 		size_t nmlen = sizeof(nm);
+		struct regional* newr;
+		struct ub_packed_rrset_key* cname_override;
 
 		if(!p->rpz_cname) {
 			log_err("rpz: override with cname action found, but no "
@@ -536,18 +548,39 @@ rpz_apply_cfg_elements(struct rpz* r, struct config_auth* p)
 				p->rpz_cname);
 			return 0;
 		}
-		r->cname_override = new_cname_override(r->region, nm, nmlen);
-		if(!r->cname_override) {
+		newr = regional_create_custom(sizeof(struct regional));
+		if(!newr) {
+			log_err("malloc failure on RPZ cname override region");
 			return 0;
 		}
+		cname_override = new_cname_override(newr, nm, nmlen);
+		if(!cname_override) {
+			regional_destroy(newr);
+			return 0;
+		}
+		regional_destroy(r->region);
+		r->region = newr;
+		r->cname_override = cname_override;
+	} else {
+		delete_cname_override(r);
 	}
 	r->log = p->rpz_log;
 	r->signal_nxdomain_ra = p->rpz_signal_nxdomain_ra;
 	if(p->rpz_log_name) {
-		if(!(r->log_name = strdup(p->rpz_log_name))) {
+		char* log_name = strdup(p->rpz_log_name);
+		if(!log_name) {
 			log_err("malloc failure on RPZ log_name strdup");
 			return 0;
 		}
+		if(r->log_name)
+			free(r->log_name);
+		r->log_name = log_name;
+	} else {
+		/* free logname, if any */
+		if(r->log_name) {
+			free(r->log_name);
+			r->log_name = NULL;
+		}
 	}
 	return 1;
 }
@@ -616,22 +649,6 @@ rpz_config(struct rpz* r, struct config_auth* p)
 {
 	/* If the zonefile changes, it is read later, after which
 	 * rpz_clear and rpz_finish_config is called. */
-
-	/* free taglist, if any */
-	if(r->taglist) {
-		free(r->taglist);
-		r->taglist = NULL;
-		r->taglistlen = 0;
-	}
-
-	/* free logname, if any */
-	if(r->log_name) {
-		free(r->log_name);
-		r->log_name = NULL;
-	}
-
-	delete_cname_override(r);
-
 	if(!rpz_apply_cfg_elements(r, p))
 		return 0;
 	return 1;