diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 667a0bc591e3..650007b5a090 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 PHP                                                                        NEWS
 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
-?? ??? ????, PHP 8.6.0alpha1
+?? ??? ????, PHP 8.6.0alpha2
+
+
+02 Jul 2026, PHP 8.6.0alpha1
 
 - Core:
   . Added first-class callable cache to share instances for the duration of the
diff --git a/docs/release-process.md b/docs/release-process.md
index c07f328f2d8c..570107492ac3 100644
--- a/docs/release-process.md
+++ b/docs/release-process.md
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ repository available according to the release schedule.
 The release schedule for each version is published on the
 [PHP wiki](https://wiki.php.net):
 
+- [PHP 8.6](https://wiki.php.net/todo/php86)
 - [PHP 8.5](https://wiki.php.net/todo/php85)
 - [PHP 8.4](https://wiki.php.net/todo/php84)
 - [PHP 8.3](https://wiki.php.net/todo/php83)
diff --git a/ext/pdo_odbc/odbc_driver.c b/ext/pdo_odbc/odbc_driver.c
index 3c8afe2d4215..e499c2fd45b9 100644
--- a/ext/pdo_odbc/odbc_driver.c
+++ b/ext/pdo_odbc/odbc_driver.c
@@ -603,7 +603,11 @@ static int pdo_odbc_handle_factory(pdo_dbh_t *dbh, zval *driver_options) /* {{{
 				dsnbuf, sizeof(dsnbuf)-1, &dsnbuflen, SQL_DRIVER_NOPROMPT);
 	}
 	if (!use_direct) {
-		rc = SQLConnect(H->dbc, (SQLCHAR *) dbh->data_source, SQL_NTS, (SQLCHAR *) dbh->username, SQL_NTS, (SQLCHAR *) dbh->password, SQL_NTS);
+		/* unixODBC pooling strcmp()s the credentials when matching a cached
+		 * connection and crashes on a NULL username/password, so pass "". */
+		rc = SQLConnect(H->dbc, (SQLCHAR *) dbh->data_source, SQL_NTS,
+			(SQLCHAR *) (dbh->username ? dbh->username : ""), SQL_NTS,
+			(SQLCHAR *) (dbh->password ? dbh->password : ""), SQL_NTS);
 	}
 
 	if (rc != SQL_SUCCESS && rc != SQL_SUCCESS_WITH_INFO) {