diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index baf2da92..a3f922a9 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -46,6 +46,9 @@ Expected: March 2022
 
 Users may have to change how they access the system
 
+* YANG leafref `require-instance` default changed to `true`
+  * This makes leafref validation stricter
+  * See [statement: require-instance should be true if not present according to rfc7950 Sec 9.9.3](https://github.com/clicon/clixon/issues/302)
 * `configure --with-wwwdir=<dir>` is removed
 * Command field of clixon-lib:process-control RPC reply used CDATA encoding but now uses regular XML encoding
 
@@ -59,9 +62,8 @@ Users may have to change how they access the system
 
 ### Corrected Bugs
 
-
-
-
+* Fixed: [statement: require-instance should be true if not present according to rfc7950 Sec 9.9.3](https://github.com/clicon/clixon/issues/302)
+  * See also API changes
 * Fixed: input RPC validation of choice (non-case)
 * Fixed: More than one unknown/extension in combination with augment of extension resulted in extension being skipped.
 
diff --git a/lib/src/clixon_validate.c b/lib/src/clixon_validate.c
index 27279337..13052cdd 100644
--- a/lib/src/clixon_validate.c
+++ b/lib/src/clixon_validate.c
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ validate_leafref(cxobj     *xt,
     char        *path_arg;
     yang_stmt   *ymod;
     cg_var      *cv;
-    int          require_instance = 0;
+    int          require_instance = 1;
     
     /* require instance */
     if ((yreqi = yang_find(ytype, Y_REQUIRE_INSTANCE, NULL)) != NULL){
diff --git a/test/test_cli_leafref.sh b/test/test_cli_leafref.sh
index ea7a00d3..85f36448 100755
--- a/test/test_cli_leafref.sh
+++ b/test/test_cli_leafref.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 # transitive leafref->leafref leafref->identityref completion
+# 
 
 # Magic line must be first in script (see README.md)
 s="$_" ; . ./lib.sh || if [ "$s" = $0 ]; then exit 0; else return 0; fi
@@ -67,31 +68,33 @@ module example-leafref{
     }
     /* first level leafref */
     container leafrefs {
-        description "Relative path";
+        description "Leafref relative path, no require-instance";
 	list leafref{
 	   key name;
 	   leaf name {
    	      type leafref{
                  path "../../../table/parameter/name";
+		 require-instance false;
               }
            }
         }
     }
     /* first level leafref absolute */	
-    container leafrefstop {
-        description "Same but absolute path";
+    container leafrefsabs {
+        description "Leafref absolute path, no require-instance";
 	list leafref{
 	   key name;
 	   leaf name {
    	      type leafref{
                  path "/table/parameter/name";
+		 require-instance false;
               }
            }
         }
     }
     /* first level leafref require-instance */	
-    container leafrefsreqi {
-        description "Same but absolute path";
+    container leafrefsreqinst {
+        description "Leafref absolute path, require-instance true";
 	list leafref{
 	   key name;
 	   leaf name {
@@ -105,6 +108,7 @@ module example-leafref{
     /* first level identityrefs */
     container identityrefs {
 	list identityref{
+	   description "Identityref base";
 	   key name;
 	   leaf name {
    	      type identityref{
@@ -120,6 +124,7 @@ module example-leafref{
 	   leaf name {
    	      type leafref{
                  path "../../../leafrefs/leafref/name";
+		 require-instance false;
               }
            }
         }
@@ -131,6 +136,7 @@ module example-leafref{
 	   leaf name {
    	      type leafref{
                  path "../../../identityrefs/identityref/name";
+		 require-instance false;
               }
            }
         }
@@ -175,10 +181,10 @@ new "expand leafref 1st level"
 expectpart "$(echo "set leafrefs leafref ?" | $clixon_cli -f $cfg 2> /dev/null)" 0 "91" "92" "93"
 
 new "expand leafref top"
-expectpart "$(echo "set leafrefstop leafref ?" | $clixon_cli -f $cfg 2> /dev/null)" 0 "91" "92" "93"
+expectpart "$(echo "set leafrefsabs leafref ?" | $clixon_cli -f $cfg 2> /dev/null)" 0 "91" "92" "93"
 
 new "expand leafref require-instance"
-expectpart "$(echo "set leafrefsreqi leafref ?" | $clixon_cli -f $cfg 2> /dev/null)" 0 "91" "92" "93"
+expectpart "$(echo "set leafrefsreqinst leafref ?" | $clixon_cli -f $cfg 2> /dev/null)" 0 "91" "92" "93"
 
 # First level id/leaf refs
 new "set identityref des"
@@ -217,7 +223,7 @@ expectpart "$($clixon_cli -1 -f $cfg -l o commit)" 0 "^$"
 
 # require-instance
 new "set leafref require-instance 99 (non-existent)"
-expectpart "$($clixon_cli -1 -f $cfg set leafrefsreqi leafref 99)" 0 "^"$
+expectpart "$($clixon_cli -1 -f $cfg set leafrefsreqinst leafref 99)" 0 "^"$
 
 new "cli validate expect failure"
 expectpart "$($clixon_cli -1 -f $cfg -l o validate)" 255 "Leafref validation failed: No leaf 99 matching path"
diff --git a/test/test_leafref_state.sh b/test/test_leafref_state.sh
index 887aee1d..fecb2bf3 100755
--- a/test/test_leafref_state.sh
+++ b/test/test_leafref_state.sh
@@ -63,7 +63,6 @@ module leafref{
         leaf ref{
  	   type leafref {
 	      path "/ex:sender-config/ex:name";
-	      require-instance true;
 	   }
         }
     }
@@ -90,6 +89,7 @@ module leafref{
         leaf ref{
  	   type leafref {
 	      path "/ex:sender-config/ex:name";
+	      require-instance false;
 	   }
         }
     }
diff --git a/test/test_openconfig_network_instance.sh b/test/test_openconfig_network_instance.sh
index dc2917ae..303c5dd7 100755
--- a/test/test_openconfig_network_instance.sh
+++ b/test/test_openconfig_network_instance.sh
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ cat <<EOF > $dir/startup_db
          </config>
       </fdb>
       <config>
+         <name>default</name>
          <type>oc-ni-types:DEFAULT_INSTANCE</type>
          <enabled>true</enabled>
          <router-id>1.2.3.4</router-id>