diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index ee0382f84..e69ec4e67 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ tests = [
     # CVE-2025-71176 (pytest <9.0.3 tmp-dir predictability) is dev-only and
     # not fixable on 3.9 — risk is bounded to local CI runners.
     "pytest>=9.0.3; python_version >= '3.10'",
-    "pytest>=8.4,<9; python_version < '3.10'",
+    "pytest>=9,<10; python_version < '3.10'",
     "pytest-cov>=5",
     "coverage[toml]>=7.3.1,<8",
 ]