diff --git a/changelog/unreleased/issue-3709 b/changelog/unreleased/issue-3709
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+Enhancement: Validate exclude patterns before backing up
+
+Exclude patterns provided via `--exclude`, `--iexclude`, `--exclude-file` or `--iexclude-file`
+previously weren't validated. As a consequence, invalid patterns resulted in all files being backed up.
+restic now validates all patterns before running the backup and aborts with a fatal error
+if an invalid pattern is detected.
+
+https://github.com/restic/restic/issues/3709
+https://github.com/restic/restic/pull/3734