CVE-2026-9538
Published: May 28, 2026Last modified: May 30, 2026
Description
Archive::Tar versions before 3.10 for Perl allow memory exhaustion via attacker controlled entry size field in tar header. _read_tar() reads each entry's payload with $handle->read($$data, $block), where $block is derived from the entry's 12-byte size field in the tar header with no upper bound on that value. A crafted header declaring a multi-gigabyte size causes Perl to allocate a scalar of that size.
Severity score breakdown
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Base score | 7.5 |
| Attack Vector | NETWORK |
| Attack complexity | LOW |
| Privileges required | NONE |
| User interaction | NONE |
| Scope | UNCHANGED |
| Confidentiality | NONE |
| Integrity impact | NONE |
| Availability impact | HIGH |
| Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
Status
| Product | Release | Package | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpaquita Linux | 23 LTS | perl | Vulnerable (5.36.0-r0) |
| 25 LTS | perl | Vulnerable (5.40.2-r0) | |
| Stream | perl | Vulnerable (5.36.0-r0) | |
| Hardened Containers | 23 LTS | perl | Vulnerable (5.36.0-r0) |
| 25 LTS | perl | Vulnerable (5.40.2-r0) | |
| Stream | perl | Vulnerable (5.36.0-r0) |