CVE-2026-19954
What it is
Net::Whois::Raw versions before 2.99044 for Perl ship a pwhois command-line tool that queries WHOIS for the wrong domain for unicode domain names. pwhois encodes each non-ASCII label directly using Net::IDN::Punycode and prepends xn--. Apart from lowercasing ASCII and Cyrillic letters, it skips the IDNA mapping and normalization steps, so a label with other uppercase letters, or not in NFC, encodes to a different A-label than its IDNA form. For example, a label of U+00C9 followed by "cole" encodes to "xn--cole-pka" rather than "xn--cole-9oa". The Net::Whois::Raw library modules are not affected.
At a glance
- Exploitability
- Can be exploited over the network without logging in, but needs a user to act. Limited direct impact.
- Exploit odds
- 0.2% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS).
- Fix
- A patch, advisory or fixed version is referenced. Upgrade or apply it.
Timeline
- PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
- Last updatedMost recent change to the record
Details
- Published
- Last modified
- Exploit probability
- 0.2% · EPSS, next 30 days
- Weakness
- CWE-176
- Record status
- Deferred
Attack profile CVSS 3.1 · 5.4
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
Fix and advisories
References
- https://github.com/regru/Net-Whois-Raw/issues/34
- https://github.com/regru/Net-Whois-Raw/pull/35
- https://metacpan.org/release/NALOBIN/Net-Whois-Raw-2.99044/changes
- https://metacpan.org/release/PJCJ/Net-IDN-Encode-2.590-TRIAL/view/lib/Net/IDN/Punycode.pm#WARNING
- https://security.metacpan.org/patches/N/Net-Whois-Raw/2.99043/CVE-2026-19954-r1.patch
- https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc5891#section-5.2
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/10/05/9