CVE-2026-8376

9.8 CRITICAL 0.6% exploit odds Fix listed Memory safety

What it is

Perl versions before 5.40.5-RC1, from 5.41.0 before 5.42.3-RC1, from 5.43.0 before 5.43.11 have a heap buffer overflow when compiling regular expressions with a repeated fixed string on 32-bit builds. Perl_study_chunk in regcomp_study.c checked the size of the joined substring buffer in characters rather than bytes. For a quantified fixed substring with a large minimum count, the byte length mincount * l could overflow SSize_t, producing an undersized SvGROW allocation; the subsequent copy writes past the end of the buffer. A caller that compiles an attacker-controlled regular expression on a 32-bit perl build triggers a heap buffer overflow at compile time.

At a glance

Exploitability: Can be exploited over the network without logging in. High risk of data exposure, data tampering, service disruption.
Exploit odds: 0.6% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS).
Fix: A patch, advisory or fixed version is referenced. Upgrade or apply it.