Out-of-bounds read in perl
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- High
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · Low · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 1 fixed, 9 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CISA ADP. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
Perl versions through 5.45.1 have out-of-bounds heap reads and writes during regular expression matching via an undersized superlinear cache in S_regmatch. The regex engine's superlinear cache holds one bit per subject position for each participating WHILEM node, so the bit count is the subject length plus one times the number of nodes. Nothing checks that product for positive overflow of the signed 32-bit count: a 286331153 byte subject matched against a pattern with 15 participating nodes stores the count as 14, leaving a two byte cache. The cache is then indexed from the real match position and node number, so reads go past the end of the allocation, and on failure CACHEsayNO sets a bit past it. A caller that matches an attacker controlled subject of this size against a pattern of this shape can crash the process or corrupt heap memory.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | perl | up to 5.45.1 | — | No fix listed | CNA |
- perl Vendor— Affected up to 5.45.1 Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
Remediation
Red Hat 1 advisory
- RHSA-2026:63403 Released 2026-09-03 · Red Hat rating ModerateRed Hat Hardened Images RPMs Security Update
- Red Hat Hardened Images perl-4:5.42.2-525.1.hum1@aarch64, perl-4:5.42.2-525.1.hum1@src, perl-4:5.42.2-525.1.hum1@x86_64 +47
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI) | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Hardened Images | Fixed | RHSA-2026:63403 |
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-15534
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-2cxw-qmfc-3vx3
- 2026-10-16 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-21 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-22 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-11-05 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Sources
- CVE-2026-15534 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-15534 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-2cxw-qmfc-3vx3 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-15534 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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