Resource allocation without limits in PETDANCE App::Ack
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CISA ADP. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-770.
Summary
App::Ack versions before 3.10.0 for Perl allow memory exhaustion via an unbounded context value in a project .ackrc. ack searches up the directory hierarchy from the current directory for a project .ackrc and loads its options. The -B and -C context options accepted any positive integer, and ack sized the before-context buffer to that value, so a project .ackrc setting --before-context=100000000 made ack allocate a buffer of 100 million elements. A project .ackrc committed to an untrusted repository can abort ack with an out-of-memory condition.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- Yes
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA App::Ack (PETDANCE) Fixed in 3.10.0
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-49146
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-hf7w-mcpw-97mf
References
More PETDANCE vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-36360 App::Ack versions through 3.10.0 for Perl print unsanitised terminal escape sequences… CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-36358 Untrusted search path in PETDANCE App::Ack CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
Sources
- CVE-2026-49146 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-49146 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-hf7w-mcpw-97mf · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
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