Type confusion in DBI
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
- Partial Red Hat: 5 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CISA ADP. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-843 and the CVSS impact.
Summary
DBI versions before 1.654 for Perl incorrectly treat numeric values as strings in FetchHashKeyName. fetchrow_hashref uses the string pointer of the FetchHashKeyName attribute as the key name without stringifying it first. When FetchHashKeyName has been set to an integer (IV) or floating-point (NV) value, that pointer is invalid, so reading the key name triggers a segmentation fault. This can be triggered with the following code: my $dbh = DBI->connect( "dbi:ExampleP:", "", "", { RaiseError => 0, PrintError => 0 } ); $dbh->{FetchHashKeyName} = 42; my $sth = $dbh->prepare("select mode, size, name from ."); $sth->execute; $sth->fetchrow_hashref;
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
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | DBI | before 1.654 | 1.654 | Patch available | CNA |
- DBI Vendor— Affected before 1.654 Fixed in 1.654 Patch available CNA
Remediation
- Fix · CNA DBI Fixed in 1.654
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 planned: Out of support scope |
| 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 |
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-88816
- 2026-10-25 Priority changed: MEDIUM → LOW
References
Sources
- CVE-2026-88816 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-88816 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- CVE-2026-88816 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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