Interpreter crash via undersized transliteration buffer
Published Apr 13, 2025 · Updated Oct 16, 2025
Heap buffer overflow in Perl allows attackers to crash the interpreter via a crafted transliteration containing non-ASCII bytes. S_pmtrans underallocates the translation buffer when a byte character expands into a two-byte UTF-8 sequence, allowing S_do_trans_invmap to advance destination pointer d beyond the heap allocation. Crafted Perl code must be executed; the demonstrated consequence is an interpreter crash, while code execution depends on the platform's memory defenses.
Summary
What happened
Heap buffer overflow in Perl allows attackers to crash the interpreter via a crafted transliteration containing non-ASCII bytes. S_pmtrans underallocates the translation buffer when a byte character expands into a two-byte UTF-8 sequence, allowing S_do_trans_invmap to advance destination pointer d beyond the heap allocation. Crafted Perl code must be executed; the demonstrated consequence is an interpreter crash, while code execution depends on the platform's memory defenses.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2024-56406
- Published
- Apr 13, 2025
- Updated
- Oct 16, 2025
- Vendor
- The Perl Foundation
- Product
- Perl
- Classifications
- CWE-787, CWE-122, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Apr 13, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Oct 16, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=5.33.1 <5.38.4-RC1
- Affected versionversion=5.39.0 <5.40.2-RC1
- Affected versionversion=5.41.0 <=5.41.10
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- Perl non-ASCII transliteration crash reproducerproof of concept · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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