Heap overflow via regex substring length miscalculation
Published May 25, 2026 · Updated May 26, 2026
Heap buffer overflow in Perl through 5.43.10 allows attackers to corrupt memory by compiling a repeated fixed-string regex on 32-bit builds. Perl_study_chunk in regcomp_study.c multiplies a quantified substring's byte length by its minimum count without rejecting SSize_t overflow, so SvGROW reserves an undersized buffer before the copy. The condition requires a 32-bit Perl build and an attacker-controlled regular expression; resulting memory corruption can crash the process, while code execution has not been demonstrated.
Summary
What happened
Heap buffer overflow in Perl through 5.43.10 allows attackers to corrupt memory by compiling a repeated fixed-string regex on 32-bit builds. Perl_study_chunk in regcomp_study.c multiplies a quantified substring's byte length by its minimum count without rejecting SSize_t overflow, so SvGROW reserves an undersized buffer before the copy. The condition requires a 32-bit Perl build and an attacker-controlled regular expression; resulting memory corruption can crash the process, while code execution has not been demonstrated.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-8376
- Published
- May 25, 2026
- Updated
- May 26, 2026
- Vendor
- The Perl Foundation
- Product
- Perl
- Classifications
- CWE-680
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 25, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 26, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=0 <=5.43.10
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
No public exploit references are available in this record.
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo