CVE-2026-9538CWE-789

Archive::Tar versions before 3.10 for Perl allow memory exhaustion via attacker controlled entry size field in tar header

High · published May 26, 2026

CVSS v3.1
7.5
EPSS
0%
Percentile
38.0
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

Archive::Tar versions before 3.10 for Perl allow memory exhaustion via attacker controlled entry size field in tar header.

_read_tar() reads each entry's payload with $handle->read($$data, $block), where $block is derived from the entry's 12-byte size field in the tar header with no upper bound on that value.

A crafted header declaring a multi-gigabyte size causes Perl to allocate a scalar of that size.

The record
Technical detail
CVSS v3.1
7.5 · HIGH
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
CVSS v4.0
Not supplied
EPSS
0.00448 · 38.0th percentile
Weakness
CWE-789 · Memory Allocation with Excessive Size Value
Published
2026-05-26T00:18Z
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 26 MAY 00:18Z
    Archive::Tar versions before 3.10 for Perl allow memory exhaustion via attacker controlled entry size field in tar header
    cvelistv5