Copyright © 2012 Red Hat, Inc. All rights reserved. Important 2026-05-27T04:22:26 perl-HTTP-Daemon: HTTP::Daemon: Arbitrary code execution via OS command injection in send_file() 8.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H CWE-78

HTTP::Daemon versions before 6.17 for Perl allow OS command injection via send_file(). send_file() opens its string argument with Perl's 2-arg open(). The 2-arg form interprets magic prefixes: '| cmd' and 'cmd |' open a pipe to a subprocess, '> path' and '>> path' open the path for write or append. Untrusted input passed to send_file() can run OS commands at the daemon process UID. The read-pipe form ('cmd |') also leaks subprocess stdout into the HTTP response body. The write-mode forms can create or truncate files at attacker chosen paths.

A flaw was found in HTTP::Daemon, a Perl module used for creating HTTP servers. A remote attacker can exploit this vulnerability by providing specially crafted input to the `send_file()` function, leading to OS command injection. This allows the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the system with the privileges of the daemon process, potentially resulting in full system compromise or data manipulation.

This is rated as an Important security flaw becaye the function utilizes an insecure 2-argument open() call that interprets shell-magic characters (such as pipes or redirects) inside file paths. In a non-default configuration where a custom application passes untrusted user input directly to this function, a remote attacker could exploit this flaw to read or write arbitrary files, or potentially execute commands within the context of the daemon's local system user. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 Affected perl-HTTP-Daemon Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Affected perl-HTTP-Daemon Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Affected perl-HTTP-Daemon Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Affected perl-HTTP-Daemon https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-8450 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-8450 https://github.com/libwww-perl/HTTP-Daemon/commit/945d35141d94490f749640bd4390acd6a2193995.patch https://github.com/libwww-perl/HTTP-Daemon/pull/89 https://metacpan.org/release/OALDERS/HTTP-Daemon-6.17/changes