CVE-2026-116270
Description
A flaw was found in perl-MIME-tools. The message header decoding routine improperly accumulates error messages when processing repeated malformed encoded word sequences. A remote attacker can exploit this vulnerability by submitting a specially crafted message header, causing excessive memory consumption and resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS).
Statement
This flaw is assessed as Important severity because unauthenticated remote senders can trigger denial of service in mail-handling software without requiring privileges or user interaction. Services and daemons that parse untrusted MIME content using this library can be forced to consume excessive system memory, potentially destabilizing or terminating critical message processing pipelines. Systems that do not run applications accepting external, untrusted email or MIME attachments are not directly exposed.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 7.5 | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | N/A |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | N/A |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | N/A |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | N/A |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | N/A |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
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