CVE-2026-8376
Description
A flaw was found in Perl. A remote attacker could exploit a heap buffer overflow vulnerability when compiling regular expressions with a repeated fixed string on 32-bit builds. Specifically, the Perl_study_chunk function in regcomp_study.c incorrectly calculates the size of the joined substring buffer, leading to an undersized memory allocation. This allows a subsequent copy operation to write past the end of the buffer, potentially enabling arbitrary code execution or causing a denial of service (DoS).
Statement
Successful exploitation requires a specific application design where untrusted, attacker-controlled input is directly compiled as a regular expression by Perl.
The vulnerability is strictly limited to 32-bit architectures. Standard 64-bit deployments are not affected by this specific integer overflow flaw, significantly reducing the likelihood of exploitation in modern enterprise environments.
Mitigation
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.
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 | 5.7 | 9.8 | 7.3 |
| Attack Vector | Local | Network | Network |
| Attack Complexity | High | Low | Low |
| Privileges Required | None | None | None |
| User Interaction | None | None | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | Unchanged | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None | High | Low |
| Integrity Impact | Low | High | Low |
| Availability Impact | High | High | Low |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H
NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Integrity,Availability,Confidentiality
Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart; Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; Read Memory; Modify Memory
If the incorrect calculation is used in the context of memory allocation, then the software may create a buffer that is smaller or larger than expected. If the allocated buffer is smaller than expected, this could lead to an out-of-bounds read or write (CWE-119), possibly causing a crash, allowing arbitrary code execution, or exposing sensitive data.
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