CVE-2026-85644
Description
A flaw was found in perl-XS-Parse-Keyword. This vulnerability allows an attacker to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) or potentially execute arbitrary code by supplying crafted input to an affected application. The issue occurs because the module improperly validates arguments for list-associative operators, treating numbers or formatted strings as array references and causing the interpreter to dereference arbitrary memory addresses.
Statement
This vulnerability is evaluated as an Important severity issue because untrusted remote input processed by Perl services can trigger improper memory dereferencing, resulting in an unhandled crash and denial of service. Exploitation requires an application to pass external, user-supplied data—such as decoded numeric values or crafted strings—into functions generated by list-associative infix operators. In standard Red Hat Enterprise Linux environments, exposure is limited to custom or third-party Perl applications that actively utilize these specific grammar extensions on untrusted network data.
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 | 7.5 | N/A | 7.5 |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | Network |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | None |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | None |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | None |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Other
Technical Impact: Varies by Context
When the product accesses the resource using an incompatible type, this could trigger logical errors because the resource does not have expected properties.
Availability,Integrity,Confidentiality
Technical Impact: Read Memory; Modify Memory; Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
If a memory buffer is accessed using an incompatible type, and the allocated buffer is smaller than the type that the code is attempting to access, then an attacker could read or write memory outside the bounds of the buffer, leading to a crash or possibly code execution.
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