CVE-2026-9538
Description
A flaw was found in the perl-Archive-Tar component. An attacker can exploit this vulnerability by providing a crafted tar header with an excessively large entry size field. This can lead to memory exhaustion, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS) for the affected system.
Statement
This Important flaw in perl-Archive-Tar allows a Denial of Service via memory exhaustion when processing specially crafted tar archives. The Archive::Tar module's _read_tar() method reads entry payload sizes from the tar header without enforcing an upper bound, allowing an attacker to craft a tar archive whose header declares a multi-gigabyte entry size, causing immediate large memory allocation. Applications or scripts that process untrusted tar files using Archive::Tar are vulnerable to resource exhaustion.
Mitigation
To mitigate this issue, avoid processing untrusted tar archives with applications using Perl's Archive::Tar module. If untrusted tar processing is required, consider imposing resource limits (e.g., ulimit) on the processes handling tar files to contain memory exhaustion and prevent wider system impact.
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).
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 7.5 | 7.5 | 7.5 |
| Attack Vector | Network | Network | Network |
| Attack Complexity | Low | Low | Low |
| Privileges Required | None | None | None |
| User Interaction | None | None | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | Unchanged | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None | None | None |
| Integrity Impact | None | None | High |
| Availability Impact | High | High | None |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD: 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:H/A:N
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory); DoS: Resource Consumption (Other)
When allocating resources without limits, an attacker could prevent other systems, applications, or processes from accessing the same type of resource. It can be easy for an attacker to consume many resources by rapidly making many requests or causing larger resources to be used than is needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
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