Vulnerability · Published Aug 16, 2026 · Assigned by CPANSec
CVE-2026-72888Net::OAuth versions before 0.32 for Perl allow memory exhaustion via unbounded caching of failed module loads in smart_require
Medium 6.5
In plain English
A medium-severity resource allocation without limits in Net-OAuth. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.5% (higher than 46% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.
Official description
Net::OAuth versions before 0.32 for Perl allow memory exhaustion via unbounded caching of failed module loads in smart_require. smart_require stores results in a process-global hash with no bound and no eviction, and keeps an entry for every class name it is asked about, including names that failed to load, because the return value of the failed eval is stored before the error is checked. The key comes off the wire on the server side: _signature_method_class builds the class name from the signature_method parameter of the incoming message, and verify resolves it before any signature is checked. A remote client chooses both how many entries are created and how long each key is. In a persistent server the hash grows for the life of the worker process until it exhausts memory. Header size limits bound the key length on the Authorization header path, but not on a POST body.
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian:12 | libnet-oauth-perl | no fix listed | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72888 |
| Debian:13 | libnet-oauth-perl | no fix listed | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72888 |
| Debian:14 | libnet-oauth-perl | 0.32-1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72888 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | libnet-oauth-perl | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72888 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | libnet-oauth-perl | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72888 |
| Ubuntu:26.04:LTS | libnet-oauth-perl | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72888 |
| Ubuntu:26.10 | libnet-oauth-perl | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72888 |
Affected products (as reported)
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Net-OAuth | 0 – before 0.32 |
Weakness: CWE-770 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
References
- https://github.com/vurtdev/Net-OAuth/security/advisories/GHSA-m2cv-cq5x-47ph vendor-advisory
- https://github.com/vurtdev/Net-OAuth/commit/ee713fc96263c70b3b9a5280612618b474576f8f.patch patch
- https://metacpan.org/release/RRWO/Net-OAuth-0.32/changes release-notes
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/08/16/4