Vulnerability · Published Aug 15, 2026 · Assigned by CPANSec

CVE-2026-73194DBI versions before 1.652 for Perl allow a heap out-of-bounds write via an unvalidated numeric placeholder that sets the binder counter in preparse

Critical 9.1

In plain English

A critical-severity out-of-bounds write in DBI. 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 43% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)9.1Critical
Exploit odds (30 days)0.5%top 57.5% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

DBI versions before 1.652 for Perl allow a heap out-of-bounds write via an unvalidated numeric placeholder that sets the binder counter in preparse. preparse reserves seven output bytes per input byte, the width of the longest ':p99999' expansion. The ':N' branch parses the number with `atoi(src)` and assigns it to the binder counter with no range check, so a statement containing ':2147483648' leaves the counter negative (-2147483648 with glibc, where atoi wraps). Each following '?' then expands through `sprintf(start, ":p%d", idx++)` to ':p-2147483648', 14 bytes with the terminating NUL where the buffer budgets 7. The placeholder limit added in 1.650 tests the counter against 99,999, which a negative counter passes. Any caller that preparses an untrusted statement into ':pN' style placeholders gets a heap out-of-bounds write that grows with the number of '?' marks following the poisoned placeholder. The '?' and '%s' return styles compare the parsed number against the expected sequence and error out, and are unaffected.

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
AlmaLinux:10perl-DBI1.643-26.el10_2.6ALSA-2026:70753
AlmaLinux:8perl-DBI1.641-3.el8_10ALSA-2026:71608
AlmaLinux:8perl-DBI1.641-10.module_el8.10.0+4282+4ee1dbd0ALSA-2026:69112
AlmaLinux:9perl-DBI1.643-9.el9_8.6ALSA-2026:71422
Debian:12libdbi-perl1.643-4+deb12u2DEBIAN-CVE-2026-73194
Debian:13libdbi-perl1.652-2~deb13u1DEBIAN-CVE-2026-73194
Debian:14libdbi-perl1.652-1DEBIAN-CVE-2026-73194
Rocky Linux:10perl-DBI0:1.643-26.el10_2.6RLSA-2026:70753
Rocky Linux:8perl-DBI0:1.641-10.module+el8.10.0+40328+0878361aRLSA-2026:69112
Rocky Linux:8perl-DBI0:1.641-3.el8_10RLSA-2026:71608
Rocky Linux:8perl-DBI0:1.641-10.module+el8.10.0+40328+3ea70367RLSA-2026:69112
Rocky Linux:8perl-DBI0:1.641-10.module+el8.10.0+40328+f4c7f87bRLSA-2026:69112
Rocky Linux:8perl-DBI0:1.641-10.module+el8.10.0+40328+bc090241RLSA-2026:69112
Rocky Linux:9perl-DBI0:1.643-9.el9_8.6RLSA-2026:71422
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlibdbi-perl1.643-3ubuntu0.3USN-8841-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlibdbi-perl1.643-3ubuntu0.3UBUNTU-CVE-2026-73194
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlibdbi-perl1.643-4ubuntu0.3USN-8841-1
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlibdbi-perl1.643-4ubuntu0.3UBUNTU-CVE-2026-73194
Ubuntu:26.04:LTSlibdbi-perl1.647-1ubuntu0.26.04.3UBUNTU-CVE-2026-73194
Ubuntu:26.04:LTSlibdbi-perl1.647-1ubuntu0.26.04.3USN-8841-1

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
DBI 0 – before 1.652

Weakness: CWE-1284, CWE-787 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H

References