CVE-2026-9538
Description
Archive::Tar versions before 3.10 for Perl allow memory exhaustion via attacker controlled entry size field in tar header. _read_tar() reads each entry's payload with $handle->read($$data, $block), where $block is derived from the entry's 12-byte size field in the tar header with no upper bound on that value. A crafted header declaring a multi-gigabyte size causes Perl to allocate a scalar of that size.
Predictions
Heuristic predictions, AS-IS, for prioritization only.
Mitigations
No mitigations published for this CVE yet.
The vendor-content worker queues fetches as references arrive (check back in a few minutes). Or — if you've already worked around this in production — publish your fix to the community-verified tier.
✚ Propose a mitigation on Community → Mitigations published via the community go through AI scoring + 2 human reviewers + 7-day silent objection window before landing here withsource_tier=community-verified.
OS impact
Debian Affected 5 releases
| Version | Status | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| trixie | Affected | — |
| sid | Affected | — |
| forky | Affected | — |
| bullseye | Affected | — |
| bookworm | Affected | — |
Windows Affected 1 release
| Version | Status | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| — | Affected | — |
Application impact
| Vendor | Product | Versions | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| archive\ | \ | {"endExcluding":"3.10"} | 3.10 |
References
- https://github.com/jib/archive-tar-new/commit/f9af01426038e29d9578825a0cd3626946ab08c7.patch
- https://metacpan.org/release/BINGOS/Archive-Tar-3.10/changes
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/05/26/4
- https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-9538
- https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-9538
CWEs
CWE-789
Community-verified mitigations for this CVE will appear above when contributors publish them.
Verify integrity in audit chain (admin only). AS-IS.