CVE-2026-73194

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.

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Patch details

Severity score breakdown

CVSS version: CVSS v3.0

References

• MITRE
• NVD
• Launchpad
• Debian

Related Ubuntu Security Notices (USN)

• USN-8841-1
• Perl DBI module vulnerabilities
• 29 September 2026

Other references

• https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-73194
• https://lists.security.metacpan.org/cve-announce/msg/42707363/
• https://github.com/perl5-dbi/dbi/commit/29b72ae7d2a8114a734a55840bf1c45b89207809.patch
• https://github.com/perl5-dbi/dbi/security/advisories/GHSA-623j-hfpc-mrc4
• https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-10879
• https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-14739