High severity · published May 26, 2026
CVE-2026-9538
Archive::Tar versions before 3.10 for Perl allow memory exhaustion via attacker controlled entry size field in tar header
7.5
CVSS
0.5%
EPSS
No
On KEV
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.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.5% · higher than 44% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
AR
Archive::Tar · BINGOS
before 3.10 · source: vendor, NVD
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-9538
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-9538
Patch
https://github.com/jib/archive-tar-new/commit/f9af01426038e29d9578825a0cd3626946ab08c7.patch
Release Notes
https://metacpan.org/release/BINGOS/Archive-Tar-3.10/changes
Mailing List
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/05/26/4
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