CVE-2026-116270

MIME::Words versions before 5.521 for Perl allow memory exhaustion via repeated "=?" sequences in decode_mimewords

State
Published
Severity
Not scored
Published
Oct 28, 2026
Updated
Oct 28, 2026
Reserved
Oct 25, 2026

Read the record on cve.org

Description

MIME::Words versions before 5.521 for Perl allow memory exhaustion via repeated "=?" sequences in decode_mimewords.

For each "=?" that does not start a complete encoded word, decode_mimewords appends an error message containing the whole input string to $@. A boundary of 8,000 "=?" pairs (16,000 bytes) adds 8,000 copies of itself to $@, about 128 MB.

From version 5.518, MIME::Parser decodes every multipart boundary this way, so a remote sender can exhaust the memory of the parsing process with one Content-Type header.

Scores

The record has no CVSS score.

Weaknesses

  • CWE-407 Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity

Affected Products

ProductVersions
MIME-tools
  • before 5.521Affected

References

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