CVE-2026-14741
HTTP::Date versions before 6.08 for Perl allow CPU exhaustion via polynomial regex backtracking in parse_date. parse_date() matches the date string against a chain of alternative regexes, and str2time() delegates to it. Several of these patterns place unbounded quantifiers next to each other before a trailing `\s*$` anchor. A valid date prefix followed by a long interior run of digits, letters, or whitespace and a single trailing byte that defeats the final match forces the engine to repartition the run, giving polynomial (about quadratic) backtracking. A header value of a few tens of kilobytes runs for tens of seconds of CPU. HTTP::Date parses timestamps such as HTTP `Date`, `Expires`, and `Last-Modified` headers, which commonly originate from untrusted sources. Any caller that passes an untrusted date header to str2time() or parse_date() can be driven to consume unbounded CPU, a denial of service.
- Score
- CVSS 3.1 7.5 High
- Status
- Deferred - 9b29abf9-4ab0-4765-b253-1875cd9b441e
- Published
- 2026-07-17
- Last modified
- 2026-10-24
- Weaknesses
- CWE-1333
Affected products
References
- https://github.com/libwww-perl/HTTP-Date/commit/78c20952cdfbf11e03cf1199ad70f13298a84c5c.patch
- https://github.com/libwww-perl/HTTP-Date/pull/33
- https://metacpan.org/release/OALDERS/HTTP-Date-6.08/changes
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/07/17/10
