CVE-2026-116270

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.

Is your site exposed to CVE-2026-116270?

Run a free security scan — no signup, results in seconds.

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-407 CWE-407

References

Other References

https://metacpan.org/release/DSKOLL/MIME-tools-5.521/changes

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-116270? +

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.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2026-116270? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

Related Vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-3276

unicodedata.normalize() can take excessive CPU time when processing specially crafted Unicode input containing long runs of combining characters with alternating …

CVE-2026-40476

graphql-go is a Go implementation of GraphQL. In versions 15.31.4 and below, the OverlappingFieldsCanBeMerged validation rule performs O(n²) pairwise comparisons …

CVE-2026-43967

Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity vulnerability in absinthe-graphql absinthe allows unauthenticated denial of service via quadratic fragment-name uniqueness validation. 'Elixir.Absinthe.Phase.Document.Validation.UniqueFragmentNames':run/2 iterates over …

CVE-2026-112401

Pillow is a Python imaging library. From 5.4.0 until 13.0.0, Pillow performs quadratic copying while parsing GIF comments. GifImageFile._seek() repeatedly …

CVE-2026-58059

In Bouncy Castle for Java before 1.85, Quadratic-time escaping when stringifying X.500 distinguished names. This issue also affects Bouncy Castle …

CVE-2026-94658

Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity vulnerability in Apache Thrift Lua bindings. This issue affects Apache Thrift: before 0.25.0. Users are recommended to …