CVE-2026-116270

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

CVE-2026-116270 is fixed in 2 products on 1 platform, first by DEBIAN-CVE-2026-116270, released November 3, 2026. It is not reported as exploited. Patch Radar priority: High.

High
CVSS
7.5
high
Exploitation
None reported
No vendor assessment
CISA KEV
Not listed
Not in the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
EPSS
0.0029
21st percentile

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.

Where it's fixed

ProductFixed inFixReleased
Linux
libmime-tools-perl · Debian 14 5.522-1 DEBIAN-CVE-2026-116270 Nov 3, 2026
perl-MIME-tools · Fedora 43 5.522-1.fc43 FEDORA-2026-A415B3BF48 Nov 7, 2026
perl-MIME-tools · opensuse-leap 16.0 5.522.0-bp160.1.1 OPENSUSE-SU-2026:22226-1 Nov 7, 2026

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