# CVE-2026-115822: starman: Starman versions before 0.4019 for Perl allow CPU exhaustion via quadratic regex backtracking when parsing chunked re...

CVE-2026-115822 is fixed in starman on 1 platform by DEBIAN-CVE-2026-115822 (version 0.4019-1), released October 30, 2026. It is not reported as exploited. Patch Radar priority: High.

- Web page: https://patchblox.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-115822
- Priority: High
- CVSS: 7.5 (high)
- EPSS: 0.0051
- CISA KEV: not listed
- Exploited (vendor report): no
- Publicly disclosed: no
- Published: Oct 25, 2026

## Description

Starman versions before 0.4019 for Perl allow CPU exhaustion via quadratic regex backtracking when parsing chunked request bodies.  Starman decodes chunked request bodies before calling the application, matching each chunk-size line with `s/^(([0-9a-fA-F]+).*\015\012)//`. A line of hex digits followed by a bare LF and then CRLF never matches, because `.` does not match LF, and each failed attempt backtracks in time quadratic in the length of the hex run. Nothing limits the length of the line.  A remote attacker can exhaust worker CPU by sending such requests to any route.

## Where it's fixed

| Platform | Product | Fixed in | Fix | Released |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | starman Debian 14 | 0.4019-1 | [DEBIAN-CVE-2026-115822](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/debian-cve-2026-115822.md) | Oct 30, 2026 |

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Data as of 2026-11-10T01:44:33Z UTC. Source: Patchblox Patch Radar (https://patchblox.com/security/patch-radar). Patchblox finds out-of-date software on Windows, macOS and Linux and updates it through release rings: https://patchblox.com/demo

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