# CVE-2010-4777: Denial of service in n/a

> Attackers can cause denial of service in Perl applications via crafted input when debugging is enabled, affecting systems using affected Perl versions.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.3 (`AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 10 Feb 2014
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2010-4777, GHSA-r32j-2hp8-5qh2

## What is CVE-2010-4777?

CVE-2010-4777 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 10 Feb 2014. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The Perl_reg_numbered_buff_fetch function in Perl 5.10.0, 5.12.0, 5.14.0, and other versions, when running with debugging enabled, allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (assertion failure and application exit) via crafted input that is not properly handled when using certain regular expressions, as demonstrated by causing SpamAssassin and OCSInventory to crash.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2010-4777?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Perl Perl.

## How do I fix CVE-2010-4777?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2010-4777 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2010-4777 exists.

Public exploit code:

- Perl 5.x - 'Perl_reg_numbered_buff_fetch()' Remote Denial of Service (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2026-4176](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-4176/): Supply chain in perl (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2022-48522](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48522/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-12814](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-12814/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2015-8608](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-8608/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-13221](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-13221/): Integer overflow in perl:perl (critical 9.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2010-4777 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2010-4777 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 10 Feb 2014. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2010-4777 exists.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-4777/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-4777/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2010-4777
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2010-4777
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2010-4777

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-4777/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.