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


- **Severity:** Not scored
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 25 Oct 2026
- **Updated:** 25 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2026-115822, GHSA-2826-qw6w-9h42, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-115822

## What is CVE-2026-115822?

CVE-2026-115822 is a vulnerability, published on 25 Oct 2026. 

### Official 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.

Weakness: CWE-1333 (Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-115822?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-115822?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2026-115822 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-115822 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-115822 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-115822 is a vulnerability, published on 25 Oct 2026. 
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-115822 in the wild and no public exploit code.

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-2026-115822/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-115822/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-115822
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-115822
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-115822

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-115822/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.