# CVE-2026-49146: App::Ack versions before 3.10.0 for Perl allow memory exhaustion via an unbounded context value in a project .ackrc

> An attacker can cause memory exhaustion and denial of service by providing a malicious .ackrc file with an excessively large context value.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 8 Jul 2026
- **Updated:** 8 Jul 2026
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2026-49146, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-49146, GHSA-hf7w-mcpw-97mf, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-49146

## What is CVE-2026-49146?

CVE-2026-49146 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in PETDANCE App::Ack, published on 8 Jul 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

App::Ack versions before 3.10.0 for Perl allow memory exhaustion via an unbounded context value in a project .ackrc.

ack searches up the directory hierarchy from the current directory for a project .ackrc and loads its options. The -B and -C context options accepted any positive integer, and ack sized the before-context buffer to that value, so a project .ackrc setting --before-context=100000000 made ack allocate a buffer of 100 million elements.

A project .ackrc committed to an untrusted repository can abort ack with an out-of-memory condition.

Weakness: CWE-770 (Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-49146?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-49146?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2026-49146 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-49146 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-49146 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-49146 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in PETDANCE App::Ack, published on 8 Jul 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-49146 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: PETDANCE App::Ack. 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-2026-49146/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-49146/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-49146
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-49146
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-49146

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-49146/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.