CVE-2026-82560 Pod::Text versions before 6.1.1 for Perl allow CPU and memory exhaustion formatting a POD document whose =over nesting drives the margin to the output width.
An attacker can cause CPU and memory exhaustion by supplying a maliciously nested POD document to the Pod::Text Perl library.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-82560?
CVE-2026-82560 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability, published on 19 Sep 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Pod::Text versions before 6.1.1 for Perl allow CPU and memory exhaustion formatting a POD document whose =over nesting drives the margin to the output width.
Each =over adds its indent to the margin, which wrap() subtracts from the output width to get the space available for text. When that space reaches zero, the line-splitting substitution matches the empty string, and the loop consumes no input while appending the margin padding on every pass.
Formatting an attacker-supplied POD document never returns, and the output grows until memory is exhausted.
Weakness: CWE-835
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-82560?
How do I fix CVE-2026-82560?
Upgrade to a fixed version.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2026-82560 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-82560 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-103320, BELL-CVE-2026-82560, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-82560, ECHO-79b7-e1d4-6b1a, GHSA-qcgj-vx8w-rqfq, OESA-2026-4202 and 6 more.