CVE-2026-14895
CWE-1333Published: July 7, 2026· Updated: Jul 8, 2026
Official Description
String::Util versions before 1.36 for Perl are susceptible to a regular expression denial of service.
The trim and rtrim functions stripped trailing whitespace with s/\s*$//u. Because \s* matches greedily and the $ anchor fails whenever a non-whitespace character follows the whitespace, the regex engine retries the match at each offset of a long whitespace run, producing quadratic backtracking. The fix replaces \s*$ with \s+$.
Any caller that passes untrusted input to trim or rtrim can trigger CPU exhaustion with a string containing a long run of whitespace.
Technical Analysis
CVE-2026-14895 can be exploited remotely over the network without requiring physical or adjacent access, significantly expanding the attack surface for threat actors.
The vulnerability requires no privileges and no user interaction, making it a prime target for automated exploitation campaigns and worm-like propagation.
A successful exploit results in availability disruption (denial of service), with a CVSS base score of 7.5.
CVSS v3.1 Vector Breakdown
Exploit & PoC Resources
All References (4)
Quick Facts
Related CVEs (CWE-1333)
Recommended Actions
- →Apply vendor patches immediately
- →Monitor CVE-2026-14895 in threat intel feeds
- →Review IDS/IPS signatures for exploitation attempts