CVE-2026-120651: CGI versions before 5.00 for Perl allow an infinite loop on a short request body when
Source GCVE Database
Not known to be exploited : upgrade to 5.00 soon.
Data as of 4 Nov 2026, 01:58 UTC
Rated High by Threat Radar's AI analysis · CVSS not yet scored by NVD
Thin evidence
One scorer or none- Patch
- Available – fixed in 5.00
Exploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 3 Nov 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors
A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 3 Nov 2026.
What to do
Upgrade CGI (Perl module) to 5.00.
Affected software
| Product | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| CGI | Affected
| Fixed in
|
CPANCGIpkg:cpan/CGIOther threats | Affected
| Fixed in
|
Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.
AI-suggested
If you cannot patch yet, consider limiting request sizes or implementing timeouts on request body reads to mitigate potential resource exhaustion.
Description
CGI versions before 5.00 for Perl contain a vulnerability where an infinite loop can occur on processing a short request body if $DISABLE_UPLOADS is set. This happens because the code reads until the Content-Length bytes have arrived, but if the actual body is shorter, the read returns 0 repeatedly, causing the loop to never end. This allows a client to keep a server process busy indefinitely with a crafted request.
References
- nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-120651 (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/leejo/CGI.pm/commit/16d9f61acf8b844b7360e8d726338e3ce34dfa9f.patch (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/leejo/CGI.pm/commit/8a78305065690461ae283fa24e5ebe4ec8a22fbc.patch (opens in a new tab)
- metacpan.org/release/LEEJO/CGI-4.72/source/lib/CGI.pm (opens in a new tab)
- metacpan.org/release/LEEJO/CGI-5.00/changes (opens in a new tab)