CVE-2026-85783VulnerabilityPublished 21 Oct 2026Updated 30 Oct 2026

Crypt::Age versions before 0.004 for Perl allow CPU exhaustion via an unbounded number of recipient stanzas, each

Source GCVE Database

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Authoritative record:CVE-2026-85783· High 7.5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High : upgrade to 0.004 soon.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 17:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.5High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

Thin evidence

One scorer or none

CVSS scores by source
CISA-ADP	CVSS 3.1	7.5

Patch: Available – fixed in 0.004

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 20 Oct 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 30 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

ghsa-rvhp-9hpj-rh7c

What to do

Upgrade Crypt-Age (Perl module) to 0.004.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Crypt-Age	Affected <0.004	Fixed in 0.004
CPANCrypt-Age`pkg:cpan/Crypt-Age`Other threats	Affected <0.004	Fixed in 0.004

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

A fix is available in Crypt::Age version 0.004 or later. Users should upgrade to version 0.004 or newer to mitigate this vulnerability. Until patched, avoid decrypting files from untrusted sources or implement rate limiting and resource usage monitoring to mitigate denial of service risks.

Description

Crypt::Age versions before 0.004 for Perl contain a vulnerability that allows an attacker to cause CPU exhaustion by submitting a file with an unbounded number of recipient stanzas. Each stanza triggers expensive cryptographic operations during decryption, leading to denial of service.

Impact

An attacker can craft a file with a large number of recipient stanzas, causing the decryption process to perform numerous expensive cryptographic operations. This leads to CPU exhaustion and denial of service on systems attempting to decrypt such files. There is no impact on confidentiality or integrity, but availability is severely affected.

Summary

Crypt::Age versions prior to 0.004 for Perl are vulnerable to a CPU exhaustion attack via an unbounded number of recipient stanzas in the file header. The header parser accepts any number of recipient stanzas, and the unwrap_file_key function attempts to decrypt each stanza against every identity held by the caller. Each attempt involves a costly X25519 scalar multiplication, HKDF, and ChaCha20-Poly1305 open operation. Because the header MAC key is derived from the file key, which is only available after a successful unwrap, the system cannot pre-validate the header to reject excessive stanzas early. This results in high CPU usage and potential denial of service when decrypting files not written by the caller.

CWE-405Asymmetric Resource Consumption (Amplification) (opens in a new tab)
Class weakness
The product does not properly control situations in which an adversary can cause the product to consume or produce excessive resources without requiring the adversary to invest equivalent work or otherwise prove authorization, i.e., the adversary's influence is "asymmetric."
Architecture and Design
An application must make resources available to a client commensurate with the client's access level.
Architecture and Design
An application must, at all times, keep track of allocated resources and meter their usage appropriately.
System Configuration
Consider disabling resource-intensive algorithms on the server side, such as Diffie-Hellman key exchange.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
File Upload (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V12.1.1 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 30 Oct 2026, 17:02 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-405

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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