VulnerabilityPublished 24 Sep 2026

CVE-2026-85491: Incomplete Comparison with Missing Factors

Source CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.8 High.

Data as of 7 Nov 2026, 23:24 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

8.8High

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

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 29% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
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: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
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: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to 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 24 Sep 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 8 Nov 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-5qhg-xgvp-wq2g

What to do

AI-suggested

Until a fix is available, users should consider disabling or avoiding the use of Catalyst::Seal versions before 0.03 or implement additional request validation to ensure authorization checks are enforced correctly. Monitoring for updates from the vendor or CPAN security advisories is recommended.

Description

CVE-2026-85491 affects Catalyst::Seal versions before 0.03 for Perl and involves an incomplete comparison vulnerability in the dispatch memoization mechanism. The memoization key uses only the request path, ignoring other factors like HTTP method, content type, scheme, or query parameters. This can cause authorization checks to be bypassed by replaying memoized dispatch results from different request contexts. The memo entries persist for the life of the process, allowing one request to disable or misroute subsequent requests, potentially skipping authorization checks. The vulnerability has a high severity with a CVSS score of 8.8.

Impact

The vulnerability allows an attacker to bypass authorization checks by exploiting the dispatch memoization mechanism. This can lead to unauthorized access to restricted actions or denial of service by disabling certain request paths. The impact includes confidentiality, integrity, and availability violations as indicated by the CVSS vector (C:H/I:H/A:H). The flaw affects the routing and authorization logic, potentially allowing less privileged actions to be executed instead of the intended protected ones.

Summary

Catalyst::Seal versions prior to 0.03 implement a dispatch memo keyed solely on the request path, which does not account for request method, content type, scheme, or query parameters. This incomplete comparison leads to memoized dispatch results being reused incorrectly for different requests. For example, a GET request to a POST-only path memoizes a no-action result, causing subsequent POST requests to that path to be misrouted or authorization checks to be skipped. The memo cache persists for the process lifetime and is limited to 2048 entries. This flaw can cause authorization checks to be bypassed, resulting in unauthorized access or denial of service for certain routes.

CWE-1023Incomplete Comparison with Missing Factors (opens in a new tab)
Class weakness
The product performs a comparison between entities that must consider multiple factors or characteristics of each entity, but the comparison does not include one or more of these factors.
CWE-706Use of Incorrectly-Resolved Name or Reference (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessOWASP Top 10 A01:2021: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product uses a name or reference to access a resource, but the name/reference resolves to a resource that is outside of the intended control sphere.
Attack patterns
Redirect Access to Libraries (opens in a new tab)
Create files with the same name as files protected with a higher classification (opens in a new tab)
Passing Local Filenames to Functions That Expect a URL (opens in a new tab)
DLL Side-Loading (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 2 Oct 2026, 17:30 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-1023, CWE-706

Technical details

References

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