---
id: CVE-2026-116128
title: >-
  Starlet versions from 0.20 before 0.33 for Perl allow memory exhaustion via
  unbounded buffering when decoding chunked request bodies
summary: >-
  Starlet versions from 0.20 before 0.33 for Perl allow memory exhaustion via
  unbounded buffering when decoding chunked request bodies.


  The decoder adds each read to one buffer of unconsumed input. Nothing limits
  the length of a chunk-siz…
severity: high
cvss: 7.5
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'
cvssSource: adp
cwe:
  - CWE-770
product: Starlet
affected:
  - Starlet >= 0.20 < 0.33
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'yes'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2026-11-06T15:51:02.893792Z'
published: '2026-10-30'
updated: '2026-11-06'
sourceUpdated: '2026-11-06T15:51:10.800Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-116128'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/kazuho/Starlet/commit/f3472712fff64329a43d86368768d80b61714106.patch
  - url: 'https://metacpan.org/release/KAZUHO/Starlet-0.33/changes'
tags:
  - cve.org
epss: 0.00384
epssPercentile: 0.3272
ingestedAt: '2026-11-05T16:07:30.221Z'
---

## Overview

Starlet versions from 0.20 before 0.33 for Perl allow memory exhaustion via unbounded buffering when decoding chunked request bodies.

The decoder adds each read to one buffer of unconsumed input. Nothing limits the length of a chunk-size line, so a line without a CRLF grows the buffer for as long as the client keeps sending, and the read timeout restarts after every read. The data of a large chunk is also held in the buffer until the whole chunk has arrived.

A remote attacker can exhaust a worker's memory with a single request.

## Affected

- `Starlet >= 0.20 < 0.33`

## Remediation

Upgrade to Starlet 0.33 or later.